A Loud, Colorful Picture That Struggles to Deliver its Message

Rating: 6/10 (1 April 2020)

Disney steps outside its comfort zone with this mashup of Hawaiian culture and alien invasions. Like the toothy, sharp little blue furball at the center of all the drama, the film is loud and impulsive, recklessly chasing stray plot threads and then abruptly abandoning them for another distraction.
It's far less careful and composed than the studio's usual feature work, which serves as both a positive and a negative. On one hand, it's fresh and different; a necessary (and welcome) new direction for a company that had been making movies for six-plus decades at the time. On the other, well, it just feels like something produced by the competition. It lacks that certain bit of polish, that magical sense of balance. Stitch, the aforementioned extraterrestrial beast, is a far cry from the standard Disney archetype, even in extreme circumstances. His audacious, violent nature lends itself to some impressive action scenes and a few laughs, but damages the character's sudden, climactic transition into a concerned, invested member of the family. He effectively flips a switch and wakes up, and that's not much of an arc. The human characters fare a bit better - their story has more emotional heft - but they, too, leave a lot on the table.
Still, despite all that, I enjoyed myself. The film's got personality and heart, its unique locale plays an important thematic role and factors directly into the climax, the action bits work very well and the visuals are stylish and interesting (I like the trend toward minimalism). Consider it a lighter entry in the catalog.