The Official Lilo and Stitch Talkback Thread (Spoilers)

[Joe Wagner]

Welcome to the official talkback thread for what is easily one of the most anticipated animated movies in recent memory. After watching the sneak peek last night on ABC Family I can honestly admit that I am completely psyched to see this movie (which unfortuantely won't be until sometime tomorrow).

The premise of the film seems to remind me quite a bit of the Iron Giant and if the film delivers like IG I have a feeling it will quickly become one of my favorite Disney films ever.

Comments?

-Joe!

[VashTheStampede]

Welcome to the official talkback thread for what is easily one of the most anticipated animated movies in recent memory.

Why?
I dont get what all the excitement is for, it looks like typical Disney crap.

[Joe Wagner]

All of the backgrounds in this film has been completely done in water colors and the story isn't just a re-telling of a classic but actually an original story. Also the characters in the film aren't perfect - basically they all have issues, something that a lot of Disney films in the past has ignored. Trust me - this isn't the typical Disney film.

-Joe!

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by VashTheStampede

Why?
I dont get what all the excitement is for, it looks like typical Disney crap.

For one thing, the drawings are more caricatured and at the same time less sacharrine. Lilo in particular looks more like a comic strip character--a throwback to 70s classics like the BEST Disney film of all time, the animated "101 Dalmations". Secondly, it's a "quieter" film than other Disney features, none of that bombastic corny villain stuff and more like Studio Ghibli anime.

Thirdly *mutter* some voodoo *mutter* maybe...

The only thing in the film I dread is Stitch. He does come off like a typical Disney character...

[VashTheStampede]

I know Stitch is one of the main characters so i wont include him in what I am about to say. If I see one animal sidekick with human personality traits that gets into mischief in the background while the main story is going on I swear I will leave.

[Craig Marinaro]

I went to see it today, 'cause I'll be busy most of the rest of the weekend.

I was definitely pleased with it--it's a lot closer story-wise to something you'd expect Pixar to do than what you'd expect post-Pocahontas Disney to do (which is a good thing, in this theatergoer's opinion). Stitch is one of the most original protagonists in Disney canon, despite his somewhat generic exterior--he's genetically designed to be evil incarnate. But the twist is, he's dumped in a place where he has no opportunity to be evil. When you can't fulfill your sole objective, and you have no past to refer back to, what the heck do you do?

There are very few characters (the cast list is the shortest I can recall seeing on a Disney film, with the possible exception of TENG), and this serves it well--rather than falling into the Atlantis trap of introducing a dozen relatively flat main characters, this film takes the few characters it does have and lets them all grow in unexpected ways, even the most minor ones. It's a vast improvement over a film like Tarzan, which strictly followed the formulaic "one lead character is foisted into the world of the other main character, they each teach each other about their worlds, at the end neither can ever look at themselves the same way again" plot. Stitch very slowly adjusts to the ideals of family Lilo introduces to him, and tries to pursue them in various ways. I thought the character lost a bit of his charm when he jarringly gained the ability to talk, and I thought the "ohana" line was overused. Minor quibbles--the rest of the time, the emotion and ideals underscoring the action onscreen are conveyed through the characters' actions, without them blatantly telling us. The change in Stitch is subtle and slow--you get it more from watching his face and the way he looks at the others than from anything anyone actually says out loud. Basically "acting through animation"--in the style of Dumbo or Bambi, and the same sort of thing that makes Pixar's characters so easy to identify with.

The other characters are wonderful too. Lilo in particular has several quirks that are humorous and let the audience enter her isolated world (Elvis, taking pictures of fat people, and *ahem* voodoo ;)). Again, the relationship between she and her sister is a lot less touchy-feely than one expects in a Disney film. It's there, it's understood, but they're more or less nonfunctional (or semifunctional, at best). Flawed characters are a devil of a lot easier to fall in love with (platonically) than idealistic ones. Even the big ol' social worker evidences plenty of depth, instead of being a cardboard representation of authority.

It's basically a "fun" film--no one dies, there's no earth-shaking moral--which is how I likes 'em. The two aliens trailing Stitch were the least interesting characters, with very little to do in the script besides stir up trouble for our heroes and provide a bit of comic relief. The way they just sort of get written off at the end is a testament to the fact that they're not really integral to anything. The animation's gorgeous, the Elvis stuff is a much appreciated touch. The out-there sci-fi stuff and the tangentially more down-to-earth elements were blended nicely, and the result is a film with a broader scope than any other Disney film to date, that still manages to have an uncommonly keen eye for the small things. The ending was vaguely disappointing (especially with the traditional Disney drawn-out "characters stand in a circle and decide what happens to everyone" post-script), but as a whole, the film is charming, entertaining, and just a lot of fun. I liked it.

