Zach Galifianakis explains why live-action Jumba is missing an accent in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch. Dr. Jumba Jookiba is one of the main characters in the original Lilo & Stitch, known as the eccentric scientist who created Stitch and later journeys to Earth with Agent Pleakley to retrieve him. In the Lilo & Stitch live-action remake, Jumba retains a similar role, though the movie makes several changes to the character, including doing away with his vaguely Russian-sounding accent.

During an interview with CinemaBlend, Galifianakis explained why his Jumba doesn’t have an accent in the new Lilo & Stitch. The actor suggests that the decision may have stemmed from a desire to avoid a potentially problematic accent, especially given how tricky they can be in today’s cultural climate. He also implies that his own limitations with doing voices may have influenced the choice. Read his full explanation below:

I think maybe they wanted to stay away from that kind of thing, or maybe I did do a Russian accent, and they’re like, “That sounds like he’s Chinese.” I can’t really do voices anyway, so maybe that was what it was, but my voice is a little different. I think it’s a little deeper in the [animated version]. Listen, I told them, “Tell me what to do.” I think these days accents are tricky. I don’t know what happens. I don’t know how those decisions are made. Like “No German, no Russian, no accents.” But you still can kind of do a Russian one as the villain, let’s be honest.

He Wanted To Avoid A Potentially Problematic Voice

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With every Disney live-action remake, comparisons to the original animated movie are inevitable, and Lilo & Stitch is no different. One topic that has caught the attention of fans is the portrayal of Stitch’s creator, Jumba Jookiba, now played by Galifianakis. In the original animated version, the mad scientist was voiced by the late David Allen Ogden Stiers, who speaks with a vaguely Russian-sounding accent despite the character being from the alien world of Quelte Quan. On the other hand, Galifianakis’ take on Jumba mostly reflects his own natural speaking voice.

Related Lilo & Stitch’s Live-Action Remake vs. Animated Movie: 7 Changes Disney Made To The Original The live-action 2025 remake of Lilo & Stitch has a largely similar plotline to the original movie, but makes some big changes to the characters.

According to Galifianakis​​​​​, he may have experimented with accents early on, though they ultimately chose to drop them. He suggests the decision may have stemmed from a desire to avoid potentially problematic or ambiguous accents. He also admits that he isn’t great at doing voices, and may have tried a Russian accent that didn’t land well. Ultimately, he followed the filmmakers’ direction, noting that while accents like Russian are still sometimes used for villains, there seems to be a general trend moving away from using any accents at all in such roles.

Our Take On Live-Action Jumba’s Lack Of An Accent

It’s Probably For The Best

It’s probably for the best that Galifianakis didn’t attempt a Russian or other ambiguous accent for Jumba. In today’s cultural climate, such choices can come off as insensitive or stereotypical, especially when the character is alien. Additionally, by not copying Jumba’s exact voice from the original movie, this also gave Galifianakis a chance to provide a different take on the mad scientist in the Lilo & Stitch remake, unburdened by the baggage of outdated vocal caricatures.

Lilo & Stitch is now playing in theaters.

Source: CinemaBlend

As aforementioned, Lilo & Stitch is iconic — and my personal favorite Disney animated film — because of its unconventionally mature themes, offbeat personality, and execution. Much of the nuance that contributed to the original 85-minute film’s legacy has been lost in this 108-minute adaptation. Instead, it adopts the same kind of frenetic, derivative, and often frustrating energy that plagues many live-action/CG movies. The update is raucous and chaotic, focusing on Stitch’s new but formulaic cartoon antics. It has the same energy as early 2000s films by Tim Hill or Raja Gosnell. Although this Stitch isn’t trying to be trendy or cool, his character feels sanitized and safe, finally Disneyfying the strangest Disney character.

The script penned by Mike Van Waes and Chris Kekaniokalani Bright undermines Stitch’s arc, demoting him from a threat to a chaos agent. Though he wreaks havoc, he reflects on himself more quickly but not to the same extent or depth as in the original. Stitch’s human companion shares the same unfortunate fate: the weird, precocious, and macabre sides of Lilo’s personality are largely suppressed. Her peculiarity is replaced by overwhelming cuteness, and her acting out that’s presented as simply a coping mechanism for her grief and loneliness is nonexistent.

