Lilo & Stitch (2002 film)
(Redirected from Lilo & Stitch (2002))
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.jpg) "Ohana" means family. Family means nobody gets left behind.
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Lilo & Stitch is a 2002 American animated science fiction comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 42nd Disney animated feature film was written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois in their directorial debuts. It features Daveigh Chase and Sanders as the voices of the title characters and also features the voices of Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Ving Rhames, Jason Scott Lee, and Kevin Michael Richardson. It was officially released on June 21, 2002.
Plot
A tale of a young girl's close encounter with the galaxy's most wanted extraterrestrial. Lilo is a lonely Hawaiian girl who adopts a small ugly "dog," whom she names Stitch. Stitch would be the perfect pet if he weren't in reality a genetic experiment who has escaped from an alien planet and crash-landed on Earth. Through her love, faith, and unwavering belief in ohana, the Hawaiian concept of family, Lilo helps unlock Stitch's heart and gives him the ability to care for someone else.
Why It Means Family
- One of Disney's most beloved films. Disney makes a point in all their trailers and commercials to show Stitch as the Rodney Dangerfield of animated characters: he doesn't get any respect.
- Many likable and unique characters.
- Stitch was loved by critics and viewers for not only being adorable and funny, but also for having an arc that is emotional, and development his development felt natural.
- Nani's boyfriend David Kawena is, while a bit bland, very supportive and understanding of both Pelekai sisters' plights, and does the best he can to support them rather than try to force a romance with Nani when she is not emotionally available.
- One of the most realistic plots in any Disney film ever released. We see in full detail how the death of Lilo and Nani's parents affected them, since Lilo developed behaviorial problems and Nani is constantly tired of having to raise Lilo and maintain a job. It's also heartbreaking when we learn Lilo feeds a fish named Pudge sandwiches to appease him as she believes he controls the weather. It doesn't sound heartbreaking until you learn that her parents died in a storm.
- Great voice acting. Even the film's own creator/writer/director (Chris Sanders) does well for his first lead voice acting role.
- Beautiful songs, including "He Mele No Lilo" and "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride".
- Great score of Robert Zemeckis's frequent collaborator, Alan Silvestri.
- Elvis Presley. No further establishing, just hail to the King, baby.
- The final battle was somewhat awesome.
- Plenty of funny moments, including several hilarious lines such as "If I gave Pudge tuna, I'd be an abomination!" and "Oh, good, my dog found the chainsaw."
- The ending where Stitch wishes that he wants a family and he already did.
- Kauai, Hawaii seems to be a great place, and the film captures its lifestyle perfectly.
- Beautiful watercolor backgrounds, painting Hawaii in a beautiful light.
- Realistic and sympathetic portrayals of Native Hawaiians' modern-day lives and struggles to get by.
- It has memorable parody crossover trailers, including Stitch scaring Rafiki and the animals away.
- "Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."
Bad Qualities
- Some characters can be intolerable at times:
- Mertle Edmonds can be annoying and unlikeable sometimes. Also, her actress (Miranda Paige Walls) sounded almost bored in the role, which made her decision not to continue pursuing an acting career understandable. (This film and the video game Lilo & Stitch: Trouble in Paradise are the only two major media works Walls ever performed on; Liliana Mumy took over the role of Mertle for the sequel films and Lilo & Stitch: The Series.)
- Additionally, Nani (despite still being a good character overall) can come off as needlessly hard and mean-spirited towards Stitch in a way that doesn't feel sympathetic or understandable enough (and her attitude doesn't feel enough like it stems from her past), even if Stitch is an unknown creature. Furthermore, her reasons for resenting Stitch and asserting that he's evil are somewhat underdeveloped and even paranoid to an extent, as she has seen Stitch spend time with Lilo and she can see that Stitch behaves in a more animalistic (if slightly aggressive fashion) and normally doesn't try harming Lilo, even trying his best to follow what Lilo is trying to teach him (yet Nani still kept asserting that all the trouble he does is intentional and out of malice). Nani should already know that Stitch isn't exactly evil, but she kept forcefully trying to find the worst in him. Thankfully though, she does eventually accept Stitch as family after seeing that he cares about Lilo and knows "Ohana".
- At one point, she angrily attempted to drown Stitch after jumping to the conclusion that he was trying to drown Lilo, even though he hasn't tried hurting her before. Even if Nani didn't see Jumba and Pleakly trying to capture Stitch in the water, she shouldn't have assumed that Stitch tried to kill Lilo just because she saw him grab onto her and that they both went underwater. Plus, Stitch looked more like was trying to use Lilo to avoid getting underwater and Nani sees this.
- Also, right before the final battle, Nani smacking Stitch with a branch is needlessly harsh, and she still blindly assumes he wanted all the trouble to happen. She even asserts that he's a threat to Lilo even though she doesn't know enough or have enough proof.
- The UK edit (also used on Disney+ worldwide) changed Lilo's hiding spot (in her and Nani's fight) from a dryer to a commode with a pizza box for a door, but to be fair, it would be inappropriate for a younger kid to climb into a tumble dryer, especially for kids movie standards. The TV edit is worse as it just removes the scene altogether, leaving a plot hole for TV viewers. Granted, kids shouldn't be hiding in dryers anyway, but still. Jumba's noticeable art shifts in several scenes. Granted, this was due to circumstances beyond the production team's control, but it's still distracting.
- There is a minor plot hole: If Cobra Bubbles encountered an alien race in the past, even convincing them that mosquitos are an endangered species, how did he not notice that Stitch was an alien right away?
- The film was originally scheduled to be released somewhere in 2001 but was pushed to June 2002 since the flight scene had to be changed up because... well... watch this to connect the dots.
- The film spawned three sequels that weren't well-recieved, those being;
- Stitch! The Movie - A MASSIVE downgrade from the first film, due to the amout of horrible flanderizations, weaker animation than the first film, and being much shorter than it.
- Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch - While still decent, and deemed an improvement over the previous film, was very flawed.
Reception
Lilo & Stitch received largely positive reception. Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film has an 86% "Certified Fresh" approval rating based on 148 reviews, with an average score of 7.27/10. The site's consensus reads, "Edgier than traditional Disney fare, Lilo and Stitch explores issues of the family while providing a fun and charming story.". The film has also earned a score of 73 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Trivia
- Lilo & Stitch is very popular in Japan, Malaysia, and China, which may explain the existences of Stitch! and Stitch and Ai.
Videos
External Links
- Lilo & Stitch (2002) at the Internet Movie Database
- Lilo & Stitch (2002) on Rotten Tomatoes
- Lilo & Stitch (2002) on Metacritic
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