Disney's Lilo-&-Stitch (2002)

:“There's one in every family.”―Tagline
Lilo & Stitch is an American animated science fiction comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released on June 21, 2002. The 42nd animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon, it was written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and features the voices of Chris Sanders, Daveigh Chase, Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Ving Rhames, Jason Scott Lee, and Kevin Michael Richardson. Lilo & Stitch was the second of three Disney animated features produced primarily at the Florida animation studio located at Walt Disney World's Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. Lilo & Stitch was nominated for the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, which ultimately went to Hayao Miyazaki's film, Spirited Away, which was also distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, and featured a voice-over performance by Chase and Stiers in the English dub. It is one of the few Disney Animated Canon films to have an original story.
The film today is seen as a modest critical and financial success, though a big commercial success. The 2002 film eventually started a franchise: a direct-to-video sequel, Stitch! The Movie was released on August 26, 2003. This was followed by a television series, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, which ran from September 20, 2003, to July 29, 2006. A second direct-to-video sequel, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, was released on August 30, 2005. A third and final sequel, Leroy & Stitch, aired on June 23, 2006 on Disney Channel and released for DVD four days later on June 27, served as the conclusion to the TV series. A second television series, an anime titled Stitch!, was made for the Japanese market and ran in Japan from October 8, 2008, to June 19, 2011, with two post-series specials broadcast in 2012 and 2015. It was dubbed to English with an entirely different voice cast from the rest of the franchise, with said dub first airing in 2009. A third television series, a Chinese animated series called Stitch & Ai, was made for the People's Republic of China and had the production assistance of American animators. Stitch & Ai was produced in English first then dubbed into Mandarin Chinese. The thirteen episodes of the Mandarin dub aired in March 2017. The original English version of the Chinese series aired in February 2018, again with none of the original voice actors from the films or first TV series returning. Both of the latter two shows shift the tone of the franchise from "soft" science fiction to science fantasy and controversially remove franchise title character Lilo Pelekai as a main character; she is replaced by Yuna Kamihara in the anime and Wang Ai Ling in the Chinese series.
==Plot==
Dr. Jumba Jookiba is arrested and put on trial by the Galactic Federation for "illegal genetic experimentation", evidenced by his creation Experiment 626, a small sentient creature with unparalleled intelligence and strength, but also a propensity to cause chaos. Jumba is imprisoned while Experiment 626 is sentenced to exile on a desert asteroid. 626 manages to escape in a spaceship and activates the hyperdrive, causing its guidance systems to malfunction and randomly set a course for Earth. 626 crash lands on the Hawaiian island of Kauai and is knocked unconscious by three passing trucks and taken to an animal shelter. The Grand Councilwoman dispatches Jumba and Agent Pleakley, the Council's expert on Earth, to the planet to have 626 captured discreetly.
On Kauai, a young woman named Nani has been struggling with caring for her rambunctious and friendless younger sister, Lilo, who has sadly been ridiculed by her hula classmates and peers, especially Mertle Edmonds, following the death of their parents in a car accident. A social worker named Cobra Bubbles expresses increasing concern that Nani is unable to take adequate care of Lilo, therefore giving Nani three days to change his mind and told her to find a job if she could convince him otherwise. To reduce Lilo's grief after a brief argument, Nani decides to let Lilo adopt a dog. At the shelter, Lilo immediately takes a keen interest in Experiment 626, who is impersonating a dog, in order to escape captivity. In spite of Nani's doubts, Lilo names 626 "Stitch" and shows him around the island. While he is hard to tame, he stands up to Mertle for her and they both spend time together.
That evening, as Lilo and Stitch eat dinner at the luau where Nani works, Jumba and Pleakley try but fail to capture Stitch. The resulting chaos is blamed on Stitch, causing Nani to be fired. The next day, Cobra warns Nani that if she doesn't get another job, Cobra will have to place Lilo with a foster family. As Nani attempts to find another job, Lilo tries educating Stitch about Elvis Presley, whom she calls a "model citizen". However, Stitch's antics, including evading Jumba and Pleakley, ruin Nani's chances of finding work.
