As good as animation ever gets

Rating: 10/10 (20 September 2002)

If we're STILL hearing idiotic comments about the Disney "formula" after this, I think I'll scream. Just so I'll know, which Disney cartoon, exactly, is representative of the formula which the rest allegedly follow? Certainly not the last, say, five, which show an astonishing amount of daring and have nothing whatever in common with one another: "Tarzan", "Fantasia 2000", "The Emperor's New Groove", "Atlantis", "Lilo and Stitch". True, two of those five ("Fantasia 2000" and "Atlantis") are total misfires, but two others are of transcendent quality: "The Emperor's New Groove" and "Lilo and Stitch". And "Lilo and Stitch" turned out, to my surprise, to be even better than "The Emperor's New Groove" - and what's more, even funnier. (It's even more surprising because the prologue before the main title, a meeting of the Alien High Council, suggests something generic and ordinary - but thereafter, every single moment is solid gold.) At least half of the humour, as it should, comes from the animation: the way Stitch is drawn, the way he moves, the strength of the characters' attitudes and, ultimately, the depth of their emotions.
The animation is (after the disappointing "Atlantis") of the highest Disney standard; the art direction is fresh and lovely (the backgrounds are in watercolour, for the first time in decades); and the minimal computer animation is used tastefully and correctly - there is NOT ONE garish mismatch between, say, a CGI spaceship and a pencil-animated human. The characters feel unique and even the child, Lilo - ESPECIALLY the child, Lilo - is endearing. The strong sentiment towards the end is not manipulative or false, but grows naturally out of the comic premise. There can be no doubt: this is a GREAT movie.
One thing I will hear occasionally that will also make me want to scream is the critical kiss-of-death: "Lilo and Stitch" is "good for children". This is perhaps the most misleading thing a reviewer can say. It's GOOD, period. I don't know what particular demographics - children, adults, Hawaiians - will most admire the film, and I don't care.