One of the most glaring changes is the omission of “or forgotten” from “Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”— not only literally, but also in the story’s spirit and heart. The writers overlook that the narrative centers on two grief-stricken sisters struggling to pick up the pieces. They diminish Lilo and Nani’s isolation, the very thing that gave their “Ohana” motto emotional weight during their conflicts. Without this vital element, well-known story beats, like the joyful “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” sequence, lose their emotional impact. These scenes hit the necessary plot points but are clouded by nostalgia, misunderstanding their cohesion and significance. The same can be said of Elvis Presley’s music: it plays frequently, yet his “model citizen” iconography — central to its relevance in the original — is never acknowledged, reducing the music to a mere nostalgic reference. You see what I mean? The writers actively struggle to recognize the thematic significance of the original.

I’d genuinely have preferred that Fleischer Camp, in addition to directing, had written the film himself, as his Marcel the Shell With Shoes On explored similar mature themes of loss, grief, and broken family within the framework of a family film, with strong poignancy. Marcel was the first movie I saw after my dad’s passing, and it brought me immense comfort. I can only imagine how much solace Sanders and DeBlois’ original provided to families who had experienced the loss of a loved one. That’s why Lilo & Stitch has remained beloved and timeless — but the writers of this update seem unwilling to delve.

Chris Sanders Still Makes My Eyes Sweat

Walt Disney Pictures’ live-action Lilo & Stitch opened over Memorial Day weekend. While it’s making massive numbers for the studio, fans of the original film are shocked by the enormous changes to the animated film in its adaptation.

There’s minor stuff like Pleakley’s distance from drag, but the film’s human version of the character still very much fancies femme wear anyways. There’s also anger at the omission of Gantu, the Galactic Federation’s strongman, who you could argue felt like a random third act villain in the overstuffed animated feature’s ending (famously, the 2002 movie underwent major changes mid-production, since its original ending took place on a hijacked plane). What’s more, the culture has shifted a lot in the past few decades. So it makes sense that the new movie makes some alterations, including offering a more grounded take on the story.

In particular, the ending is stirring up heated discourse on the internet regarding Nani’s (Sydney Agudong) custody of her little sister Lilo (Maia Kealoha). In the 2002 film, Nani overcomes her social worker, former CIA agent Cobra Bubbles (Ving Rhames in the original, Courtney B. Vance in the live action film), in his attempts to get Lilo taken away from her; he ultimately relents after family is placed under the protection of the interstellar Galactic Federation. That’s not at all what happens in the remake. Here, Nani hands over guardianship to their grandmotherly neighbor Tutu (Amy Hill), who throughout the film watches over the sisters as they try to have a parent and child dynamic, so Nani can leave home and attend college.

Nani, who is implied to be just out of high school, really struggles to keep her little family afloat in the new film, especially after Stitch crash-lands into their lives. Tutu, with the help of their case worker Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere, who voiced Nani in the animated film, playing a new character separated entirely from Vance’s version of Bubbles, who remains a CIA agent), facilitates a way for the girls to stay sisters and yet both still have a childhood. And in Nani’s case, that means the opportunity to leave her sister in safe hands while she follows her own goals, and presumably better provide for Lilo and Stitch in the future.

This recontextualization of the story’s themes drive this change, and not everyone is happy about it. The significant thread that ties everything together in both films is the exploration of “Ohana,” the Hawaiian word for “family,” and emphasizes that “no one gets left behind or forgotten.” The original Lilo & Stitch, placed in a broader context of Hawaii’s cultural relationship with the United States and colonial underpinnings between the two nations (touched on in both the original and the remake when Nani sings “Aloha Oe” to her sister, a traditional song often interpreted as a lamentation of the loss of Hawaii’s sovereignty under American annexation), has often been considered as critiquing U.S. interests in Hawaii and the historical legacy of colonialism’s separation of families. And so, a lot of the criticism of the new ending argues that Nani has seemingly giving up her sister to the system, in order to follow her own desires to go to college, betrays the idea of Ohana that’s is championed by the original film.

