Disney's CGI Lilo & Stitch is causing major Sonic flashbacks

Stitch character design
The new CGI Stitch (left) vs the original cartoon design (right) (Image credit: Disney/Future)

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. 

Sonic

Paramount was forced to redesign Sonic the Hedgehog (Image credit: Paramount)

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:

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

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

TOPICS
Daniel John
Design Editor

Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles. He has interviewed leaders and designers at brands including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe. Daniel's debut book of short stories and poems was published in 2018, and his comedy newsletter is a Substack Bestseller.