Lilo & Stitch director explains major Cobra Bubbles change in live-action film

25 May 2025, 22:02 | Updated: 25 May 2025, 22:11

Why did Lilo & Stitch change Cobra Bubbles' character? Picture: Disney via YouTube, GMA via YouTube

By Katie Louise Smith

The original Cobra Bubbles character has now been split into two different roles: Cobra Bubbles the federal agent and Mrs. Kekoa the social worker.

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Lilo & Stitch is storming to box office success and stealing our hearts at the same time, but some fans have not been impressed by some of the changes in the new live-action remake.

From Pleakley not dressing in drag, Jumba not having his distinctive accent, and the fact that there's literally no Gantu (!?), lovers of the animated movie have been left baffled by some of the choices.

Another one of those big changes involves the iconic Cobra Bubbles. In the OG movie, Cobra Bubbles is introduced as a former CIA agent-turned-social worker. However, in the live-action, the role has been split in to two completely different characters.

Bubbles (played by Courtney B. Vance) still exists in the film, but the social worker aspect of his character now exists in the form of Mrs. Kekoa, a brand new addition – and there's a very specific reason why.

Read more: Lilo & Stitch director explains why Gantu was removed from live-action film

Live action Lilo & Stitch changes Cobra Bubbles' character as he is no longer the film's social worker. Picture: Alamy

Why did they change Cobra Bubbles in live-action Lilo & Stitch?

In the live-action Lilo & Stitch, viewers don't meet Cobra Bubbles until much later in the film when he tasked with capturing Stitch. In the remake, he is a federal agent, not the social worker.

Instead, we're introduced to social worker Mrs. Kekoa who arrives at Nani and Lilo's house as the two sisters are arguing after Nani doesn't make it to Lilo's hula dancing show.

Speaking to USA Today, director Dean Fleischer Camp explained that the decision was influenced by the new real-life setting.

"In order to buy these two girls getting separated in a live-action movie, 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," he said.

Explaining the perfect choice to have Tia Carrere, who voiced Nani in the animated movie, play Mrs. Kekoa, he added: "This grown-up Nani, with all her wisdom, is now advising a younger version of herself. It's beautiful."

Mrs. Kekoa plays the social worker in live-action Lilo & Stitch while Cobra Bubbles is a federal agent. Picture: Disney via YouTube

Fleischer Camp discussed the decision to change Cobra Bubbles' character in more detail in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, pointing out how live action can heighten or change the stakes of the story.

"You end up thinking about how it is a very different experience to see an actual 6-year-old girl potentially being threatened with being torn from her caregiver sister after grieving the loss of their parents," he said. "That is a very different kind of responsibility from a filmmaking perspective than what you can get away with in an animated film."

"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," he added, referring to Mrs. Kekoa.