Lilo & Stitch

Rating: 6/10 (7 February 2008)

I remember seeing this Disney movie when I was taken to see it at the cinema when I was younger, only bits and pieces stuck in my memory, so I was glad to watch it again when I was grown up and judge it properly. Basically in a galaxy far, far away, ruthless alien scientist Dr. Jumba Jookiba (David Ogden Stiers) has been brought before the Grand Council of the Galactic Federation, having created an illegal potentially dangerous experiment, a strong, intelligent, nearly indestructible and aggressive being called Experiment #626 (Chris Sanders), its only weakness seems to be his high density body making swimming in water impossible. The scientist is sentenced to jail, while the experiment is to be transported to an prison asteroid, but it escapes from Captain Gantu (Kevin Michael Richardson) who was supposed to deliver him, in a stolen police cruiser the experimental creature crash lands on the planet Earth. Stranded in Hawaii, Experiment #626 cannot do much harm, as water surrounds the island, there are no big cities, and Dr. Jookiba and Earth expert Pleakley (Kevin McDonald) are hot on his trail. Experiment #626 impersonates a dog and finds himself in a pet shelter, he is adopted by little girl Lilo (Spirited Away's Daveigh Chase) and given the name "Stitch", as time goes by time with Lilo causes the creature to develop an emotional development. Lilo is part of a dysfunctional family, she lives with her older sister Nani (True Lies' Tia Carrere), they are about to be ripped apart by social worker Cobra Bubbles (Pulp Fiction's Ving Rhames) who is concerned Nani is not capable of caring for her younger sister. Dr. Jookiba and Pleakley are not able to get close to Stitch, as they have been warned that humans are not to be harmed and the Earth is full of endangered creatures, so Lilo continues to bond with Stitch as her pet, and her are slowly rekindled, with a little help from Nani's surfer boyfriend David Kawena (Jason Scott Lee). Eventually Stitch is discovered to be an alien creature by the humans, most of their immediate reaction is fear, and when Captain Gantu attempts to capture Stitch, Lilo is intentionally taken in his place, but Jumba and Pleakley help Stitch to save her. In the end the Grand Councilwoman (Zoe Caldwell) comes to Earth planning to take Stitch into custody, however Lilo proves that Stitch is her legal property, she therefore decrees that he will exiled to Earth, and she recognises Cobra as a former CIA agent from years ago, telling him to keep an eye of them, and Jumba and Pleakley become members of Lilo and Stitch's restored family as well. Youngster Lilo is likable, and the supporting characters are good too, but it is at first aggressive later cute and naughty extraterrestrial Stitch that obviously steals the show, accompanied by a catchy soundtrack, including Elvis Presley songs, and pushing messages of multicultural equality and tolerance this quirky film mixes the family drama, slapstick laughs and pacy action, the result is a fun and colourful animated science-fiction comedy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Good!