Instead, the live action film comes at this struggle by centering Nani being forced to grow up beyond her years in order to look after Lilo. In the original film, Nani is presented as older than she is in the live-action film (the fact that she is Lilo’s guardian in the original suggests that she’s at least 18, although it’s never explicitly stated), something that always struck me as a commentary on girls having to be treated as more traditionally motherly upon reaching a certain age, pushed into preconceived expectations and roles even in their youths. While Nani’s story is more explicitly about her struggle to balance caring for Lilo with the mania compounded by Stitch’s arrival, the story of young women, especially women of color, being forced by circumstance to grow up too quickly no doubt resonates with the broad audience a film like Lilo & Stitch has.

As a mother now, I can look back at the 2002 film and see that Nani was still a kid herself, and prioritizes her sister over her own potential dreams and aspirations. She leaves herself behind to be her little sister’s guardian after they lost their parents, especially because that version of Nani and Lilo didn’t have a village to look out for them.

Speaking to CinemaBlend, producer Jonathan Eirich shared that Chris Kekaniokalani Bright, who co-scripted the 2025 film, had some insight into how the animated version’s lack of a community around Nani and Lilo didn’t sit right. “Something [Chris] said early on, he was like, ‘I don’t think in Hawai’i, if these two sisters had just lost their parents, I don’t think they would be as isolated.’ [Knowing] the community of Hawaii there would be support for them.’ So, we sort of had this notion of this neighbor character, Tutu, that is actually there for them earlier in the story.”

Community functioning as an extension of family becomes a new reinterpretation of Ohana in the live-action film. Instead of the case worker being Bubbles, trying to foil Nani’s attempts at keeping Lilo (and his ex-CIA background once more explicitly tying him into the U.S.-Hawaii relationship as cultural context) in the animated feature, in the new film the case worker is now a fellow native Hawaiian character who encourages Nani to see if she can make the transition work. It really approaches this idea in a broader sense of Hawaiian culture, where we’re repeatedly reminded that Nani’s “kuleana,” or responsibility, is to give Lilo the best possible future.

In that context, you really feel for Nani as a girl struggling to keep her family afloat while grieving her parents. And this is before Stitch arrives in the picture, which really steers the focus to the sisters needing their childhood reclaimed as they have adventures with their new “dog.” But no matter how the changes to the original were going to be handled, a backlash to Lilo & Stitch would’ve been inevitable regardless, given the broad cynicism towards Disney’s live-action remakes in recent years regardless of their box office successes. Nani doesn’t give up her sister to strangers in a foster system, as many who might not have seen the movie claim. Tutu and Mrs. Kekoa help them navigate toward a solution where they’re still together and with their found family. She sees that she can lean on her extended family that’s always been there, while also getting a chance to experience early adulthood without sacrificing herself or her sister.

Hill herself recently expounded on that idea of found family within the concept of Ohana, prior to the blowback. “It’s not just the family, it’s now the extended family. And I’m part of that extended family. I’m not blood related to them. I live next door. I knew the parents. I knew the kids since they were little. And I just feel so close to them. And it just is, of course, a natural progression to feel like I want to take care of them and also be a little nosy about things. Cause isn’t that what family is?” she said in an interview with Stage.

It makes sense for Tutu to play the role of guardian to not just Lilo, but Nani too, in supporting her pursuit of higher education and rediscovering her love of surfing. The movie even provides a more fantastical solution to the issue of Nani leaving her sister and Hawaii behind, which is set up earlier in the film. Remember that portal gun Jumba uses to get to various spots where Stitch was sighted? In the end, it’s revealed that Nani now has it, which means she can come home home after school and still be very much present in Lilo’s life. It sure beats sleeping in a dorm room when you can easily transport to your room at home, and it still keeps the sisters together—a best of both worlds that allows the remake to have its own take on similar themes to the animated original.

It turns out the Thunderbolts and Tom Cruise are no match for the power of Experiment 626.

