Worse than The Black Cauldron? HA!

Rating: 10/10 (22 June 2002)

This movie reaffirmed my belief that the critics are nothing but a big bunch of paid-off, self-absorbed idiots. This is possibly the single most underrated animated movie ever created, surpassing a level of underratedness of even the great masterpiece of 1981, The Fox and the Hound. Lilo and Stitch is not merely a mild cartoon flick with Saturday morning level animation. This is an outstanding flick with gorgeous animation. It is bouncy, engaging, shockingly heartwarming and stunningly sincere. These are all traits I enjoyed in The Fox and the Hound that I find in few other animated movies. Here, there are no good guys or bad guys, just a group of characters, some realistic, others cartoony, playing out one of the most beautifully simple and simply beautiful stories I've ever seen in a Disney movie.
I've always enjoyed an animated movie than didn't try to make a big deal out of everything, hence my love of The Fox and the Hound and now this movie. Not everything needs be laugh-yourself-silly funny. Nor does everything need to have slick computer graphics or obnoxiously detailed animation. Don't get me wrong, though, Lilo and Stitch has wonderful animation. It is reminiscent of the earlier days of Disney where the animation was simple yet fluid and beautiful and the backgrounds were joys to behold. Here, the backgrounds are watercolors, like in the Disney movies of old. While I have a small hunch a few computer graphics might have been used, mainly in this movie watercolor backgrounds were used where in any other animated movie, a computer generated image would've been used, and the result is a hundred times more beautiful and effective.
Some of the things I find fault with most of modern Disney after The Little Mermaid include sappiness, bad and overblown musical numbers, insistance on jokey humor, fake or set up climaxes, and an even bigger instance on putting said jokey humor inside a dramatic scene, weakening its impact and making it feel fake or set up. Lilo and Stitch has none of that. It's never sappy. There are no musical numbers other than Elvis songs, beautiful Hawaiian music, and a touching lullaby. The humor is very funny but character driven. The climax is very entertaining and exciting and nowhere near as ridiculous as many Little Mermaid era Disney fight or chase scenes, and there are no rude interruptions of unnecessary parts.
As far as I'm concerned, you can take movies like Tarzan and Hunchback of Notre Dame and just flush them down the toilet. If you think the best thing to happen to animation in a while are movies like Shrek, Ice Age, or Monsters, Inc., guess again. This it right here. I doubt it will win Best Animated Movie at the Oscars, but not only do I feel it should win, but I also believe it should be the Best Movie of the year. While all the critics are going gaga over this year's loud and obnoxious action films, Star Wars Ep II included, Lilo and Stitch reaffirms basic values and never forgets true storytelling. To sum it up, if you only need to see one movie this year, see Lilo and Stitch. If you only need to see one animated movie this year, despite what critics like Berardinelli seem to think, skip Spirit and see Lilo and Stitch. I confidently call it the best animated movie anyone's ever done since The Fox and the Hound and deserves no less than a 10/10.