It’s Film
Strip Friday!
Lilo
& Stitch
Release
Date June 21st, 2002
SYNOPSIS:
Lilo's a lonely little girl living with her older sister, and Stitch is a maniacal little monster from outer space. Still, when Stitch crash-lands in beautiful Hawaii and Lilo adopts him, they find that they are two of a kind. Now, with an interstellar force out to recapture Stitch and a social worker hot on Lilo's trail, the friends have to prove that family is family, no matter how out of this world some of the members might be.
FUN FACTS:
Lilo & Stitch is a 2002 American animated
science-fiction/comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature animation and
released on June 21, 2002. The 42nd animated feature in the Walt disney
Animated Classics, it was written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean
DeBlois, and features the voices of 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 Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida 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.
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 direct-to-video sequel, Leroy &
Stitch, was released on June 27, 2006 as the conclusion to the TV series.
Plot
Dr. Jumba Jookiba is put on trial by the galactic
governing body for illegal genetic experiments, including his latest creation, Experiment
626: an aggressive and cunning creature that is nearly indestructible. Jumba is
imprisoned while Experiment 626 is set to be exiled on a desert asteroid.
However, during transport on Captain Gantu's ship, 626 manages to escape to the
Planet Earth (despite having guns that are encoded with his DNA and designed to
only shoot while pointed at him). The Grand Councilwoman orders Jumba to work
with Agent Pleakley to recover 626 discreetly. 626 survives his escape attempt
to Earth, landing on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, but is knocked unconscious
by a passing truck, and is taken to an animal shelter because he is believed by
the truck drivers to be a breed of dog.
After the recent death of their parents in a car
accident, 19-year-old Nani Pelekai is looking after her younger, more
rambunctious sister, Lilo. They are visited by Cobra Bubbles, a social worker,
who is concerned that Nani cannot take adequate care of Lilo. He considers
putting Lilo into foster care, but Nani is very much against this idea, as Lilo
and she are the only remaining members of her family; Lilo does not help as she
does not understand what may happen. After hearing Lilo in her room pray to be
given a friend (Lilo has no "real" friends because every girl in her
class mocks her), Nani agrees to allow Lilo to adopt a dog. At the shelter,
Lilo immediately takes a keen interest in Experiment 626, despite serious misgivings
that Nani and the shelter worker have about him being a dog. Lilo names 626
"Stitch," and shows him around Hawaii; Stitch quickly discovers
escape is impossible as he would sink and drown past the island to the sea.
As Nani attempts to find a good job, she is forced to
bring Lilo and Stitch with her. Lilo uses the time to try to curb Stitch's
aggressiveness by encouraging him to behave like Elvis Presley, whom she calls
a "model citizen." Stitch's antics, although at times foiling Jumba
and Pleakley's attempts to capture him, also ruin Nani's chances of getting a
job. David, a friend of Nani's, sees her at the beach, where she was trying to
get a job as a lifeguard. David suggests they go surfing to improve her mood.
While Nani, Lilo and Stitch ride on a huge wave, Jumba makes one more effort to
capture Stitch from underwater; as a result, it appears as if Stitch attempted
to drown Lilo. Although everyone gets safely to shore, Cobra saw the whole
thing and tells Nani he will come by in the morning to take Lilo away from her
and leaves feeling sorry for her. After Stitch sees how much trouble he has
caused, he leaves.
The next morning, as Nani waits for Cobra to arrive,
David tells Nani of a job offer that she must respond to. Nani tells Lilo to
stay at home while she goes to secure the job. Stitch, hiding in the nearby
woods, encounters Jumba, who reveals that Stitch can never have a family or
"belong" because he was just built to destroy. Stitch races to Lilo's
house, followed by Jumba firing at Stitch with his gun. The two fight, Lilo
quickly phoning Cobra for help. The house is ultimately destroyed by the end of
the fight, with Nani and Cobra returning shortly after.
