The best Animated film of the year, the Oscars should take note!

Rating: 10/10 (24 June 2002)

I just sat through a matinee of Lilo & Stitch, a movie I really have been anticipating to see; being the cartoon freak I am.
If you like Spirit, you'll hate this, because it is a lot more weird, hip, slightly more violent, and has more heart. Why? Well, it makes you laugh as well as get to your heart more than Spirit probably would; but without turning the film into a piece of sentimental fluff.
The animation is also cool as well. Finally, an 2D animated film that uses CGI as a supplement for a couple of shots rather than unnecessarily using it. It blends together with the 2D animation really well, the backgrounds look nice and lush, and the designs look simple enough but likeable because they don't try to look really slick.
The characters are for once fresh. They aren't generic characters, they are likeable developed characters, they aren't characters that are cloying comic reliefs that we all have seen before in other films, they are NEW! Oh yeah, and Stitch kicks @$$.
And the humor. Well, it's funny! This movie really doesn't depend on humor most of the time, but when it comes in, it really does! It isn't from comic reliefs, not from one-liners, but sight gags and physical humor. The running gags with the Elvis tunes and guy with the ice cream cone are simply cool!
And plus, the sound and music! The Dolby Digital sound in the theater was set up very nicely, with the revving-at-times sound effects of blasts, ambiance, and dialogue simply pumped. You could almost feel it! As for the music, nobody bursts into a song! It's mostly cool Elvis tunes (yay!) and some Hawaiian tunes.
It is very rare when a animated film nowadays hits the spot that Lilo and Stitch does: masterpiece! Classic! Brilliant! These films only come around every 10 or so years, the last being Nightmare Before Christmas. Between this and NBC, there are many excellent near-classics that came around (mostly from Pixar) that get a 10/10 in my book; but they really aren't able to reach this level of genius. 11/10. Oh yeah, I'll say it again: Stitch kicks @$$! Oh, and make sure you catch this in the theater on the VERY next screening of it if you have yet to see it. Do it now! The DVD will be great but it won't have the theatrical impact it did on me and many others. Come on you guys who have yet to see it, you got to bump up more ratings on the masterpiece so it can get on the Top 250. You don't know when the next animated masterpiece of the decade will come! This film needs more than the current 341 votes it has, it needs at least a few thousand to get the recognition it deserves, and maybe a bit more than 8.2.