Nani's friend, David, invites Nani and Lilo to take a break and enjoy a day of surfing. While Nani, Lilo and Stitch ride on a huge wave, Jumba makes one final effort to capture Stitch from underwater knowing Stitch's biggest weakness is his inability to float in water, causing Nani to wipe out, and Stitch unintentionally pulls Lilo down with him. Although everyone gets safely to shore, Cobra witnesses this unfortunate event, telling Nani that although she means well, Lilo will have to be taken away. After seeing how much trouble he has caused, a remorseful Stitch runs off.
The next morning, the Councilwoman, frustrated with their lackluster progress, relieves Jumba and Pleakley of their assignment, giving it to the militant Captain Gantu instead. This gave Jumba to pursue Stitch by using less covert methods much to Pleakley's dismay. Meanwhile, David informs Nani of a job opportunity, which Nani rushes to pursue and leaves Lilo home. Stitch, hiding in the nearby woods, encounters Jumba, who chases Stitch back to Lilo's house. A fight ensues, which ends in Lilo and Nani's house being blown up. Cobra arrives to collect Lilo and take her away. As Nani and Cobra argue, Lilo runs away and encounters Stitch, who reveals his alien identity just moments before Captain Gantu captures both of them. Stitch manages to escape before Gantu's ship takes off and is confronted by Nani. Before he can explain, Jumba and Pleakley capture Stitch themselves. Nani demands that they help her rescue Lilo, but Jumba insists they only came for Stitch. When Nani breaks down into tears, Stitch reminds Nani about "ʻohana", a term for "family" he learned from Lilo, and convinces Jumba to help rescue Lilo. Jumba, Pleakley, Stitch, and Nani give chase in Jumba's spaceship, and eventually rescue Lilo.
Back on land, the Grand Councilwoman appears and prepares to take Stitch into custody and retire Gantu for his failure to complete the task to capture Stitch at the expense of endangering the lives of others during his mission (which included capturing Lilo by accident and almost killing her along with Stitch after destroying his own ship in an attempt to kill them). Lilo, however, insists that, as Stitch is her pet under local law, he cannot be taken away. Impressed with Stitch's newfound civility and empathy, the Councilwoman decrees that Stitch will live in exile on Earth and be entrusted into the care of Lilo and Nani. She also informs Cobra, who turns out to be a former CIA agent whom she met previously in 1973, that the family will be under the care of the Galactic Federation. Together, they, along with Jumba, Pleakley, Cobra, and David, rebuild the house. Jumba and Pleakley become members of Lilo and Stitch's family as well, and they all have great times together.
The film ends with a montage of Stitch and his new family's life together accompanied by the song "Burning Love".
==Cast==
*Chris Sanders as Stitch
*Daveigh Chase as Lilo Pelekai
*Tia Carrere as Nani Pelekai
*David Ogden Stiers as Jumba Jookiba
*Kevin McDonald as Pleakley
*Ving Rhames as Cobra Bubbles
*Zoe Caldwell as Grand Councilwoman
*Kevin Michael Richardson as Captain Gantu
*Jason Scott Lee as David Kawena
*Susan Hegarty as Susan Hegarty, Rescue Lady
*Amy Hill as Mrs. Hasagawa
*Erica Beck as Mertle's Friend
*Steven Jay Blum as Hammerhead Guard (Lt. Sledge)
*Catherine Cavadini as Fainting Girl
*Jess Harnell as Hawaiian Man
*Todd Kurosawa as Truck Driver
*Mickie McGowan as Computer Voice
*Kunewa Mook as Moses Puloki (Hula Teacher)
*Debra Jean Rogers as Armadillo-like Female Pilot (First Officer Ombit)
*Susan Silo as Computer
*Kath Soucie as Hawaiian Woman
*Doug Stone as Dark Green Male Pilot (Ensign Getco)
*Miranda Paige Walls as Mertle Edmonds
===Additional Voices===
*Steve Alterman
*Emily Anderson - Woman
*Jack Angel - Alien Guard
*Bill Asing - Man
*Robert Bergen - Officer
*Rodger Bumpass - Man
*Jennifer Darling - Female Officer
*Alexandra Deary - Woman
*John DeMita
*Judi M. Durand
*Greg Finley
*Jeff Fischer
*Valerie Flueger Veras
*T. Aszur Hill
*Barbara Iley
*Daamen Krall - Man #2
*Chloe Looper
*Courtney Mun - Female Alien
*Mary Linda Phillips - Coffee Owner
*Patrick Pinney - Firefighter
*Paige Pollack
*David Randolph
*Noreen Reardon
*Melanie Spore
*Drew Lexi Thomas
*Karle Warren
*Ruth Zalduondo
==Production==
===Development===
Lilo & Stitch is one of the few Disney animated features to take place in the time period of their release date; others include Dumbo (1941), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), The Rescuers (1977) and its sequel The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Oliver & Company (1988), Bolt (2008), and Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and one of the few to be an original story, rather than a loose adaptation of a classic tale (literature, legendary, or historical).
