The Decline of Stitch

[Peter Paltridge]

This article (http://www.jimhillmedia.com/article.php?id=1827)on the semi-truthful site Jim Hill Media comments on the decline in sales of Lilo and Stitch-related properties, and ponders that oversaturation is what killed interest. That's part of the problem, but I think it goes deeper than that.

The main problem is that when they made all that extra material, they didn't think about what made the original film so popular.

Lilo and Stitch was the first animated Disney film I went to a theater to see in several years. It had an original idea full of promise, and it wasn't what typically came out of the Disney conglomerate glop. Lilo and Stitch were both messed-up brats, and the contrast between their ugliness and the pretty watercolors was brilliant. It WORKED.

In the beginning, Disney made no effort to hide what a nuisance Stitch was--the "One in every family" promos, where established and beloved Disney characters are introduced to the menace of Stitch and recoil in horror. It just looked really really funny and different, and its time had come.

So, in my view, Disney had found their own equivalent of Warner Bros.' Taz character. Only problem: when it came time to branch the story out into TV episodes and small sequels, Disney didn't see it that way. They chose to focus on how cute Stitch was. His ugly behavior was downplayed and the sequel stories were written less funny and more adorable. And when they made the TV series, they thought "what it needs to stay popular are even MORE cute creatures!" and brought out the 625 Cousins Concept.

There's a reason why Warner never did this kind of thing with Taz. There have been Taz dolls and T-shirts and an excellent cartoon show, but Taz has never once been marketed as cute (except on that "baby" show). Warner wouldn't do that because they know the REASON Taz-marked merchandise sells. It's all about his attitude, and how he's the craziest Looney Tune there is.

This is how Stitch should have been sold. Disney's gigantic marketing department was too used to playing up cuteness with all its other properties and didn't understand he was different.

[kimpossible1fan]

I have to say,though the movie was good and all, but the series is mediocore. The plot may be a fine idea for one movie, but the series tends to be dragging on. I'll admit a few episodes of Lilo and Stitch I've seen were pretty good, though it's not going to save the series. The problem is, when I go to my local Disney Store I see Lilo merchandice everywhere, though not an ounce of Kim Possible. It just seems strange. I'm positive that Lilo and Stitch gets less than stellar ratings. Hopefully Disney will eventually realise that what may work for a movie doesn't usually work for a series.

[Tash]

Lilo & Stitch 2 fixed that problem. (and it didn't suck) Sadly, it came too late.

[Mandi-chan]

I agree, L&S2 brought back the magic of the first movie. The tv series ruined it.

[Wolfcruiser]

How many of you guys actually went out and bought and own Stitch Has a Glitch? I wanted to, but I'm kind of burnt out on Stitch a bit myself. x.x

[Ishtar]

The newer attraction at WDW "Stitch's Great Escape" sorta brought back the magic of Stitch aswell, because the attraction takes place before he comes to Earth and meets Lilo.

[RonDrakenfan17]

I loved first movie that's it. The series didn't do any thing for me, it has horrible animation and turned all of the charcaters out of character but oh well. I wish they would make a Dark Wing Duck movie :crying:

[David Gerstein]

Disney's gigantic marketing department was too used to playing up cuteness with all its other properties and didn't understand he was different.There used to be so many "different" properties.
There used to be a witty Mickey Mouse who walloped the bad guys.
There used to be a Donald Duck who embodied all of our frustrations.
There was a Goofy who struggled to quit smoking and a windbag Horace Horsecollar and a Clarabelle Cow who was nothing short of a gossipy character assassin.
The irony is that the comics still preserve these versions of the characters (well, okay—maybe not tobacco-addict Goofy), but at least in the United States the comics have little impact on the rest of the marketing scheme. When did everything get so... cute?

[MRWU]

the lousy and shoddy attempt to recreate the Hawaiian Island patois by non locals is what really turns me and other local Hawaiians off. Kind of like the old Amos and Andy done by whites

[Peter Paltridge]

the lousy and shoddy attempt to recreate the Hawaiian Island patois by non locals is what really turns me and other local Hawaiians off. Kind of like the old Amos and Andy done by whites
Which thing are we talking about here? I've heard from Hawaiians who fell in love with the original movie--they said IT was accurate.