[TuffyCatt]

Well, I can't say much after Craig's great description of the movie, because I agree with almost everything he said. I took my brother to see Lilo and Stitch today, and his first comment to me when the movie was over was "I cried twice during the movie!!", although he is twelve years old and generally pretty unemotional about things. The movie has a wonderful depth to it, and I felt that I could relate to almost all the characters in some way or other. The story was the most original that I've seen from Disney in a long time...I could never predict what was going to happen next and the plot never really got boring or repetitive at all. I really liked the concept of "ohana", and the movie's theme of family is a wonderful way to tie the story together. Parts of the movie are also hilarious, some of the best humor I've seen in a movie for a long time.

The animation is beautiful. I miss these artistic animated movies, because we barely get to see them anymore. Computers may make animation look more realistic, but this movie looked like it came out of a beautifully detailed story book. The wonderful watercolor backgrounds make the Hawaii setting come alive on the screen. The characters are animated wonderfully, with a lot of their personalities coming through the animation.

Overall a beautiful movie, with a great story and animation. I highly recommend it to anyone. I really enjoyed it, and will be going back to see it at least one more time.

[Mad Scientist]

This movie is sort of a mixed bag.

Even after the releases of darker, action-themed movies like the Joan of Arc-ripoff Mulan and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney is STILL trying to shake off the effects of the traditional movies of the previous decade.

But then again, Lilo & Stitch is more comedy-based (even though it DOES have a bit of action in it from time to time), so I guess you can't blame them for trying to be untraditional in this part of the genre. It's still hard for Disney to make this movie untraditional without getting too kiddish, but they didn't do too bad of a job at it. Hey, you can't expect everything from a first try, now, can't you?

[Mackenzie Rainelle]

::thwack:: Shame on you! I'll have you know Disney got the idea for Mulan from a very old Chinese poem.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Mackenzie Rainelle

::thwack:: Shame on you! I'll have you know Disney got the idea for Mulan from a very old Chinese poem.

Hey! Disney took elements from Joan of Arc for Mulan as well.

Hmm... Let's see... A girl portrays a man to join the army... Sound familiar?

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by Mad Scientist


Hey! Disney took elements from Joan of Arc for Mulan as well.

Hmm... Let's see... A girl portrays a man to join the army... Sound familiar?

That's how the poem went. Mulan the Chinese poem predated the Joan historical legend by a couple of hundred years, I think. (And there Mulan was based on a true story about a girl who dressed up as a man to join the army...and she did this a couple of centuries before Joan was even born)

And that's not how the tale of Joan of Arc quite went, either.

[I.R Joey]

I went into the movie and sat down for ten minutes, the trailers went by and some of them geniuenly made me feel dumber (except for the PPG trailer) and it just put another nail in my, "Poor Americans only think cartoons can be for kids." argument. After having a heavy level of cynisism laid on me... the movie began. Thank you Disney for reassuring me of your potential.

Lilo and Stitch, let's see where do I begin...this movie was definately one of the better animated movies of the last ten years. The charecters where geniuenly funny and the sometimes weighty elements of the film (IE Lilo and her sister being orphans) where handled very well and not overbearingly.

Another thing that was really good was the comic timing in this movie. The part where Lilo jumps on and beats up her pear nearly had me rolling on the ground (which is bad considering what theatre floors are usually like.) I have a feeling that this will be one of those movies that everyone remembers for a long time to come.

I'll give this movie a 9.5/10 and I take the .5 away because the movie started off very well.

[D.Shaffer]

Do you know what I'd be if I fed tuna to a fish? I'd be an ABOMINATION!!

Heh, I really liked Lilo. Did anyone else notice that ALL the main characters were essentially misfits?

[Randy H]

I, like most of you, thought Lilo & Stitch was great. I actually enjoyed it better than Iron Giant, and certainly better than Atlantis or TENG. I'm trying to decide if I like it better than Tarzan or not. They're pretty close in my view.

The characters were great, especially Lilo. You're laughing one minute when she fights the girl, then tearing up (almost) the next minute when she gets kicked out, but it never feels rushed or anything. It's just great. And Stitch's "ohana" ending remarks were great as well. All the characters fit together, unlike those of Atlantis, and the cartooniness of it was great.

My only complaint is that the pre-title sequence seemed a bit long. Not that it lacked content, but it was just a bit long for a pre-title sequence. And the ending was upon me before I knew it. I was totally engrossed, and could easily have sat through ten more minutes of this stuff.

I honestly think that this film ranks right up there with Beauty and the Beast. I can't wait to see it again.