Production of Lilo & Stitch began with then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner deciding that in the wake of a number of high-profile and large-budget Disney animated features during the mid-1990s, the studio might try its hand at a smaller and less expensive film. The idea was inspired by the production of Dumbo, an economically-made 1941 Walt Disney film produced in the wake of the more expensive Pinocchio and Fantasia. Chris Sanders, a head storyboard artist at Disney Feature Animation, was approached to pitch an idea. Sanders had created the character of Stitch in 1985 for an unsuccessful children's book pitch and developed a treatment for an animated feature featuring the character. The movie was originally intended to take place in rural Kansas so that Stitch could interact with other characters while still being isolated from wreaking greater havoc. A decision to change the film's setting to the Hawaiian island of Kauai was an important choice in defining the plot more clearly. No other animated feature had ever taken place on any of the Hawaiian islands before as most of the past films took place in Europe (such as The Great Mouse Detective (1986), Robin Hood (1973), or The Little Mermaid (1989)), North America (such as Pocahontas (1995), Pete's Dragon (1977), or Dumbo (1941)), Africa (such as The Lion King (1994), or Tarzan (1999)), or Asia (such as The Jungle Book (1967) which took place in India, or Mulan (1998) which took place in China). In Sanders' words:
“	Animation has been set so much in ancient, medieval Europe — so many fairy tales find their roots there, that to place it in Hawaii was kind of a big leap. But that choice went to color the entire movie, and rewrite the story for us.	”
===Writing===
Dean DeBlois, who had co-written Mulan (1998) with Sanders, was brought on to co-write and co-direct Lilo & Stitch, while Disney executive Clark Spencer was assigned to produce. Unlike several previous and concurrent Disney Feature Animation productions, the Lilo & Stitch pre-production team remained relatively small and isolated from upper management until the film went into full production. The character and set designs were based upon Chris Sanders' personal artistic style.
While the animation team visited Kauai to research the locale, their tour guide explained the meaning of ohana as it applies to extended families. This concept of ohana became an important part of the movie. DeBlois recalls:
“	No matter where we went, our tour guide seemed to know somebody. He was really the one who explained to us the Hawaiian concept of ohana, a sense of family that extends far beyond your immediate relatives. That idea so influenced the story that it became the foundation theme, the thing that causes Stitch to evolve despite what he was created to do, which is destroy.	”
The island of Kauai had previously been featured in such films as Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Jurassic Park trilogy. The Disney animators faced the daunting task of meshing the film's plot, which showed the impoverished and dysfunctional life that many Hawaiians lived during the then-recent economic downturn, with the island's serene beauty. The actors voicing the film's young adults Nani and David, Tia Carrere, a native of Honolulu, and Jason Scott Lee, who was raised in Hawaii, assisted with rewriting the Hawaiian characters' dialogue in the proper colloquial dialect and adding Hawaiian slang.