As Nani and Cobra argue over Lilo's well-being, Lilo
slips away to hide in the forest and finds Stitch, who reveals his true alien
form to her. While she says how he ruined everything, they are both captured by
Captain Gantu, who had been sent to capture Stitch after Jumba and Pleakley
failed to do so, and he makes to leave Earth. Nani is shocked to see Gantu
putting Lilo and Stitch in a container pod and taking off in the ship. Stitch,
however, escapes from the container before the ship takes off. Nani then
realizes that Stitch isn't what she thought he was, and demands he speak, just
as Lilo always said he did. While once again trying to capture Stitch, both
Jumba and Pleakley are revealed to Nani, and tell her that they do know Lilo,
and they can both get her back. Stitch, with help from Jumba's ship and by
launching a gas tanker truck out of a volcano, is able to free Lilo and stop
Gantu. After they land, they find that the Grand Councilwoman has arrived
nearby, in order to capture Stitch personally. However, when she sees Stitch
has learned to talk and bonded with Nani and Lilo, she realizes he has become a
civilized creature. Using Lilo's certificate of Stitch's ownership as proof,
which is also provided the fact that she would be stealing Stitch from Lilo,
the Councilwoman asserts that Stitch is now a part of Nani and Lilo's family,
and lets him live his exile on Earth with the humans as his warders. As her
guards take Gantu away, she doesn't let Pleakley or Jumba return on her ship,
and orders Cobra, a former CIA agent who previously met the Councilwoman at Roswell,
to keep an eye on the new family. Stitch, Jumba and Pleakley become integrated
into Lilo's family, and the house is rebuilt with the help of the three, David
and Cobra.
Cast
- Daveigh
Chase as Lilo. Andreas Deja served as the supervising animator for Lilo.
- Chris
Sanders as Stitch. Alex Kupershmidt served as the supervising animator for
Stitch.
- Tia
Carrere as Nani. Stéphane Sainte-Foi served as the supervising animator
for Nani.
- David
Ogden Stiers as Dr. Jumba Jookiba. Bolhem Bouchiba served as the supervising
animator for Jumba.
- Kevin
McDonald as agent Pleakley. Ruben A. Aquino served as the supervising
animator for Pleakley.
- Ving
Rhames as Cobra Bubbles. Byron Howard served as the supervising animator
for Bubbles.
- Kevin
Michael Richardson as Captain Gantu
- Zoe Caldwell
as Grand Councilwoman
- Jason
Scott Lee as David Kawena. Ruben A. Aquino served as the supervising
animator for David.
Production
Development
Lilo & Stitch is one of the few
Disney animated features to take place in the present day; others include One
Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), The Rescuers (1977) and its sequel The
Rescuers Down Under (1990), and Oliver & Company (1988).
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 Kaua’i 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. In Sanders' words.
" Animation has been set so much in the 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 rewite the sotry for us."
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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 Kauaʻi to research the locale, their tour
guide explained the meaning of ‘ohana as it applies to extended families. This
concept of ʻohana became
an important part of the movie. DeBlois recalls:
The island of Kauaʻi 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 DuBlois 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,
the techique had been largely abandoned by the mid 1940s in favor of less
complicated media such as gouache. Sanders, however, 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 around Sanders'
personal drawing style, eschewing the traditional Disney house style. The
film's extraterrestrial elements, such as the spaceships, were designed to
resemble marine life, such as whales and crabs.
Marketing
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
as well as on the film's respective DVD release. 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".
- 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!"
- 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 angrily 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.
- Aladdin: Aladdin
and Jasmine are interrupted in the middle of the "A Whole New
World" sequence by Stitch. Stitch flirts with Jasmine and she drives
off with him in his cruiser, leaving Aladdin sitting alone on the carpet,
yelling "Hey! You get your own movie..."
- 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 21st, 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.
As a promotional campaign comics of Lilo & Stitch
were run in Disney Adventures prior to the films release. The comics detailed
events leading up to the film for both title characters, including the creation
and escape of Stitch. These events were later contradicted by the sequel Lilo
& Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch rendering the comics non-canonical, but is
notable to the series as introducing Experiment 625, Reuben, who was made a
main character in the subsequent movies and TV series.
The comic series has been released as a collective volume
titled Comic Zone Volume 1: Lilo and Stitch.
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, 2001attacks on the World Trade Center, this
sequence was revised so that Stitch instead flew a spaceship through the
mountains of Kauaʻi. 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 warning tourists on the beach about the
tsunami warning sirens. Finally, 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 particular scene where Lilo
introduces Stitch to "Pudge" the fish, which ultimately leads to the
character's death. Lilo then took the fish's body to the same graveyard where
her parents were buried, and thus Stitch learns the consequences of his
actions, and gains a more somber view of death and mortality.
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 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.
Critical reception
Lilo & Stitch received highly
positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, and along with The Emperors
New Groove, Bolt, The Prince4ss and the Frog and Tangled was one of only five
Walt Disney Feature Animation/Walt Disney Animation Studios productions
released during the 2000s to meet with critical approval and make its cost back
during its original theatrical run. The film's success at the box office and on
home video formats led to a 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 positive total rating of 86%. The film has also
earned a score of 73 on Metacritic.
