Despite advertisements that showcase "Lilo & Stitch" as the black sheep of the Disney family, this cute and funny flick fits right into the strong tradition of Disney animations.
In "Lilo & Stitch," Disney blends old artistic techniques and classic Disney features with fresh characters and gives the entire concoction a new-fangled twist.
The movie opens in the galaxy Tura, where mad scientist Jumba (David Ogden Stiers with a funky Russian accent) is standing trial for the crime of engineering a genetic monster. Experiment 626 is designed to destroy everything he comes across, and as punishment, the scientist is jailed and the offensive creature sentenced to exile on a lonely asteroid.
However, in a show of cunning, Experiment 626 escapes and manages to steal a police vehicle (the red one, to the dismay of the police officers who obviously preferred that particular spacecraft).
Experiment 626 crash-lands into a quiet Hawaiian town, where he is promptly mowed over by a truck and taken to an animal shelter.
The island of Experiment 626's landing is the home of Lilo (Daveigh Chase), a pint-sized spitfire with a tough right fist and a vulnerable core, who is lonely and shunned by her classmates. Lilo and older sister Nani (Tia Carrerre) are left alone in the world after the untimely death of their parents. And to make matters even more precarious, social worker Cobra Bubbles (Ving Rhames with a James Earl Jones-esque rolling bass) is always lurking around their home, surfacing at the worse moments and looking for any excuse to take Lilo away.
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In an attempt to find Lilo a companion and curb her wild ways, Nani agrees to let her adopt a puppy. True to Lilo's misfit nature, she selects Experiment 626 as her pet and names him "Stitch" (Chris Sanders). By sucking in a pair of arms and head spikes, Stitch manages to pull off an identity as a puppy, if a dog looks like the one nightstand between a canine and koala. How Lilo, or anyone, for that matter, mistakes Stitch for a dog is beyond me, but adopts him she does.
The turn of events has now hit the pith of the film. Lilo and Stitch are adorable together and enjoy each other's company, reveling in Elvis and general destruction.
Stitch's actions are a mixed bag, as he is trying to avoid two aliens sent to ship him back to his origins as well as adjust to his new surrounds hampered by his violent nature. But eventually Lilo wins his heart and loyalty. From there on, the ending is obvious and even a bit trite.
"Lilo" is not your typical Disney, but this is a new group of kids. The child in question isn't embroiled in an arranged marriage, a sadistic stepmother, but rather she just wants to be loved. Not to mention she listens to Elvis, has a penchant for Picasso during her "blue period" and thinks her sister would like her better if she were a rabbit.
Unfortunately, "Lilo" suffers from inconsistencies which otherwise mar its pristine watercolor animation and snappy voices. The plot never fully develops any emotion wholeheartedly, and viewers are torn between tears of sadness when Lilo cries with lonesomeness (takes one hard-skinned soul to reject the innocent sobs of a child) wanting to giggle at her antics. All these, however, should not take place within a matter of seconds, as the movie shifts gears so often.
At the movie's end, I'm still unsure what to make of Stitch. Is he a villain, a symbol of political correctness or the much-needed angel? He is accepted into Lilo and Nani's small family, but I'm uneasy that he will make life easy or enjoyable for them.
Stitch's voice also is mechanical and devoid of any nuances. Appropriately, his first words on camera in any language is a string of obscenities that produce many a gasp and even a vomit reaction from the alien panel.
Lilo, on the other hand, is pure charm. She is very real in her struggles, and her fiery disposition and obsession with Elvis endears her past the usual cute-girl, bad-circumstances, boo-hoo fa
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