===Design and Animation===
In a deviation from several decades' worth of Disney features, Sanders and DeBlois chose to use watercolor painted backgrounds for Lilo & Stitch, as opposed to the traditional gouache technique. While watercolors had been used for the early Disney animated shorts, as well as the early Disney features Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Dumbo (1941), the technique had been largely abandoned by the mid-1940s in favor of less complicated media such as gouache. Sanders preferred that watercolors be used for Lilo to evoke both the bright look of a storybook and the art direction of Dumbo, requiring the background artists to be trained in working with the medium. The character designs were based on Sanders's personal drawing style, eschewing the traditional Disney house style.
===Deleted Scenes===
Several major elements of the film changed during production. Originally, Stitch was the leader of an intergalactic gang, and Jumba was one of his former cronies sent after Stitch by the Intergalactic Council to capture him. Test audience response to early versions of the film resulted in the change of Stitch and Jumba's relationship to that of creation and creator, respectively.
The biggest change came to the film's third act, which had Stitch flying a Boeing 747 jet through downtown Honolulu to save Lilo. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, this sequence was revised so that Stitch instead flew a spaceship through the mountains of Kauai. This revision was done primarily by replacing the CGI model of the 747 with that of Jumba's spaceship, with only a few shots in the sequence fully re-animated.
Another scene that was deleted was one of Lilo's attempts to make Stitch into a model citizen by notifying tourists on the beach about the tsunami warning sirens.
The original version of Jumba attacking Stitch in Lilo's home was found to be too violent by test audiences and was revised to make it more comedic.
There was also a scene in which Lilo introduces Stitch to Pudge the fish, which ultimately leads to the fish's death. Lilo then takes Pudge's body to the same graveyard where her parents were buried, and thus Stitch learns the consequences of his actions and gains a better understanding of mortality.
There was a scene where Nani brings Lilo pizza and then Lilo tells herself a bedtime story about a friendly and stinky bear named Toaster. This was replaced with the scene where Lilo and Nani talk about being family because test audiences had mistaken Nani for Lilo's mother.
==Release==
===Box Office===
The film opening at #2 with $35,260,212 in its first weekend, less than $500,000 behind the film Minority Report. In its second week, fell to #3, again behind the Steven Spielberg film at #2. The film raked in $145,794,338 in the United States and Canada, and $127,349,813 internationally, finishing with $273,144,151 in the world. It was the second Highest-Grossing animated Film of 2002 (behind Ice Age).
===Critical Reception===
Lilo & Stitch received highly positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. The film's success at the box office and on home video formats led to a Lilo & Stitch franchise, with four direct-to-video sequels and a television series spanning two seasons. The film has received 145 critical reviews on the site Rotten Tomatoes, 124 Fresh, and 21 Rotten, giving it a total positive rating of 86%. The film has also earned a score of 73% on Metacritic.
Peter M. Nichols states that through the character of Nani Pelekai and her struggles the film appeals to older children better than such attempts by the studio to do so as Treasure Planet, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and The Emperor's New Groove.
===Home Video===
:Main article: Lilo & Stitch (video)
The film was released on VHS and DVD on December 3, 2002. In 2003, a 2-disc DVD version was announced alongside special edition DVDs of Alice in Wonderland and Pocahontas, which were released in 2004 in Australia and 2005 in the UK respectively. A 2-disc special edition DVD of Lilo & Stitch was released in the UK on August 22, 2005, alongside the UK release of Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, but a release in the US suffered from continuous delays.
On March 24, 2009, Disney re-released the DVD, which they dubbed a 2-Disc Big Wave Edition. This set includes most of the bonus features from the original DVD and adds an audio commentary, a two-hour making-of documentary, more deleted scenes including the original climax with the plane hijacking, a number of behind-the-scenes featurettes, and some games.
The film was released on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013, in a 2-Movie Collection with Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. There are no bonus features on the Blu-ray itself, but the DVD included in the combo pack is a direct recycling (minus label art) of disc 1 of the Big Wave Edition.
==Awards==
At the 2003 Academy Awards, Lilo & Stitch was nominated for Best Animated Feature, losing the Oscar to Spirited Away. At the Annie Awards (Animation Awards), Lilo & Stitch was nominated for 10 Annie's, with the only winner being Daveigh Chase for her Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production.
==Allusions==
*A stuffed toy Dumbo appears in Lilo's bedroom when she spots a shooting star.
