This is a great film. At first I was kind of against it, but after watching it, I discovered this was a cute, funny, heartfelt film. The animation style is very nice. I felt Stitch's eyes really conveyed a lot of emotion, which is interesting considering they are little more than big black blots. And the music was good, too. I reccomend this to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Before I start this review, let me say this: No one film has ever been able to make me both laugh and cry before this one: plenty have done one or the other, but this is the only one that has ever managed both. An even bigger thing is that this film managed to get laughs and tears out of me even after repeated viewings. In many ways this marks a milestone in my experience with feature length animation.

Some of this is to do with the fact that Lilo and Stitch came out at the exact right time for me, during a period when I had took out a subscription with my (then) local cinema and the first time that I was away from my own family for any real length of time.

Of course it all started with those trailers, never before had I ever found a trailer in the least bit funny; so the self-effacing mock trailers that advertised this film where hugely refreshing. So faced with what I thought were the best adverts that Disney had ever done, I started to get very interested in this film.

It’s the little things that help, like the Earth being pronounced as “E-Arth” and referred to by the aliens as being in “Sector 005, Area 51” A nice throwaway reference to America’s “non-existent” Nevada base, which has been a mainstay of sci-fi culture for so many years.

In her review for Stitch: The Movie, Inkwolf said that Stitch’s condition was sort of like a metaphor for mental illness. Call it an reaction to having a mental condition myself, but I saw this in the first movie, on my first viewing. Because of my own condition. I have Aspergers syndrome, and as a result was a terrible child to live with. Unsocial, prone to fits of temper, easy to wind up, taking things like metaphors almost literally. All this thanks to a genetic mental condition that generally meant that, in a way, I was wired a little differently than other people. Then, I changed, almost as suddenly and as permanently as Stitch did, mostly because I found better outlets to pursue; art and videogames, things I could pour my heart, anger and neuroses into. So in many ways, I saw Stitch as a mirror of myself and my life.

Then I didn’t see Stitch’s change as all that dramatically quick. Little expressions occurred throughout the film that show that Stitch was beginning to understand the concept of family much earlier than you might think. After all Jumba did state that he was capable of thinking faster than a super computer.

The concept of the ugly ducking story throughout the film holds true and strong. Stitch is the ultimate misfit, lost in a universe were everything seems to be against him. On an island were he has no real function, going against everything he knows and were everything he does causes trouble for his ‘owner.’ He has few if any memories, and those he does have can’t be very good ones (‘I hear you cry at night’ a sympathetic Lilo states to a then immensely depressed Stitch). And he realizes that the one thing that is for him (Lilo), he and his instincts is diving away. In many way this is a reflection of our own, more basic primal instincts, which themselves could be harmful in today’s world if not kept in some sort of check. In a documentary about subversion in animation, John Kricfalusi (creator of Ren and Stimpy) said that we are just cavemen in clothes, meaning that beneath our suppose culture and laws, our species is always on the brink of self-destruction. We fight against our natural, pre-programmed instincts for the most part, in order to live together peacefully. Stitch does much the same on his own level, he fights an internal war, and that is a great deal harder than fighting an external one.

The pudgy character design, coupled with the watercolor backdrops, give the film a unique look among Disney films. Disney hadn’t used the medium since Dumbo (outside of the ‘Carnival of the Animals’ segment of Fantasia), mostly due to the problems that watercolor can produce, being not as forgiving as gauche or acrylic paints.

Some truly outstanding character animation lies here, from great action to warm, emotional scenes; little things like Stitch asking/begging to go on a surf-board ride. The little moments between the two sisters as they come down from their various arguments. The point which choked me up more times than I care to admit is when Stitch states ‘I’m lost’ to the woods like in the ugly duckling book he carefully looks after; only to be met with the miserable news that Jumba tells him, the look of complete despair on 626’s face when he is told that he ‘can never belong’ to any family is as he is built to destroy is as powerful as any of Disney’s lowest emotional moments: he has in a very real sense become truly lost.

