Review of Lilo & Stitch (2002) by Harry W — 13 Jan 2014

Lilo and Stitch was significantly more entertaining the first time I watched it as a child because I loved it then, and despite still finding entertainment now I managed to find several issues within the film.

Mainly it was a script thing. I found that the script in Lilo and Stitch was childish and therefore appealing to me as a child, but leaving several inconsistencies to go along with it and a very vague sense of creativity within characters and plotting.

The plot itself had issues because despite being an entertaining science fiction plot, the dynamics became repetitive and stretched out longer than they needed to be and it resulted in tedious viewing to have to sit through a story I once loved and see many issues that were hard for me to ignore so that I could embrace the film. Mainly, I found that there wasn't a balance between the story of surviving within sisterhood and learning not to let everything end up destroyed within the path of an unstoppable killing machine.

And what was reflected within both the plot and the script was an excessive amount of melodrama which was educational as a child but tedious to me now, and it made finding Lilo and Stitch to be a funny or charming film a challenge, or much of a compelling one either. Essentially, I was worn down by the melodramatic dynamics and the lack of character development, particularly in Lilo who proved to be a character who didn't seem to learn anything and couldn't balance her childish annoyance with any of the drama dealt around her and made the tone uneven. Essentially, because of this I wasn't particularly impressed with Lilo and Stitch and its confusing dynamics unless Stitch was committing comedic antics to make the viewer laugh, which luckily did still happen. Although it was amid issues including all the aforementioned points as well as poor pacing within was either too fast or too slow but never what it could and should have been and kept tones from ever reaching much of an even point.

Lastly, although the classical style animation was of mostly good quality, if the viewer's eye is drawn into the background there can be rough and occasional blurry visual quality found, which can throw the wrong viewer off, although it only affected me in a minor fashion.

Essentially, I could no longer embrace much of the childish fun of Lilo and Stitch because I took many of the dynamics a bit seriously and it's sad that I can't enjoy it as well anymore.

But that's not to say that Lilo and Stitch isn't a good film or that I didn't enjoy it.

I did enjoy how colourful it was and how creative the story is, as well as how it aims for various ages with its drama and doesn't merely aim straight at the children that are the usual audience. It was a bright tale that took place in a fun science fiction setting as well we a bright Hawaiian island which was conveyed very well with beauty and beaches all over.

And the voice acting was very well developed, particularly from Daveigh Chase who despite given some not so impressive lines to read, she delivers them very charismatically and rich with the charm of a child which has the character Lilo portrayed perfectly.

And Chris Sanders pulled a good directional effort on Lilo and Stitch, and his voice work as the titular Stitch / Experiment 626 was terrific and hilarious and cute and just perfect for the part.

And in the end, I found I enjoyed Lilo and Stitch as the charming kids film it was and always shall be.

Lilo and Stitch was the first film I watched after my parents divorced, so it has special meaning to me. And with or without that, Lilo and Stitch was a fun and colourful venture even with its flaws.