And the ohana theme was a great idea, I thought. I didn't think it was overused at all. That's what you're supposed to remember from the movie, so it needed to be in there a lot.

GO SEE LILO and STITCH!!!!! Later,
Randy H

P.S. I was very pleased to see that Lilo apparently beat out Minority Report as well! Here, Minority Report was sold out thru 12:45 am Saturday (at at least two theatres) by 9am friday morning.

EDIT: Whoops! It looks like I was mistaken. I thoughtMinority Report was all sold out, but apparently they just aren't selling the tickets online... Weird....

[Anthonynotes]

I went to see "Lilo" today at the theater. Noticed the usual children in attendance, but also a few adults/teenagers seeing it by themselves. Positive sign I suppose....

As others said, this is not the typical Disney film at all (not like "Beauty and the Beast" or the like), being much more comedic in tone (though some pathos is still there), and lacking a "true" villain (no one in the film is "eeevil" a la Jafar/Gaston/the Evil Queen/etc., just motivated to catch Stitch as part of their job). Bits I liked: Lilo attacking that other kid early on (which was completely unexpected by me), the part where Stitch, dressed like Elvis, starts playing a guitar and attracting swarms of people, and a few bits towards the very end (yeah, it was a "happy ending", but still amusing enough). Also liked some of the Hawaii-themed aspects as well. Two more points: I thought the film took place in the 1950's, but apparently it takes place in the present. Also wondered if the kids in the theater were wondering what all those big round black things she was playing Elvis on were ;-)

Would be willing to buy the DVD of this film, if that means anything...here's hoping it has a decent future ahead of it at the box office.

-B.

[Jimmy Kustes]

The guy from Kids In The Hall must really like voicing aliens. He's in Lilo & Stitch AND Zim!

[Watagashi]

I went to see it this afternoon, and, like everyone else said, it wasn't like your typical Disney movie. Everything that I wanted to say, everyone practically said it for me. The "ohana" theme was great and so were the characters and artwork. I also liked how the characters seemed more realistic, revealing some flaws and quirks and stuff. I hope Disney makes more movies like this one. I can't wait to see it again.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

My wife and I went to see L&S today, and enjoyed it a whole lot. The way I see it, there are "where are we going?" movies and "how are we getting there?" movies. The former are the kinds where you have no clue where it is you're ultimately going to end up (The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense) are like this). The latter are the kind where you know exactly where the story is heading, and the fun comes from how you get there (pick any romantic comedy and most action movies).

Lilo & Stitch is definitely a "how are we getting there?" movie, for the reasons everybody has already stated above. The one thing that kind of grated on me were the odd-couple alien hunters, who kind of stunk of the "Disney committee character" (Mole was the one who did that in Atlantis, and Terk and Tantor were in Tarzan). I did really like the character design, and the fact that the characters had realistic proportions (as opposed to the Playboy Playmate proportions of, say, Pocohontas).

I also loved Lilo's "Because he controls the weather" explanation for why she feeds the fish in the first place. It's the kind of leap of logic only a 7-year old can come up with, and the more I think about it, the funnier I think the line is.

I also thought Tia Carrere was terrific as Nani. She's a lot better of a voice actress than she is as an actress (or maybe she just gets rotten parts).

Neat Trivia Tidbit: Tia Carrere and Jason Scott Lee (Nani and David) are both from Hawaii, and helped make the dialog more authentic.

-- Ed/Ace

[Joe Wagner]

I would have to agree with the general assesment that this is one of the best Disney movies I've ever had the pleasure of watching (ranking up there with Tarzan, Atlantis and Beauty and the Beast IMO).

The coloration in this film was fantastic and the added water colors really brought this film to life. Also the character of Stitch was one of the best Disney has brought to life in a long time - having his own issues and not always being the "lovable" creature one would expect. I think the real life issues that are included in this film really help make it a lot more personal and allows everyone to grow - never truly having a hero or villain in the film.

I'm also very happy to see that the film beat out Minority Report and I hope this will have a long theatre life. Not sure if I'll get to see it a second time but I would like to if the opportunity arrises.

Another interesting tid-bit: The film was originally supposed to be set in Kansas but was changed to Hawaii after Chris Sanders took a vacation there - a very good choice on his part IMO.

-Joe!

[Andy Mancini]

Overall an excelent movie. Here's some stuff I noticed.

- This is the closest we're ever going to get to "Invader Zim: The Motion Picture".
- Jumba (the mad scientist, I hope I have the right name) was basically Washu from Tenchi with a Russian accent.
- According to one reviewer I've read, the only thing that bugged him about this movie was that Lilo told Stitch that Elvis was a model citizen (he was everything but). I tend to agree with him.
- I don't think I'd let little kids watch that movie.