The Lilo and Stitch live-action remake has only been in theaters for one weekend, but it’s blasted its way to a $341.7 million global total at the box office (using estimations for Monday’s figures). That’s almost $100 million more than the original 2002 movie made in total, and it’s also comfortably ahead of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’s $190 million.

In fact, Stitch has beaten Cruise twice over, since Lilo & Stitch has set a Memorial Day opening weekend record – nabbing the crown from Top Gun: Maverick (via Variety).

Plus, Lilo & Stitch is hot on the heels of the Marvel Phase 5 blockbuster Thunderbolts, which so far has grossed $355.7 million worldwide since the first week of May.

This massive performance comes in the shadow of Disney’s live-action Snow White, which flopped at the box office and lost the studio millions. It would seem the live-action remake project still has some juice left in it yet.

Most likely, this won’t be the last we see of Lilo and her alien bestie, since sequels could be on the cards. “It feels like it’s going to work very well, and it’s the kind of property that lends itself to more,” Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman has said. The animated movie spawned multiple sequels and a TV show, so we’ll just have to wait and see if the live-action movie follows suit.

Lilo and Stitch is in theaters now. For more, check out our guide to all the new Disney movies that are in the works, or see our guide to the biggest upcoming movies of the year to plan your theater trips.

It was clear that Disney had a hit on its hands back at CinemaCon, when a sizzle reel showed Stitch popping up in several Mouse House movies. That was further accentuated by recently named Global Distribution Boss Andrew Cripps taking the stage at Caesar’s Las Vegas Colosseum in a Stitch jacket alongside IP mastermind, Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman.

Yes, Disney did have a plan that it’d make less live-action features based on classic animated titles. However, sometimes the company can’t help itself, and that’s for the better. Because when you’re sitting on a brand that rakes in billions annually in global retail, go for it. Last year alone, Lilo & Stitch consumer products generated an estimated $2.5 billion-plus, according to sources, and was one of 11 evergreen franchises for The Walt Disney Company that surpassed $1 billion-plus in retail sales in 2024.

All of this just underscores the power of a Disney animated movie 23 years after its release — even when the grosses were all right, not super-duper on the 2002 animated movie. While Lilo & Stitch beat Tom Cruise this weekend with a $183M 4-day vs. Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning‘s $77M, back in 2002 it was a different story, as the child and alien took second place to the blockbuster star’s sci-fi movie Minority Report, $35.6M to $35.2M. Lilo & Stitch legged out to $145.7M domestic and $273.1M global off a then-$80M budget, which was all right at the summer box office at the time, but no Toy Story 2, which grossed $245.7M and a near half billion worldwide.

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Further cementing the popularity of Lilo & Stitch and the need for a live-action feature film were the Disney+ metrics. The entire Lilo & Stitch catalog has grown significantly each year on the OTT service and that’s based on hours streamed. The Lilo & Stitch franchise has driven over a half billion (546M) hours on Disney+ around the globe with the original movie clocking north of 280M hours viewed.

Greenlight a live action feature? Hell, yes.

Again, just more evidence that theatrical isn’t necessarily the entire story, but the flame that ignites it all. The media may have raked the live-action Rachel Zegler Snow White over the coals this past spring ($87.2M domestic, $205.1M), but let’s sit down and chat 20 years from now, for there could be a Broadway musical and ice show raking in billions off the songs alone. Just sayin’.

What’s clear is a mega millennial love for Lilo & Stitch that’s blossomed through the years, with the under-35 crowd showing up this weekend at 79%. Women bought tickets at 63% and gave the movie a 93% grade on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak.

Disney’s marketing team pulled out all the stops with an irreverent marketing campaign, dropping Stitch cameos in big cultural moments like the Super Bowl, where Stitch caused chaos on the field right after the coin flip with a 30 second spot that generated 173M views after 24 hours and trended at No. 10 on X.

Marketing’s strategic focus was also about selling moviegoers on the fact that this movie would kick off summer. If you can’t make it to Hawaii, well then Lilo & Stitch would bring you there. Every facet of the campaign led with Stitch’s star power and reminded audiences of the characters they know and love. What was also key was selling the pic not just as a fun one, but also on the weight of its emotional story of friendship, Ohana (found family), and choosing to be more than your circumstances.

