When it comes to CGI movie adaptations, we've seen a few character design clangers in recent years. The most notable has to be Sonic the Hedgehog, whose terrifyingly human teeth had to be edited out in a hasty redesign after the trailer caused a furore in 2020. And now, for better or worse, the new live action CGI Lilo & Stitch remake is bringing back memories of the blue hedgehog.
Disney gave fans their first glimpse of the CGI character design for Stitch, the titular koala-like creature. And while some think it shows that 3D character design has some a long way since the original Sonic, others think it's just as bad – or even worse.
In a short teaser clip shared by Disney (above), Stitch is seen bursting through the background (which reveals the release date of summer 2025). It's certainly a furrier and more textured take on the original cartoon character, and there's arguably nothing wrong with the design itself. But we're dealing with a character that everybody people already have strong childhood associations with – and as Sonic proved, there's such thing as too realistic, even for an anthropomorphised sort-of-animal.
Indeed, everyone and his hedgehog is comparing the design to Sonic. It seems the big question is: does Stitch look better or worse than Sonic? We'll let the tweets do the talking:
bruh stitch looks just fine. he is nowhere near the same levels of bad the original CG sonic was. https://t.co/FWH7nqPQchAugust 10, 2024
Why remake stitch 😭The original movie had so much soul, this is like sonic all over again. The model and such look fine but I'm struggling to imagine how they'll recreate scenes from the movie without stich being clearly cgi and just not in the scene. https://t.co/qWFEQIxMbMAugust 10, 2024
“live-action stitch looks just as bad as ugly live action sonic.” UHHH, NO???? https://t.co/eTOriotF6h pic.twitter.com/2MVnU9DdqNAugust 10, 2024
What tf has Disney done to my boy, Stitch?! He looks horrible. I get ugly life action Sonic vibes. pic.twitter.com/K660HZFZbpAugust 10, 2024
Stitch is my favorite fictional character ever. I also love Sonic as a character. That being said, in no way is live action Stitch anywhere as bad as original live action Sonic. The only thing really "wrong" with Stitch imo is the colors are bit muted, but other than it's great https://t.co/bTNXXHCG5VAugust 12, 2024
For our money, we're not quite looking at another Sonic situation here. CGI Stitch is still Stitch in spirit, although realistic fur on a previously 2D character is always going to send us to the uncanny valley. Although nothing is giving us the creeps quite like those Flux AI 'photos' right now.