Peter M. Nichols states that through the character of
Nani and her struggles the film appeals to older children better than such
attempts by the studio to do so as Treasure Plante, alantis: The Lost Empire
and The Emperor’s New Groove.
Home video
The film was released on VHS and DVD 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 and 2005
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 finally 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
2-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. It is currently unknown if Disney will release the film onto Blu-Ray.
Soundtrack
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Lilo &
Stitch
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Soundtrack
album by Various artists
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Released
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June 11, 2002
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Recorded
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2001-2002
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Genre
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Rock, country rock, pop
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Length
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34:47
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Label
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Walt Disney
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Producer
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Chris Montan (executive)
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Lilo &
Stitch music chronology
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Professional
ratings
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Review
scores
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Source
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Rating
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All
Music
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Lilo & Stitch: An Original Walt Disney Records
Soundtrack is the soundtrack to Disney’s 2002, forty-second
animated feature Lilo & Stitch. It contains original two songs from
the film written by Mark Keali’iHo’omalu and Alan Silvestri (the film
composer), and performed by Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu and the Kamehameha
Schools children's chorus. Also contains five songs by American singer Elvis
Presley (the soundtrack, along with the film, features more Presley singles
than any of his own feature films), and two of his songs re-recorded by
American singer Wynonna ("Burning Love"), British singer Gareth Gates
(UK version) and Swedish group A *Teens ("Can't Help Falling in
Love"). It was released by Walt Disney Recods on June 11, 2002.
Track listing
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No.
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Title
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Performer
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Length
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1.
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"Hawaiian
Rollercoaster Ride"
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Mark Keali’I Ho’omalu,
The Kamehameha Schools Children's Chorus
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3:28
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2.
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"Stuck on
You"
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Elvis Presley
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2:25
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3.
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"burning
Love"
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Wynonna
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3:10
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4.
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"Suspicious
Minds"
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Elvis Presley
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3:23
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5.
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"Heartbreak
Hotel"
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Elvis Presley
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2:13
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6.
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"Devil in
Disguise"
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Elvis Presley
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2:30
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7.
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"He Mele No
Lilo"
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Mark Keali’ Ho’omalu,
The Kamehameha Schools Children's Chorus
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2:28
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8.
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"Hound Dog"
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Elvis Pesley
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2:27
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9.
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"Can’t Help
Falling in Love"
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A*Teans
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3:07
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10.
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"Stitch to
the Rescue (score)"
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Alan Silvestri
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5:57
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11.
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"You Can
Never Belong"
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Alan Silvestri
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3:56
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12.
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"I'm Lost
(score)"
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Alan Silvestri
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4:43
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Charts
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Chart (2002)
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Peak
position |
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US Billboard 200
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11
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US Billboard Top
Soundtracks
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1
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Sequels
On August 26, 2003, Disney released a direct-to-video
sequel, Stitch! The Movie, which served as the pilot to a TV series titled Lilo
& Stitch: The Series. This series ran for 65 episodes between September 20,
2003 and July 29, 2006. The series carried on where the film left off and
charted Lilo's efforts to capture and re-home Jumba's remaining experiments.
This series ended with TV movie Leroy & Stitch, which was released on June
27, 2006.
On August 30, 2005, Lilo
& Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, the "official"
direct-to-video sequel to the film, was released. In this film (set between the
first and second films), Stitch has a glitch because his molecules were never
fully charged (this is contrary to an alternate opening, "Stitch's
trial", which was seen on the DVD release of Lilo & Stitch). Lilo
wants to win the May Day hula contest like her Mom did in the 1970s, but Stitch
continues to have outbursts. Lilo gets increasingly mad at Stitch as his glitch
causes more problems for her and ruins her chances of winning the competition.
She thinks Stitch is not cooperating properly, until she finds out that Stitch
is dying.
In March 2008, Disney announced a reimagined version of Lilo
& Stitch, titled Stitch!, aimed at the Japanese market. The show, which
began in October 2008, features a Japanese girl named Yuna (formerly referred
to as Hanako) in place of Lilo, and is set on a fictional island in Okinawa
prefecture instead of Hawaii. The series is produced by the Japanese animation
house Madhouse LTD.
Video games
There were two official games released to coincide with
the film, Disney's Lilo & Stitch for the PlayStation and Disney’s
Stitch: Experiment 626 for the PlayStation 2. Stitch is also a summonable
character in Kingdom Hearts II, and appears along with his homeworld in Kingdom
Hearts Birth by sleep for the PlayStation Portable.
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