RELATED: ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Review: Disney’s Latest Live-Action Remake Is A Sweet But Sluggish Adaptation

Stitch crash-landed and wreaked havoc on marketing materials for other Disney classic, live-action and Marvel films including Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, Snow White, Cinderella, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast and Thunderbolts*. The lovable alien even busted through the Thunderbolts* Wheaties box.

Meanwhile at theaters, there was an Animatronic Stitch.

The first look of Stitch debuted at last August’s D23 and became the most-viewed announcement out of the entire event week after 24 hours. The pic’s trailer became Disney’s third most-viewed of all time with 158M views in its first day, ranking behind 2019’s Lion King teaser and full trailer.

Among the music pushes for the pic, there was the single release “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride,” which was further boosted by a special performance from Iam Tongi on American Idol‘s Disney night. Soundtrack pre-orders also opened on May 9 for a May 21 drop that also included custom Stitch-shaped die-cut vinyl launches on May 23 available at Target. The Lilo & Stitch soundtrack also took over fan-favorite Disney playlists garnering over 100M+ streams per month.

Broadcast integrations included Stitch bursting onto the sets of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and SportsCenter. There was also programming on Disney Channel airing special looks in Disney films and a Freeform tropical-themed movie stunt, plus marathon. Stitch also made cameos in custom spots for Disneyland tied to its 70th anniversary. Of note, there were promos for a Stitch Intergalactic Dance Party at Tomorrowland.

RELATED: ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Presales Ahead Of ‘A Minecraft Movie’; Best First Day For PG Title YTD

Similar to what we saw with Inside Out 2, Latino and Hispanic moviegoers fueled the ticket sales for Lilo & Stitch, who turned out at 41% per PostTrak, the leading diversity demographic. Stoking the quad, Disney held “Experiment 626” nights in markets like Alameda County, which had stunted community and influencer screenings (lei making stations, hula dancers, Stitch sandcastles, blue shaved ice) as well as partnerships with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

On TikTok, there was a global branded effect that allowed fans to dance next to Stitch. Lilo & Stitch became the first-ever Disney & TikTok global partner for “Spotlight,” a hub aggregating all UGC content featuring Stitch across the platform.

On SnapChat, there was a custom snap lens leveraging AR technology allowing fans to have Stitch crawl on their head and shoulders while wearing a lei, sunglasses, etc.

RELATED: Summer Bound For $4.2B After Record $326M+ Memorial Day Weekend: ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Dances To $183M Holiday High, ‘Mission: Impossible 8’ $77M+ – Monday Box Office Update

Also, in partnership with Industrial Light and Magic, Stitch was able to react to fans and press in real time through social livestreams, press junket interviews and talk show appearances.

Promo partners included Hawaiian Airlines with custom-wrapped planes and an in-app “Stitch Scavenger Hunt” with an interactive digital travel guide throughout the Hawaiian Islands, as well as a custom spots with Walmart, SPAM, T-Mobile for Business, Colourpop (a Gen-Z/millennial focused makeup brand), King’s Hawaiian, National Mango Board, Ono Hawaiian BBQ, Furbo (which had a custom pet camera spot featuring Stitch), Ray-Ban and Primark.

Here’s one final huzzah about the Dean Fleischer Camp-directed movie: It was made for a cost of $100M net before P&A. According to analysts this morning, given the rich ancillary downstreams for Lilo & Stitch, it will reach breakeven at a mere low point of $205M at the global box office, meaning that’s already happened after a global opening of $341.7M. Sans ancillaries, Lilo & Stitch would profit purely in the theatrical window as well at a breakeven point of $410M worldwide. That’s truly magical motion picture math.

As we told you, the record Memorial Day opening of the movie at $183M stateside, along with Paramount’s 4-day debut of Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning, puts the summer on track per Comscore to $4.2 billion in U.S./Canada.

RELATED: ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ Review: The Sky’s The Limit In Ethan Hunt’s ‘Last’ Adventure – Cannes Film Festival