This past weekend may have added up to huge box office dollars as moviegoers ran out to catch the “Stitchpossible” double feature. However, while fans made both movies massive hits and appear to have liked both movies in equal measure, the same cannot be said for critics.
Critics and audiences don’t always agree on what makes for a great movie, but they are in much closer agreement on the quality of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning than they are on the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch. Audiences actually liked both movies more than critics, and in the case of the Disney movie, by a great deal.
Audiences Like Lilo & Stitch A Lot More Than Critics
Both new films received the Verified Hot rating on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating a significantly positive response from audiences. Those audiences actually preferred Lilo & Stitch to the final Mission: Impossible, with the former film getting a 93% score and the latter hitting 89%.
Critics, on the other hand, have only come together to give the new Tom Cruise movie the Verified Fresh rating, with the movie receiving positive responses from 80% of critics. L&S, however, sits much further down the scale at 69%.
Based on these percentages, it would seem that audiences are leaning towards the notion of Lilo & Stitch being one of the better Disney live-action remakes. While critics seem to agree, there are still many who feel that the second time around, the story lost something.
Lilo & Stitch’s Rotten Tomatoes Gap Is Still Smaller Than Snow White’s
While the gap between audiences and critics might appear somewhat surprising, it’s actually not that far from the norm. Generally, the responses to the various Mission: Impossible movies from fans and critics are similar. Both groups tell you that M:I – Fallout is great, while M:I 2 is not.
Audiences and critics are often in significant disagreement on this particular corner of the Disney franchise machine. The general viewing public tends to like Disney’s live-action remakes more than critics, though they can also dislike some of them a great deal more.
The previous remake from Disney, Snow White, was a bomb with critics, with a 40% RT score, and it was a box office flop. With that said, the movie has a perfectly respectable 71% RT score with the audiences who did see it. Movies like The Lion King and Aladdin saw critic scores nearly as bad but received even better audience scores. On the opposite side of the coin, you have a remake like Mulan, which is one of the better-performing films among critics, but bombed with audiences.
Lilo & Stitch is hardly the first movie that wasn’t adored by critics to make giant piles of money at the box office. It likely won’t be the last either. You can check out the film and fellow 2025 movie schedule entry Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in theaters now.