The other great thing is that there is no one character here who is inherently good or evil. This shades of grey approach to the characters is a refreshing change from near one-dimensional beings that can plague animated films. If there is any true villain here, then it’s Captain Gantu, who’s impatience, bigoty and lack of sympathy with the other characters plights doesn’t gain him much in the way of karma.

It’s a very heartfelt movie, more than most, and one that manages to avoid the usual pitfalls of Disney cliché. Ultimately though, maybe it’s just the fact that it is everything I wished it to be and more. An actually funny sci-fi adventure starring a cute, mischievous fuzz ball of a alien, with moments that touched my heart like few films before. A film that hasn’t dismissed after a immense amount of repeat viewings (I went to see it somewhere in the region of 20 times at the cinema) and the only film that I’ve brought any merchandise, ever.

Lilo and Stitch is a very cute movie. I wasn't expecting a lot from it by what I had seen in trailers, so this film was a pleasent surprise.
The characters are all very lovable or hate-able, and have depth to them. The character design is attractive, instead of everything being squared off everything is rounded, which also makes stitch and lilo look cuter too. The animation is great and a bit different from the Disney norm.
The storyline is strong and had a good moral. They balanced the humor and more serious parts rather nicely. I can't say much for the score, because it's pratically non-exsistant, the main focus are Elvis songs. But hey that's a nice break from the norm, since most newer films are chock full of pop songs.
Overall it's a really neat, fun to watch movie.

This film is a lot of fun. I mean it, it's a real blast. This isn't the kind of science fiction you'd see by watching old Twilight Zone episodes or reading Ray Bradbury, both of which are cool in their own way...but this is just raw coolness. Try combining fascinating characters who are part of a somewhat underappreciated American culture with huge, shiny spaceships, ray guns, giant sharks, and secret aliens. Secret aliens! You can't go wrong. And at one point in the film, kids are depicted riding their own personal hovercraft. Come on. You KNOW you wanted a hovercraft when you were a kid.

I will point out one minor flaw. I don't know how I spotted this, but there is an inconsistency in the style of the animation: By the end of the movie, the characters' heads seem to have swelled to nearly twice their original size. Maybe it was just the last scene, or something, but at least a couple of the characters had this...problem. Well, at least I would consider swelling of the head a problem. But they didn't seem to mind.

Post-edit: It seems I forgot to mention the beautiful appearance of this film. The colors are absolutely gorgeous, and aside from the little aforementioned head issue, the style is unique and consistent. The animation is smooth and flowing. Everything has a kind of soft, warm feel to it, a feel that only a classic Disney animation can really create.

News is going around that the big-rollers like Disney and Dreamworks are abandoning their 2D animation departments in favor of 3D animation. Lilo & Stitch, as a 2D film, may be one of the last to come to the big screen--and, ironically, it was a major success (gee, what does THAT suggest?). This is one of Disney's best, and an excellent display of the beauty of traditional animation.

Ok, finally got to see the second half of the film.

Disney really lifted its game from 'Tarzan' through to 'Brother Bear'. Five out of six in a row that were either good or great. Their early 90's films probably did a little better than they should have, riding the coat-tails of their late 80's films, and their 00's movies generally did more poorly than they deserved, reaping the disinterest which set in after four relatively lacklustre post-Lion King efforts, at the same time as Pixar was blowing everyone away.

I was in love with the way this film was drawn, particularly once it got to Hawaii. The characters were just great, the dialog was terrific (and hey, this one was written and directed by _two_ people, proving you don't need a small army of screenwriters such as Disney have unleashed on many lesser movies). The story is completely unexpected, the interactions between the characters just lovely. The animation isn't as amazing as 'Tarzan' (the budget was a lot lower, though), but the character drawings are fine, and the lighter feel of the animation and backgrounds suits 'Lilo'. It's not a film that you really want to be swallowed by, which 'Tarzan' is inclined to do at times.