*A Mulan poster appears in Nani's room. Also, at one point, Lilo, Nani, and Stitch pass by a restaurant called "Mulan Wok".
*During the credits, we see a photo parodying Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Want painting.
==Sequels and TV series==
:Main article: Lilo & Stitch (franchise)
The success of Lilo & Stitch paved the way for a franchise that included three direct-to-DVD and television sequel films and three TV series.
*Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005) served as an interquel to Lilo & Stitch and Stitch! The Movie. Unfortunately, Stitch has missed a much needed molecular charge when he was created, thus creating a glitch where he goes on a hapless rampage at odd times.
*Stitch! The Movie (2003) gave much of the exposition for the TV show that was to follow. It tells how Dr. Jumba and Dr. Hämsterviel had created Experiment 626, as well as 625 experiments before him. After a fiasco started by Dr. Hämsterviel wanting to collect his remaining experiments, Experiment 625 is activated from his dehydrated pod. However, while having all the same powers as Stitch, this experiment has a peculiar fascination with sandwiches. The film ends with Dr. Hämsterviel arrested, the other pods falling into water areas, and the start of Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
*Lilo & Stitch: The Series ran from 2003 to 2006, for a total of 65 episodes. In each episode, Lilo and Stitch search for the other experiments Dr. Jumba had created, whose pods had been scattered on the island of Kauai. Keeping the ʻohana theme, they track down the experiments, turn them from bad to good, and find each of them the one true place they belong.
*Leroy & Stitch (2006) ended the series and the original run of the Lilo & Stitch franchise. After all the experiments have had their one true place found for them, Captain Gantu, who is still bitter from his inability to capture the other experiments and Stitch, decides to free Dr. Hämsterviel from prison. They go to Dr. Jumba, who has his laboratory in working order again, and order him to create a new experiment named Leroy. Dr. Hämsterviel and Leroy, plus many other Leroy clones, then attempt to kidnap and destroy the other experiments. However, Dr. Jumba remembers he installed a shutdown command when "Aloha ʻOe" is played. It works, and Dr. Hämsterviel and Leroy, along with numerous other Leroy clones, are sent back to prison.
*An anime series titled Stitch! ran from 2008 to 2011 in Japan, with two TV specials broadcast there in 2012 and 2015. Taking place years after the events of Leroy & Stitch, Stitch has left Lilo, and he ends up on an island off the coast of Okinawa where he meets a Japanese girl named Yuna.
*A Chinese animated series titled Stitch & Ai premiered in 2017. Ignoring the other sequels and shows, Stitch has been separated from Lilo after being kidnapped by space pirates trying to create their own 626s from data they stole from Jumba. After making an escape, Stitch crash lands in the Huangshan mountains and meets a Chinese girl named Wang Ai Ling.
==Soundtrack==
#"Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" by Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu & The Kamehameha School's Children's Chorus
#"Stuck on You" by Elvis Presley
#"Burning Love" By Wynonna
#"Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley
#"Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley
#"(You're the) Devil in Disguise" by Elvis Presley
#"He Mele No Lilo" by Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu & The Kamehameha School's Children's Chorus
#"Hound Dog" by Elvis Presley
#"Can't Help Falling in Love" by A*Teens
#"Aloha ʻOe" by Tia Carrere (not in CD soundtrack)
#"Suspicious Minds" by Gareth Gates appears on the Canadian release and its music video as well.
==Advertising==
===Trailers===
Teaser trailers for this film parody trailers for other Disney films (two of these were animated by Sanders) from recent years. These are called "Inter-Stitch-als" and are featured on Disney's official site. The original actors were brought back to reprise their roles and were shocked when asked to act negatively towards Stitch. The trailers also include the AC/DC song track "Back in Black". Most of the original actors reprised their roles in the trailers, including Paige O'Hara as Belle, Scott Weinger as Aladdin and Jodi Benson as Ariel. The only exception was Kevin Schon replaced Nathan Lane as Timon for the Lion King teaser.
