Finally, misfits who actually don't fit in

Rating: Null/10 (6 November 2002)

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against most any Disney film. Love 'em, love 'em. But the studio's concept of a "misfit" has left much to be desired. Most of their so-called misfits are actually just people with natural curiosity and ambition, placed in irrationally stifling environments.
Not Lilo and Stitch. These people are misfits because they are horribly, terribly, wonderfully wrong in the head. I sympathize. One of the first scenes we see of Lilo (the cute little girl in the hula skirt) is her torturing voodoo dolls of her friends. This is, frankly, not out of character.
Stitch is worse. So much worse it's not worth my trying to describe. The movie doesn't downplay it. It revels in his rudeness, his malevolence and general insanity. It's good (well, bad) fun!
But that's the -wonder- of the story. He starts off so very, very bad that it's a real journey of discovery for him to turn out even a little good. This isn't some arabian street-rat who finishes the movie plus a pretty wife and some self-esteem, but otherwise unchanged; Stitch goes through a total metamorphosis. It's like a how-to manual for learning to care about others. "Selflessness for dummies"
I can think of no better role-model for a young child than this screeching, cursing, loving alien.