I had a little bit of trouble with Stitch's transition from pre-programmed psycopath to family guy. It just sort of seemed to happen a bit too easily - but there are other things about the film which are a bit ramshackle and ridiculous, and if this is a fault, it's not a big one.

Lilo is adorable - and you won't find me saying that about little kid characters very often (or little kids at all, actually). So's her sister. Actually the girls in this film are about the...errrr... curviest Disney has drawn, aren't they?

Basically I thought 'Lilo' was a hoot. Like 'Tarzan', it teeters on the brink of four stars for me. I think I'll be watching this one again, and if I change my mind, I'll come back and give it that extra half star.

Lilo and Stich was, I think, the only Disney animated feature of the 2000's to actually make money at the box office. I think most of them deserved to, but this one probaby most of all.. It was a valiant effort, but by 2002 the writing was on the wall: Disney's animation department's days were numbered. This would have been a noble swansong, and might even have saved things, but then came the box office catastrophe of 'Treasure Planet'. Ah, well. *sigh*

Instead of trying to pilfer literary works, Disney tries its hand once again at creating an original story, and once again the result is an astonishing achievement. The story is penned by the same person that crafted the marvelous Mulan, and it shows. The characters are drawn with a very appealing round look that is almost similar to the designs of Mulan and The Lion King. Instead of using computer generated images, the animators opted to paint all the backgrounds with watercolors and the result is a very beautiful that hasn't been seen since Dumbo.

At first glance, one would think that this movie was very warm and fuzzy. However this movie's humor is very edgy and left field. While perhaps not as wildly hilarious as The Emperor's New Groove, Lilo and Stitch is certainly not as tame as the average Disney movie. Without resorting to tired jokes and pop culture references, except for maybe one really funny nod towards bad horror movies, much of the humor in Lilo and Stitch results from acts of incredibly bad behavior, dead pan dialogue, and incredibly warped lines. The cross-dressing theme seen in Mulan is taken to higher levels of gender bending in this movie. And it all works.

However the true heart of the movie lies in its brilliant story, which again is decidedly not warm and fuzzy. While previous Disney movies have dealt with serious issues before, not since The Fox and the Hound has a Disney movie made me feel so alive like Lilo and Stitch has. It deals with very serious issues. Lilo's family is a little dysfunctional, consisting of just her and her sister Nani. Nani struggles to keep Lilo out of the hands of social workers while Lilo is stressed out and takes it out on everybody. But when a destructive monster called Stitch enters her life, Lilo discovers what it's like to care for someone that's less than agreeable and Stitch discovers the heart he never knew he had, and everybody learns important lessons about family and that families come in all looks and shapes and sizes. Okay so it gets a little heavy handed, but trust me. There will be more than one time when you will cry. But don't worry about this movie depressing you. It will certainly lift your spirits like it did mine. Especially considering the music, which doesn't utilize Broadway style songs or extravagant instrumental scores but expertly integrated Elvis songs and authentic Hawaiian music.

Ironically enough, quite a few critics panned this gem of a movie, saying it was the worst thing Disney's ever put out and that the two main characters are unappealing monsters. The less-than-attractive sides of the main characters are what make this movie so emotional and believable and the humor is all the better for its edginess. What brings this movie down is something else. While Stich is supposed to be an alien, the science ficion element just seems a little out of place among the very real world issues this movie tackles and the authentic Hawaiian scenery. It also holds very little weight. While the designs were convincing enough that you believed you were really staring at a rather large and weighty spaceship, Titan A.E. was more convincing with its science fiction than Lilo and Stitch. And the aliens are so cute and fuzzy that it borders on sugarcoated that one would almost mistaken believe that Disney didn't think kids could handle anything serious and dark and that they wanted to give them something on the level of Care Bears. Thankfully, once the prologue scene is over these fears prove to be unfounded and Lilo and Stitch really isn't a science fiction movie anyway. Two running gags, one about a guy just not catching a break to enjoy his ice cream and the other about mosquitoes, just go nowhere and aren't funny. And like I said, the movie gets a little heavy handed at times and the messages about family appear just one too many times than is necessary.

