The film did indeed take on a weighty subject as the reviewer says, but I don't agree it was handled lightly - grief is implied, not ignored. We don't need to be shown in a Disney film how people react to grief, and to expect Disney to explain the concept of the death of a parent to children is unfair... Disney is in the business of giving us and our children entertainment. Penny in "The Rescuers" was an orphan, but I don't remember anyone expecting a detailed study of how being an orphan affected her present or future life!

The true theme of the story is, in my view, isolation and loneliness, feelings probably experienced and understood by many children at some point in their lives. Stitch was supplied as a different perspective to the same pain - where Lilo and Nani have lost their family, Stitch never had one. Bringing Lilo and Stitch together combines two characters who are natural companions because they both understand what it is to be lonely and isolated, and almost by definition only have each other as true companions, even if they don't realise it.

The film is light in places - it couldn't be "sad" all the way through otherwise it would grind on and on, either sending children to sleep or into tears. The characters relieve the tension with plenty of fun moments, such as training Stitch to be more like Elvis, or "frolicking on the beach". Who cares where the little Elvis costume came from! I've seen kids on television impersonating Elvis... maybe Lilo bought it from the same place as they did! The fun and companionship in the surfing scene is also a necessary element for Stitch to witness, not just an excuse for a surfing scene, as it shows him what he is rejecting when he fights Lilo's attempts to make him part of her family.

As for meanness in the story or jokes in the film being mean-spirited - well, part of the theme of the film is the redemption of Stitch, just as it is for Ebeneezer Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol", a character who is similarly mean-spirited, and also a parody of himself. As with Scrooge, Stitch's redemption would have no value if he weren't really bad to begin with! The greater the bad, the greater the value of the change to good at the end, and also the greater the goodness of the good characters for putting up with and persisting with the bad one!

"Lilo and Stitch" is one of the best animated films I've seen in many a long year. It isn't out to force-feed anyone's view of family morality, but is instead a true-to-modern-life story that many, many children will identify with, and also a nice redemption story in it's own right... if it has a fault, it's that the Disney mould for running time is too short for such an original and therefore valuable story, and perhaps it also ends a little too suddenly at the end, as if a better idea for an ending was abandoned at the last minute in favour of a more compact ending.

Chris Sanders, the voice of Stitch, is the person who came up with the idea of the story, did the original design drawings, contributed to the writing of the story, and also co-directed it along with Dean DeBlois. It is my hope that here is another great like Don Bluth in the making (and perhaps a Gary Goldman in Dean DeBlois). I will be watching out for their names in the future.

Well done Disney... I'm only sorry I wasn't able to see this film when I was 8, and had it to enjoy as a childhood memory throughout my life. I'll bet it's a while before we see the like of this film from Disney again. "Lilo and Stitch"'s unexpected popularity will probably cause it to be seen as a 'winning formula', and see it milked for all its worth, but I hope this first film of any future series manages to stay looking as fresh and original as it is now forever!

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

Real (and Good)  Dec 26, 2002
By J. Malin "Google technical writer"
Get this DVD and watch it, twice. It's worth it. The story is charming, emotional, and real to life. People find that they can change, that they have a place in life, even if it's not the same place as everyone else.

It's real Hawaii, the wonderful, traditional, somewhat anti-tourist place that I remember.

It's scientific fantasy without the endless laser blasts, a family story without the so-called "traditional" family, a love story that includes arguing... In short, it mirrors the lives we lead, but the mirror is forgiving.

Quite a lot for an animation!

And of course, it's full of the King of Rock and Roll, and that ain't bad.

You will read some review here that pan the movie because it features a less than idyllic family scene. My response is, thank goodness! I want the audience to raise it's hands if they've never EVER argued with a sibling...Good, no hands.

