Wicked and mischievous; I smell a Disney Channel series

Rating: Null/10 (24 July 2002)

Though Stitch is a genetically engineered alien life form, he fits the archetype of the mischievous sprite, and though his type is common in story and film, Stitch is an gloriously inspired creation for the X-Files age. He breaks out of confinement at home and escapes to Earth, landing in (where else?) Hawaii, where he winds up in the pound and to survive, morphs himself into a (rather grotesque-looking) dog. He is adopted by Lilo, who is about eight and who is being raised (barely) by her older sister Nani (Tia Carrere) since the death of their parents in a car wreck. In her grief, Lilo has become the quintessence of brattiness. The unlikeliest of social workers, Cobra Bubbles (Ving Rhames), is keeping his eye on the whole chaotic situation, while Stitch is on the run from his creator, Dr. Jumba, and Pleakley, an expert on Earth life. The parallel stories of Stitch's gradually realizing the achievement of "ohana" ("family" in Hawaiian) and his attempts to elude capture by steadily growing forces arrayed against him begin hilariously to collide, until they finally come together at the end. This is obviously material for a series on the Disney Channel, although if the creators really want to keep it wicked, it may have to go on HBO or Showtime. A character note: Younger viewers (i.e., those under 50) probably won't realize that David Ogden Stiers's excellent Russian accent as Jumba is actually a bull's-eye impression of the late Akim Tamiroff.