Disney’s Live-Action Lilo & Stitch: Why Cobra Bubbles Was Changed

Dean Fleischer Camp, director of Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch, revealed why Cobra Bubbles’ character was significantly altered to better serve the film’s emotional stakes.

Camp explained that the dramatic stakes of Lilo potentially being separated from her sister Nani required a credible social worker, stating, “if the dramatic stakes of Lilo is that she’s going to get separated from her sister, then you need a person who actually services those stakes in a credible way.”

In the animated Lilo & Stitch, Cobra Bubbles is depicted as a “6-foot-5 huge dude with ‘Cobra’ tattooed on his knuckles,” which Camp admitted works for animation but lacks believability in live-action, saying, “I don’t think you get away with it the same way in a live-action film.”

Camp noted that a comically exaggerated character like Cobra Bubbles as a social worker felt unconvincing, stating, “you couldn’t really have the representative of that antagonistic force be a comically huge guy with tattoos on his knuckles, who for some reason is also a social worker.”

The director emphasized that the decision to alter Cobra Bubbles was driven by the need to “land the plane in terms of the emotional realities that were going on in the film.”

Camp’s approach to the live-action remake, in theaters now, focused on deepening the emotional narrative, particularly around Nani, Lilo’s 19-year-old sister played by Sydney Agudong, who shelved her college dreams of studying marine biology to raise Lilo after their parents’ death.

Camp highlighted, “In a live-action film, you do have a responsibility to deepen the stakes,” noting Nani’s expanded backstory as a former star student and athlete now acting as a teen mom.

The live-action Lilo & Stitch follows 6-year-old Hawaiian girl Lilo, played by Maia Kealoha, who adopts Stitch, also known as Experiment 626, after he crash-lands on Earth, forming an unlikely bond.

Camp drew parallels between Lilo and Stitch, saying, “They’re both unique protagonists who are looking for their place – and their people – in this world that wasn’t really made for them,” noting their shared emotional depth despite their adorable and funny nature.

Other changes include aliens Jumba, played by Zach Galifianakis, and Pleakley, played by Billy Magnussen, appearing human rather than in disguises like glasses, sunhats, and dresses as in the animated film, to maintain emotional authenticity.

Camp explained that using human forms for Jumba and Pleakley allowed audiences to connect with the actors, stating, “We wrote these roles for Zach and Billy, and you do want to see them.”

The director noted that overly comedic elements could undermine the film’s stakes, saying, “if we go too clownish with this or that, does it undermine the stakes?”

Another alteration involved Pudge, the fish Lilo believes controls the weather, who now receives a lettuce and tomato sandwich instead of peanut butter, as Camp explained, “Peanut butter didn’t read very well underwater.”

Camp emphasized the thoughtful adaptation process, stating, “The process of adapting one of these films thoughtfully is taking every piece that you like from the original and saying, ‘Does that work in live action? And if not, what is something that has the same essence?’”

The live-action Lilo & Stitch retains the Elvis songs and droll one-liners loved by fans but introduces these changes to enhance the emotional narrative for a modern audience.