How stupid to cut Cobra and David Kawena. I think those characters could co-exist with a female social worker and female friend for Nani to talk to about her issues. After all, Cobra could be spying around because of UFO-related reasons rather than social work reasons, the animated film just ties those two missions together to make the film tighter with less characters.
I have a feeling they wanted there to be a female social worker because Cobra Bubbles is rather cruel to Nani as far as treating her like she's abusive and threatening to take Lilo away from her. Perhaps Disney is thinking of immigration stories of children being taken away from their parents and how the depiction of this could make some think of that tangentially somehow??? Who knows. Anyway, I feel like they could have the new characters alongside the new characters. Nani could be dating David as well as having a friend; Cobra could be fishing around about UFO sightings related to Stitch while the new character is the social worker. I hope whoever's making this will comprehend that it doesn't have to be an either/or situation. I mean, thankfully Lilo & Stitch is not one of my big favs, but the remakes are always better when they're more faithful, just sayin'.
Cravalho feels like a bad fit for Nani. I know Disney likes to pick actors from "inside the house" so to speak, but Nani was always my favorite thing about L&S, she has more of a presence than I think Cravalho could manage... I mean, Nani is not princess-y at all. Nani always made me think of Sandra Bullock for some reason.