1. Beauty and the Beast: The Beauty and the Beast ballroom dance sequence begins as normal. However, as the camera pans to the angels on the ceiling, Stitch is seen crawling across the painting. Watching Belle and the Beast, he crawls onto the chandelier, which breaks. The Beast dives and pulls Belle with him out of harm's way while the chandelier smashes on the ballroom floor behind them. The moment ruined, Belle announces she will be in her room. As she departs Stitch wolf whistles after her, to which she replies indignantly, "Get your own movie!".
2. The Little Mermaid: Ariel is singing the reprise of "Part of Your World", when a huge wave, which is being ridden by Stitch, dumps on her. As the ocean settles, Ariel pops up and throws a starfish at Stitch, saying "I was singing here!" This trailer was the most difficult to parody, as the film had been painted using traditional cel animation rather than using the digital CAPS system and had to be cleaned up by hand.
3. Aladdin: Aladdin and Jasmine are interrupted in the middle of the "A Whole New World" sequence by Stitch honking his cruiser's horn. Stitch flirts with Jasmine and when Jasmine stands up, she accidentally drives off with him in his cruiser, leaving Aladdin behind and sitting alone on the carpet, yelling at Stitch and saying, "Get your own movie!" in a whisper.
4. The Lion King: There are two versions of this commercial;
*In one of them, clips of past Disney classics are shown, with a voice over saying "For over seventy years, the Walt Disney Studios has won the hearts of audiences with the most enchanting, delightful and lovable characters the world had ever known. On June 21, the tradition...", and is suddenly cut off as Rafiki thrusts Stitch into the air in the manner of the presentation ceremony in the original film. A warthog (not Pumbaa) cries out, "Hey, that's not Simba!" All the animals flee, leaving Stitch alone on Pride Rock. Stitch clears his throat and roars unconvincingly.
*In the other commercial, the end of the song "Circle of Life" plays, Rafiki raising Stitch into the air on the last note. The rest of the parody plays out as the previous one, except that in this commercial, Timon (sitting on Pumbaa's back) is the one who yells, "Hey, that's not Simba!"
In the United Kingdom, Lilo & Stitch trailers and TV ads featured a cover of Elvis' song "Suspicious Minds", performed by Gareth Gates, who became famous on the UK TV program Pop Idol.
==Gallery==
The Disney Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Lilo & Stitch.
==Trivia==
*Originally, the film's climactic spaceship chase was instead an airplane chase through the city of Honolulu. This was changed and Disney had to completely re-animate the scene from the ground up because of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, since it was considered too controversial and upsetting for a children's film. In fact, the film was pushed back by an additional seven months to account for these changes.
**Additionally, the setting of the chase was changed from Honolulu to a mountainous valley to remove imagery of things nearly crashing into buildings and Gantu's ship at one point bouncing off a building near the start of the chase for this very reason. In fact, the actual motion is the same between both versions with just the settings and models changed.
***However, as some have noted, this change is noticeable in the final film. Partway through the chase, we randomly cut to the Ice Cream Man. In the final film, it makes no sense since he is in the middle of a canyon, whereas he was in the center of the road in the deleted version.
*An entire scene was cut from the final movie where Stitch checks on Pleakley to find the seat empty. It was cut from the movie due to the aforementioned 9/11 issues and the fact that the spaceship has no interior seating. In fact, six whole shots were removed from the finished film to remove similarities to airplane seating.
*This is the third Disney hand-drawn animated film to feature Skywalker Sound. The first two are Hercules and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
*In the junior novelization, Captain Gantu's hammerhead subordinate officer is known as Lieutenant Sledge.
*In the book titled Disney Trivia from the Vault - Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered by Dave Smith (who is also known to have his own column in the very first Disney Magazine called "Ask Dave", or the most recent D23 [Disney's community for Disney fans] Web site) of page 4, there was a sign on Lilo's bedroom door with the word "Kapu". "Kapu" means "keep out" or "off limits" in Hawaiian.
*In the detention cell, a Dr. Hämsterviel look-alike is shown to be in one of the cells.
*The space dinosaur that was in the detention cell was sent to capture Stitch in the video game Lilo & Stitch: Trouble in Paradise.
