This one is probably the best animation that came out of Disney Studios in the 2000's. It is also the only Disney film that reminds us of Miyazaki, and that kind of compliment is something that we rarely bestow to anything.
Lilo & Stitch (2002)
A sincere little movie about family, sisterhood and friendship. Very funny and delighfully weird as well.
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| Pic: Imdb |
Characters
Now unlike the previous dreg that we watched, Lilo & Stitch has fewer characters and all of them fairly well defined.
Lilo: An actual child. She is one of the best child characters we've seen from Hollywood. A tad selfish and whiny but also traumatised which make the temper tantrums and selfishness understandable. She can also be read as being on the spectrum which was not very common at this time in films. All of these aspects make Lilo a relatable person, and for a child character, that is definitely a feat.
Stitch: Chaos personified. But also, adorable. Stitch is the one with the most defined character narrative in this story, since he learns the value of emotions and meaning of friendship and family during the course of the movie.
Nani: The hardest role to write well for this story, probably. This story managed to make Nani both responsible and frustrated with the responsibility that was thrust on her shoulders, because she herself is barely an adult. She has very human reactions to her sister and their situation while at the same time trying to do everything in her power to keep her and Lilo together. Also, we really like her character design, Nani doesn't have your usual Disney princess look.
Minor characters: We love pretty much everybody. Unlike in Atlantis almost every minor character in this film is a gem. Our first Disney DL gay couple with the two aliens Jumba (the mad scientist Russian uncle archetype) and Pleakley (the one obsessed with humans and who clearly likes wearing women's clothes archetype) sent after Stitch and especially Jumba learning to let Stich make their own decisions. Jumba is in the end depicted more as a father to Stitch than a villain, and we really like that. Every scene these two are in is hilarious. The CIA agent turned social worker Cobra Bubbles is another funny addition and Ving Rhames' voice brings both absurdity and gravitas to the character. David, Nani's coworker, is genuinely a decent dude and even the supposed "antagonist" Gantu is really not a villain.
Pic: Kino Regina
Story
Simple, effective and memorable. The story has a nice switcheroo that it starts big with intergalactic chaos and you'd think it's gonna be a space adventure but instead ends up being about loss, grief and found family. There are no villains to be seen in this movie and the emotional core about the sisters and Stitch's learning of human emotions and the found family that is formed with the gay alien uncles and former agent now social worker Cobra Bubbles at the end of the film, remind us so much of Miyazaki, who also rarely has villains in his stories and employs the found family trope often. All in all, a super heartwarming story and one of the few of Disney's roster where non-white main characters are front and center without much overt or suble racism.
Miscellaneous
2D animation beats 3D any day. Plus, the choice to use watercolours in the background was a stroke of genius. It looks amazing and the colours are so vivid and deep. Also, since this story is ultimately about children (Stitch is also a child, even if not human), watercolours make perfect sense. We would have liked maybe a bit more memorable score, but the Elvis of it all kinda makes up for the lack of memorable melodies. The few Hawaii'an songs that there are are pretty great, though.
