a change from the pace

Rating: 7/10 (6 June 2002)

I had the chance to see Lilo and Stitch at a "Surprise" Sneak Preview ( without prior warning ) - and laughed my head off.
This is NOT standard Disney "sweeter-than-Cotton-candy" fare - even more so than the surprisingly good "the Emperor's New Groove" it takes a rather anarchistic humour and comic hyperbole, stirs, shakes and twirls it to a new degree of potency and serves them with a flourish.
As for the story - an escaped, genetically enhanced lifeform programmed for the wholesale destruction of cities and with a keen sense of survival and cute blue fur ) escapes from its creators, its jailors and the whole of the "united-galactic-whatever" and gets stranded in............. Hawaii. Here it gets adopted/picked up by child-terror Lilo, the bane of her older sister, her playmates and the general sanity of the pacific island. On its trail - the mad alien scientist and a fumbling galactic bureaucrat concerned with the safety of the local wildlife - humans and other "sucky" species...... A perfect setting for large scale chaos, groovy scenes ( in two words - "Elvis lives" ) and much less than expected emotional, family values scenes.
As for the technical side - the animation is not especially outstanding, the backdrops at some times unbelievably "kitschy" and very little computer animation visible (though I do have some suspicions, they do not distract/jar with the conventional animation ), colours stay themed and the soundeffects are cool. Oh, did I mention, there was hardly any singing ? THERE IS HARDLY ANY SINGING ! Thanks Disney, you are finally getting the clue ! Now keep up the good work............
There is little of the "sweet and furry" and "perfect family" stuff which used to be almost a Disney trademark , but when some "touchy" scenes come deep out of left field, they are even more poignant for it. Real life problems like broken families, unemployment and child care by single parents are presented in an unobstrusive and "simplified for children" way and add motivation to the characters without dominatiing the plot. Adults will get a series of laughs out of subtle (MIB, Godzilla, Star Trek etc.) and less than subtle ( Elvis ) references, with big orgies of comic destruction and some fun science fiction gadgets helping out. Basically everyone in the theater walked out with a big and wicked grin (although they were all adults due to it being a sneak preview, I do have a fair suspicion how my six year old nephew is gonna like this movie....). This is a family movie in the best "take everyone, and have them enjoy themselves together" sense , as well as flick that one can simply go and enjoy as an adult (ok, one with a sense of anarchistic humour ).