Lilo and Stitch Movie Review

Lilo and Stitch (2002) Written by Chris Sanders, Directed by Dean DeBlois.

Lilo is a little girl living on Kauai, a Hawaiian island. Lilo lives with her older sister, Nani. They are orphans, and Nani is doing all she can to keep their little family together. Lilo is rather unusual, highly imaginative and just a little bit different.

Experiment 626 is a bioweapon, created by the idiot scientist/evil genius Jumba Jookiba. Experiment 626 is deemed a hazard to galactic safety, and sentenced to life in exile on a desert asteroid. But 626 is designed to be adaptive, and contrary, and he escapes. His flight path takes him to, you guessed it, Hawaii.

Lilo is having problems adjusting to her parents death. Already overly imaginative, she lacks the strong grounding that would allow her to develop in a more normal manner. Her 'friends', the girls in her hula class, do not like her. They are very much 'Queen Bees and Wannabes.' Myrtle Edmond, the Queen Bee, is particularly harsh with Lilo.

Lilo's "problem" is her perspective. She doesn't have a lot of toys, so she makes a doll, Scrump. Scrump's head is too big, so Lilo 'fixes' the problem with a backstory; Scrump had a bug lay its eggs in her ear, and so she's sad because she only has a few days left to live....

The other girls do not respond well to this...explanation.

So Lilo is a little girl with a powerful imagination, grieving, without a strong parental figure, who is isolated and confused as to why she doesn't fit in. Sounds like a fun movie to me!

And it is. When Lilo sees Experiment 626's ship crash, she mistakes it for a falling star, and wishes on it, asking for a friend, an angel who will be her friend and not leave, the best angel God can send her.

What she gets, because Nani overheard, and Nani is trying so very hard, is a new pet.

Experiment 626, after being run over by two big rigs, is taken to the pound. Guess who Lilo adopts?

Now named Stitch, Experiment 626 is not off the hook. The Galactic Federation have dispatched two aliens to retrieve 626; Jumba, his creator, and Pleakly, a one eyed three legged "expert" on Earth, whose only importance in galactic affairs is as a preserve for the endangered species the Mosquito. Jumba, already nutty as squirrel poo, has a blast first, blast second, blast some more and then sort out the pieces. But Pleakly will not allow the evil genius to interfere with the Mosquito's food source...in this case, Lilo.

So Stitch is only safe so long as he pretends to be Lilo's dog.

Stitch only has instincts for destruction. He will be drawn to large cities where he will back up the sewer system, redirect traffic signs and steal everyone's left shoe. But in Kuaui, there are no major cities.

Now folded into the family, Stitch gets to see how it works. Nani is really a heroic young woman, a mere teenager, orphaned, thrust suddenly into the role of mother. She works as a waitress at a luau, supporting her tiny family. Enter David Kawena; David is the fire dancer at the luau. He wants to date Nani, but Nani has too much on her plate. Lilo is supportive of David though, telling him "She likes you. She likes your but and your fancy hair. I know, I read her diary." David "She thinks its fancy?"

But Jumba's effort to capture Stitch ends up with Nani being fired. And that brings in the social worker. Cobra Bubbles. Mr. Bubbles is the one they call in when things have gone wrong. Lilo, upon meeting him asks, "Have you ever killed anyone?" It's a fair question. Cobra side steps it. He lays down the law. Nani must have a job. Lilo has to turn Stitch into a model citizen.

What follows is a hilarious comedy of errors. Lilo uses as her example of a model citizen Elvis Presley. Every time Nani closes in on a job, some faux pass of Stitch's ruins her chance.

Pressure from all sides are closing in on the tiny family. Included in this are Captain Gantu, dispatched to clean up Jumba's and Pleakly's failure.

This movie is hilarious. Lilo's outlook on life is infectious. Her patience with Stitch is amazing, her sweetness so very endearing. And there are some incredibly funny lines.

Lilo, (As Stitch destroys the model of San Francisco he built.) "No more caffeine for you."
Lilo, showing Stitch a drawing of him shaded red to the eyebrows. "This is your badness level. Its unusually high for someone your size."
Lilo, making spoons into little girls in hula dresses and sticking them in a half full pickle jar, a copy of Practical Voodoo by her side. (and to the case worker, no less) "My friends need to be punished."
And my personal favorite: "Oh, good! My dog found the chainsaw!"

There are so many things to love about this movie. The art is one. It is a bit unusual for Disney; For one thing, the Hawaiian's look ethnic. Large, soft noses. Curves. Rounded hineys and soft bellies. Substantial ankles. No Barbie dolls here, except for Myrtle's Barbies. And tourists are even more realistic. Lilo is fascinated by the two tone mainlanders, fish belly white and lobster red. Also the natural beauty of the islands and their waters is captured.

Another thing that I find fascinating is the frank way the movie deals with their little broken family. Their parents died. Nani is on the verge of loosing Lilo to child protective services. One thing I love about Disney is it does not underestimate children. They understand that Lilo's family is broken. But still good.

And here is the third thing I love about this movie. It increased my vocabulary. Ohana. Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind, or forgotten.

Indeed, the movie harps on that account. But that is good. It hits several themes repeatedly. The wonderfully eclectic life Lilo has lead in a house with few toys, but many books. The nature of sisters, and how they fight. And that poor little two toned fat man with his mint chocolate chip ice cream. How many times did he loose his cone? Four? Children love patterns they can pick up on. So do I for that matter.

The voice talents are unbelievable and make this movie what it is:
Daveigh Chase as Lilo. Without this little girls perkiness, professionalism and purity, this movie would have never worked.
Chris Sanders as Stitch. Chris wrote this, and saved all the best parts for himself. Clever man.
Tia Carrera as Nani. I was amazed when I heard this. A great performance from an actress who usually uses her beauty to make a statement.
David Ogden Stiers as Jumba. A great evil genius alien.
Kevin Mcdonald as the overly excitable Pleakly. A comedian's dream of an over the top part.
Ving Rhames as the suave and menacing Cobra Bubbles. This is the funniest I have ever seen this man, and that includes his performance in Chuck and Larry.
Kevin Michael Richardson as the menacing Captain Gantu.
And Jason Scott Lee as the wonderful David Kawena. Jason, like Tia, is one of those actors whose sex appeal frequently overshadows amazing talent.

Lilo and Stitch is one of that best breed of movie, a movie made for kids, but intelligent enough for the adults who have to take them. I give this my highest recommendation.