*During the trial at the beginning of the movie, Jumba claimed that he would never make more than one of 626, when in fact, he had already made 625 experiments before 626. Though it is most likely that he was lying to save his skin, since he also referred to Stitch as "the first of a new species," implying that he may actually have intended to create more if 626 was successful.
**Similarly, later on in the film's climax when Jumba attacks Stitch on the ceiling using plates like shurikens, he claims that he wants to reprogram Stitch to be "taller" and "not so fluffy", hence foreshadowing the creations of both Experiment 627 and 629 (a.k.a. Leroy) in both Lilo & Stitch: The Series and Leroy & Stitch respectively, which both of them co-incidentally are improved versions of Stitch that are more evil and destructive and less fluffy than Stitch himself.
*When the movie was shown on television, the part where Nani traps Lilo after she comes out of the dryer was cut out, probably due to time constraints or that the scene was deemed unsafe (as Lilo was hiding in the dryer), and it would set a bad example for children.
**However, on the UK print and the Disney+ streaming service, the dryer was replaced by a cupboard with a pizza box attached to the front.
*When Lilo, Stitch, and Nani are walking towards the electronics store, the Chinese place next to the electronics store is called Mulan Wok, a possible homage to Disney's Mulan.
*One of the surfboards that David carries during the surfing sequence has a red and blue taegeuk like the one on the South Korean flag.
*A stuffed toy Dumbo can be seen on Lilo's easel.
*During the battle sequence where Stitch hits Jumba with a "punch buggy", a Mulan poster is seen in Nani's room.
*This is the fifth non-musical in the Disney Animated Canon, following The Black Cauldron, The Rescuers Down Under, The Emperor's New Groove and Dinosaur. However, unlike the ones before and after (Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, Bolt, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6, and Zootopia) it, it does prominently feature music throughout with the use of Elvis Presley songs.
*As of 2022, this is the most recent Walt Disney Animation Studios film to have full opening credits since 1995's Pocahontas, and so-far, the last Disney animated film to do so.
*To pitch the film to Disney executives, Chris Sanders created a booklet featuring the basic concept of the story and characters. Much of the plot of the booklet greatly differs.
==Goofs==
*After Stitch destroys the ship's power grid at the beginning of the movie, one of the Gantu's deckhands checks on the computer to see if a police cruiser has been taken. Evidently, the computer terminal has a backup power, which allows it to keep working even if the main power is cut off.
*When Stitch is first escaping the prison ship, the female pilot states, "He's loose on deck C!" and points at a moving red dot. However, the camera then shifts to Stitch, who is still locked in place. This is likely the result of the system being confused by Stitch spitting, so it thinks he's moving around, even though he's not, which produces a false tracking signal.
*When Lilo goes to dance class, the two drummers are seen playing the same kind of drum. When Lilo announces that Pudge controls the weather, one of the drummers has a different drum.
*When Lilo is running from the beach to dance class, she is wearing a striped bathing suit, over which she puts on her grass skirt before entering the building. When she joins the other children on stage she is still wearing her grass skirt, but she is now wearing a tube top. Evidently, she pulled off her bathing suit from under the skirt (in a typical manner for small children) after entering the building, and put on the tube top.
*Elena the blonde girl (unnamed in the film) was not seen riding her bike with Mertle and the other girls.
*Mertle the red-haired girl and Elena the blonde girl sometimes have noticeably lighter skin color than other girls, and at other times, they are practically as dark as the others. For example, when Lilo runs to talk to the hula girls after class, Mertle is nearly as dark as Lilo. This happens due to the difference in lighting conditions (granted, not very photo-realistic, but good enough for a cartoon). This is most apparent when the hula girls go out of a shadow into the brightly lit stage at the beginning of the movie. As Mertle walks out of the shadow, her skin color becomes lighter.
*When David sets the stage on fire, the hole on the canopy has a bamboo beam showing through. In the very next shot, the beam is gone.
*When Lilo is talking to Moses Puloki, aka the Hula Teacher about just wanting to dance, we can see Mertle in the background holding her arm. On her wrist is a grass bracelet. When we focus on Mertle and she says, "Eww, she bit me!", the grass bracelet is gone.