Great movie. A keeper.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

A Timeless Wonder and Delight  Dec 09, 2002
By K. Coleman "Wildrider"
I saw "Lilo & Stitch" in the theatre a week or so after it was released. Initial marketing from Disney didn't inspire me to want to see it much -- to be honest, it looked like the invasion of "cute Disney sidekick run amok," and the "cute sidekick critter" getting his own movie didn't appeal to me. The addition, the commercial's exclamation of "cowabunga!" really turned me off. But then, fortunately, I caught a "making of" short with Chris Sanders. I decided I did want to see it... and before it left the theatres, I'd managed to drag all my friends to see it with me, too, and recommended it across web boards and email lists across the net. I saw it seven times in the theatre and pre-ordered the disc as soon as it was available.

The movie itself; well, if you've read the other reviews here, you know the story. A little alien, who is an illegal genetic experiment by an "evil genius," escapes his captors (who have sentenced him to life on a prison asteroid) and crash-lands on one of the islands of Hawai'i. There he masquerades as a dog so as to use the little girl who adopts him, Lilo, as a shield to prevent his re-capture. What he didn't expect -- despite having the brains to "think faster than super computer" -- was that he would come to love his little shield, and want not only to love and protect her from his alien pursuers, but also to be a part of her little family; for Lilo is an orphan, and is as exiled and lonely as he himself is.

That Stitch is a mean and nasty creature is a given; his creator, Jumba Jukiba, says right from the start that his "Experiment 626" was created as a weapon of mass destruction, an unstoppable machine with no other purpose than to destroy. But Lilo, who herself is not your run-of-the-mill individual (she studies "Practical Voodoo" to punish her "friends," who tease her and exclude her from their play; she feeds a peanut butter sandwich to a fish named "Pudge" once a week because he controls the weather; she made her own doll and because the head is too big, she pretends bugs laid eggs in the doll's ears), knows that her "puppy" is the right one from her. She tells him right away, "You ruin everything you touch. Why don't you make something?"

Disney doesn't lay it on too thick with this story, and I suspect that is the masterful hand of Chris Sanders in all aspects of its creation. It's irreverent, but not annoying; it's sweet but not cloying; it's hilarious and silly, but never stupid. That this alien who was "never given a higher purpose" finds one "all on his own" is the true moral of the story. That family is where you find it, and that love is greater than anything, is obvious without being driven home with a hammer.

Lilo is an Elvis fan, so most of the music used in the movie are great Elvis classics -- "Devil In Disguise," "Stuck On You," "Hound Dog," and "Heartbreak Hotel." My only complaint was using a new recording (by country/blues artist Wynonna) of "Burning Love" over the final "year in the life of Stitch & Family" montage instead of Elvis' magnificent recording, but I guess they wanted a few more original cuts (there is also a cover of "Can't Help Falling In Love" over the credits, as well as two brand-new songs) in addition to the nearly all-Elvis soundtrack... but at least Wynonna kicks it into high gear with her cover, and it's growing on me. "Lilo & Stitch" is not a musical -- all the music is made to enhance the story only, used only as background.

The DVD is an overall great buy, as well; containing not only this marvelous film but also a great collection of extras -- lessons in how to do the hula, a study of the islands of Hawai'i, behind-the-scenes with the magnificent Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois, scenes of the vocal recordings with the actors (something that has become my favorite extra on ANY Disney DVD), story and animation development, music videos, and more.

Perhaps I came to love this movie because I've always been a fan of so many of its elements -- animation, Elvis, science fiction -- or maybe it's because I was the sort of child Lilo was -- fanciful, lonely, and excluded -- or perhaps it's all those things and more. "Lilo & Stitch" is a gentle, quiet, timeless little movie (note that Lilo listens to vinyl RECORDS, not to CDs, and there's not a computer in their house), as sweet as it is funny. Disney needs to remember the times when their movies were more about people and problems than hype and selling merchandise (although for the first time since "The Lion King" I went out looking for that merchandise... and found precious little). Or maybe it's just because it's nice to go to a movie (or rent one, or buy one) and just hear good dialogue telling a good story for a change, and not just special effects and "wow isn't this technologically advanced" CG animation. It's just a good story, and it's so nice to see.

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