As for the series, it's done virtually nothing involving the culture--it's just Lilo entering contests and stuff.

[The Weed Of Cri]

The original film had elements that appealed to adults as well as children, and that was part of its success: the Elvis references, the stress fractures in the Lilo/Nani relationship, Cobra Bubbles. But the series was kiddified for a pre-teen audience, and the franchise lost some of its magic when that happened. I tried for months to find a Stitch T-shirt in my (adult) size and failed utterly. I think that explains everything I need to know about how Disney intended to market the show.

[MRWU]

Im talking about the tv series from which the movie came. The Hawaiian characters who are voiced by non locals sound ridiculous. In Hawaii there has always been appropriation by the mainstream. First our land and next our culture. I dont want to get political about a cartoon but when Lilo comes on our tv goes off.

[Tash]

Im talking about the tv series from which the movie came. The Hawaiian characters who are voiced by non locals sound ridiculous. In Hawaii there has always been appropriation by the mainstream. First our land and next our culture. I dont want to get political about a cartoon but when Lilo comes on our tv goes off.
What about L&S 2? (not Stitch the movie) Did they fix the culture problems? (It fixed every other problem)

[Hordesman]

Im talking about the tv series from which the movie came. The Hawaiian characters who are voiced by non locals sound ridiculous. In Hawaii there has always been appropriation by the mainstream. First our land and next our culture. I dont want to get political about a cartoon but when Lilo comes on our tv goes off.

I'll bet the tv staff not having a research trip had alot to do with that.

[Wussycat]

I wonder how Hawaiians feel about them being portrayed as idiots who don't know an alien when they see one.

[GagaMan]

I have to agree that Disney have most defiantly overdone it with Stitch in such a short period of time. I was in Florida over Christmas and there was almost as much Stitch stuff out there as there was Spongebob, and including him next to the main Mickey characters on the 2006 stuff was rather daft.

[N310DA]

Even though I'm not sure if I agree with Jim Hill Media on this one, but I can certainly understand viewer's gripes with the series, even as a die hard fan. Personally, while I don't think the series is that bad, it could have definatley been a lot better and I think the big reason as to why it wasn't that great was because the series and the original movie were written, produced, animated ect.. by two completley different teams that did next to no corresponding with each other. I think if Chris Sanders (the original creator) and his team were put in charge of the series, it would have been much better in nearly all aspects.

Another thing I would like to comment on is Martaininvader's post at the beginning of the thread. I think he hit the nail on the head for the most part, but I'm gonna have to disagree with him on one thing, that Disney made a mistake marketing Lilo & Stitch as cute. Even though I agree the reason why L&S is so beloved is because it was different from traditional Disney movies, I also think that much the reason it stayed popular was because the characters were lovable or cute as some may put it. I hang around many L&S fansites on the internet and that seems to be the general opinion of most L&S fans.

Another post that caught my attention was MRWU's post. Are you saying that you find the fake Hawaiian accents of the general cast offensive or do you find characters with VAs that don't even try to sound Hawaiian (eg Lilo's voice) offensive? I know that Native Hawaiians are very protective of their culture as the Aloha State gets more Americanized and I respect that. But I have heard most Native Hawaiians praise L&S before so I'm just curious.

Finally, I do know for a fact that Jess Winfield (the exec producer for the series) has left Disney so hypothetically, I beleive that a new season run by a new writing a production team just may be able to save the show, but thats just my opinion and I can see why many would disagree with it.

Whew! Sorry for the long post, I haven't posted at TZ since sometime around November, so I'm sort of catching up!;)

[MRWU]

We local Hawaiians are proud of our culture and customs. I think the original film tried to respect that. Getting local people to sing the songs and do the voices. But the tv version seems to abandon that. They just dont care. They will hire themselves and their friends to do the voices and when they try to imitate our local patois it is grating to the ears. Like when Amos and Andy was done by whites. And just as offensive.