*When Nani invites Cobra into the house, she opens the back door and leaves it open. But later on, when she is chasing Lilo around the house, the door is closed.
*Lilo is barefoot when Cobra arrives; however, when Lilo is speaking to Cobra, she is wearing her sandals. When Cobra observes Lilo claiming her friends need to be punished, she is barefoot again.
*When Nani invites Cobra into the house, there is a pot simmering on the stove. When she takes the lid off and then turns around, after Lilo walks in, the stove is shown behind Nani and Cobra, and the pot has turned into a frying pan.
*When Cobra is at Nani's back door, the door swings to Nani's right when she opens it. But later, when Nani crawls on top of the dryer and she opens it, it opens the opposite way.
*In the scene after Cobra's first visit, Nani brings Lilo some pizza in her room. Behind Lilo, a neon green star and moon can clearly be seen on the right bedpost. Later on, as the lights go out, the star and moon are clearly on the left bedpost. Later still, when Stitch wakes up Lilo with The Ugly Duckling book, the star/moon isn't even on a bedpost, it's on the headboard between the posts. After that, the star/moon disappears completely to reappear on the window frame for two scenes.
*At the luau, Nani's skirt is short, but when she gets fired, it is long.
*Right before Stitch finds The Ugly Duckling book, he picks up three other books. The first two, Oyster Farming: Is It for You? and Fire Eating for Fun and Profit have their titles printed on the back of the books, and nothing printed on the fronts. This is needed so that the viewers could see the names clearly.
*During the scene when Nani is apologizing to Lilo for yelling at her, Lilo is sitting on the left side of her bed holding her Scrump doll. Then, when Nani picks her up to console her, Lilo casually drops Scrump on the same side of the bed. Yet, when the shot changes, Scrump is now on the far right side of the bed.
*When Lilo is in the restaurant where Nani works, her crayon disappears and then reappears.
*When Nani is telling David on the phone about how Stitch is scary and walks into the kitchen, Stitch's shadow on the wall has four arms, but when the shot switches to Stitch raiding the refrigerator, he only has two arms. This is because he noticed Nani and instantly retracted his lower pair of arms to hide his alien nature. Although initially, at the shelter, he did that with difficulty, but then obviously learned to do it extremely fast. This is explicitly shown after the house is destroyed; he retracts his lower arms in 0.3 seconds when Nani runs past him.
*When Lilo stops Nani from sending Stitch away, Lilo is wearing her red flower dress with sandals. But when she goes to her bedroom, she is wearing her nightgown with no sandals. Evidently, she changed clothes before entering her room. While it may seem strange that her nightgown is not in her room, there is nothing that says it can't be.
*After the house blows up, Lilo's picture of her family is shown with three burned corners in distant shots, but only two are close up.
*When Cobra puts Lilo in his car, the door lock button can be seen on the driver's side. When the shot goes back to Lilo, a different kind of lock is revealed on the passenger's side.
*When David pulls Stitch out of the water after he appears to have drowned, Stitch is facing out, but when you see him again he is facing in.
*When Nani, Lilo, and Stitch come home after the luau, Nani reaches halfway up the wall, turns on the lights, and the sound of the switch flipping can be heard. The light switch can be seen a moment later as she carries Stitch out of the kitchen, but when she tries to carry him out of the house, it has disappeared.
*When Jumba is at Lilo's house trying to catch Stitch, at one point, he rips the plate rack off the kitchen wall and throws the plates at Stitch who is crawling on the ceiling. But a while later, when Lilo calls Cobra for help, the plate rack (and the plates) is back on wall behind her.
*When Jumba tries to capture Stitch in Lilo's house while Nani goes for a job interview, Lilo's sandals vanish between shots.
*Throughout the final parts of the film, Jumba's head keeps switching from big to medium size to big again.
*Stitch's scratch marks on Lilo's glass prison disappear and reappear.
*At one point during "He Mele No Lilo", the two older hula dancers at the left switch places; after that, they switch back to their original places.