However Lilo and Stitch is still a fabulous movie. Don't let what a handful of critics say steer you away from this film if you haven't seen it yet. This movie has charmed millions of adults and kids and is the second highest grossing traditionally animated Disney movie topped only by The Lion King. At the theater showing I was at when it was still running, all the kids seemed to be enjoying themselves. There was not a fidgety person in sight. And I got a remarkable feeling of being vibrant and alive that I haven't received from any other Disney movie since The Fox and the Hound. Like Ebert says, Lilo and Stitch is sassy and original. It earns its classic status.

A fierce, violent little ball of fur and teeth, en route to a galactic prison, escapes to land on Earth, followed by a couple of bounty hunters charged to destroy--Oh, wait..that's "Critters."

Okay, imagine an extraterrestrial being trapped on Earth, befriended by a lonely child who fights to protect the creature from his pursuers--oh, wait, that's "E.T."

Okay, so Disney doesn't get full points for originality. This is still an excellent film, fun to watch, with a lot of humor and detail and special touches which make it complex enough for repeated watching.

Watch very carefully at the title screen...maybe watch it frame by frame. Among the colorful reef fish, you may notice a little goldfish (named Pudge, by the way) swim by with a sandwich in his mouth.

That's just a touch of the brilliant and strange wackiness which makes Lilo and Stitch so very watchable. The humor of this film surpasses anything I've seen from Disney. The writers must have giggled themselves senseless at the story conferences.

And yet, there's lots of heart to this movie. Lilo and her sister are orphans, trying to stay together. The affection behind the screaming fights is evident to anyone who's fought with a sibling. No gooey sentimental perfect family here--this is a family struggling for survival. Then Stitch arrives, a horrible little destructive monster with no redeeming qualities. The solution to all Lilo's problems is clear: turn Stitch into Elvis.

Interestingly, this is a movie with no real villain, another departure from Disney. Don't expect the lack of a villain to make life any easier, though...tough-as-nails social workers, angry space cops with something to prove, a mad scientist out of jail on parole, a galactic judge devoted to the law--Lilo and Stitch is a madhouse of conflict.

And, naturally, the animation and settings are beautiful.

Don't miss this one!

When I first watched this movie, I had a bit of a dilemma. Was "Lilo & Stitch" a 3.5 star movie or a 4 star movie? Personally I can't think of a better dilemma to be in after seeing an animated film and although I did end up going with the lower of the two choices, I have to give a big kudos to Disney either way.

First, why was I considering it a 4 star movie? Because it was extremely funny. I loved Lilo. I loved the way her mind worked and how absolutely off the wall she was while still making you believe that she's just a 'regular' five year old girl. Some of the stuff that came out of her mouth was priceless and the stuff that she and Stitch did together was even better. Stitch was also a riot. His destructive tendencies were great to watch. My favourite scene is definitely when Stitch destroys a model San Francisco.

This movie also has a huge amount of heart. The relationships that are built--particularly between Nani and Lilo, and Lilo and Stitch--are really wonderful to watch. They're not perfect but perhaps that's their best quality. One of the things you'll really notice about this movie is that no one is perfect--there are no angelic good characters, no super evil bad guys. They're just people trying to muddle their way through the world--and that's far more fun.

So why wasn't the movie itself perfect? One of the film's messages seems to be that everyone has some good inside and all the characters get the opportunity to show this. Unfortunately, how this 'good' comes out is often a little abrupt and a little unbelievable. However, I will say this was a fairly minor point for me since five seconds later I would find myself whisked off again by the wonderful manic tone of the movie.

All in all, this is a great little movie. Get it for your kids to watch. Get it for YOURSELF. You will not be disappointed.