Review of Lilo & Stitch (2002) by Thomas B — 06 Apr 2011

Edgier than traditional Disney fare, Lilo and Stitch is easily the best Disney movie of the early 2000's. I'm terribly ill again and I watched this when my mom dug out some old VHS tapes. I absolutely adored this movie as a child and I still adore this today. It is a super-fun super entertaining movie that will please people young and old and has the same timeless feel that all great Disney movies has. It also features cool memorable characters, great animation, and a powerful underlying message about family.

Lilo & Stitch takes place in Hawaii, where a young misfit girl named Lilo lives with her sister Nani. They are in trouble with the social worker and Nani needs to fix her parenting methods in three days or Lilo will be taken away. Lilo adopts a puppy that seems to be just an innocent puppy, but is actually the mischievous alien Experiment 626 (AKA Stitch). Stitch takes Hawaii by storm and is targeted for recapture by Jumba, the scientist who created him, and Pleakley, the galactic expert on Earth. The rest of the movie is a chase movie with an intergalactic twist and a powerful message about family.

The film has wonderful memorable characters, like most disney classics do, and they are all hilarious. There's Lilo and Nani of course, but the aliens are probably much funnier than them. First of all, there's Jumba and Pleakley, who are easily the most amusing characters in the movie. I suppose it helps that Pleakley is voiced by Kevin MacDonald, of Kids in the Hall fame (for those of you who don't know what Kids in the Hall is, it's an epic canadian comedy series and everyone should watch it). There's also Cobra Bubbles, the social worker and he's incredibly hilarious, just for his straight-man ness. All in all, I was fully invested in the characters and they made me laugh for the entire movie.

The film features some wonderful animation like all Disney movies do. However, there isn't really much else to say about that, so we'll move on to the story itself. The premise of the movie is wonderful, and Disney hadn't done aliens before this movie. Well, they've done aliens now and that's fantastic and probably what made kids, both boys and girls, love this movie so much. The script was also kinda funny, but nothing really spectacular. The movie spawned some sequels and a TV show, but I've only seen the TV show and that was pretty good. All in all, a good story that made for a great movie.

The film features the line "Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten", and that's pretty much the theme of the movie. Lilo and Nani have the subplot with the social worker because Nani became Lilo's legal guardian when their parents passed away in a car accident (or so the movie suggests). It is also the theme for the transformation of Stitch because he receives unconditional love from Lilo when Jumba had just created him to destroy. Needless to say, this film eplores themes that make it just a tad bit edgier than normal Disney fare and make it a powerful movie that's just as entertaining as it is emotionally resonant.

Lilo and Stitch is another great Disney classic that can be shared across the years with many generations. It is definitely a must-see for everyone and is a splendidly entertaining, emotionally resonant, full of memorable characters, beautifully animated, and great for all ages. Hopefully I;ll get to watch more movies and write more reviews today, but illness for me now means 5 day weekend, so you can expect more reviews coming soon. All in all, see this movie, you won't be disappointed.