What a Tricky Fish

“Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind.”

While that line may have been repeated a couple of more times than necessary, it is the essence of what Lilo & Stitch is about. Family sticking together, overcoming obstacles, and accepting every member, no matter how much of a black sheep they may be. And as far as being a part of the Disney family, Lilo & Stitch was the member it needed.

Lilo & Stitch is about the alien monstrosity Stitch who escapes the United Galactic Federation and crash lands on area 51, a small blue planet called Earth. Once on Earth he is adopted by Lilo, a little girl who lives alone with her sister Nani. Nani and Lilo must convince the social worker Cobra Bubbles that they have a stable living situation, but that is complicated by Stitch’s appearance and the two aliens that are hunting him down.

I have to admit that when Disney moved away from its traditional musical animated film, I was sad to see the songs go. However, I can sort of understand the move as it seems that kids care a little bit less about the song and dance routines than my friends and I always used to. While this could simply be Phil Collins’s fault (the music for Tarzan was awful) or the fault of the string of terrible movies that Disney released after The Lion King, it’s still an understandable move. I think Disney felt it needed to grow up a little bit and modernize its image. Or something like that.

And really, Lilo & Stitch didn’t need the song and dance numbers. The soundtrack was still amazing thanks to the inclusion of the Elvis songs. I thought that was a rather clever idea, songs that kids could enjoy and that older generations could relate to as well. I also really enjoyed the entire Stitch makeover as Elvis sequence. It was beyond adorable.

It’s a step away from the traditional Disney movie in more ways than just the lack of songs. A science fiction Disney movie? Where did that come from? I’m still not really sure but I am grateful for its existence. I think it’s a brilliant little film, filled with clever references to excite the sci-fi fans, adorable characters for the kids, and enough entertaining and intelligent moments to satisfy the parents. The writing is great and definitely quotable. And the relationship developed between Lilo and Nani is really well done; they definitely acted like siblings.

While I do think they overuse the whole Ohana thing, the focus on family is actually endearing rather than over-moralizing. A tricky thing to pull off. Really, over all, the story is rather mature, dealing with a small, broken family fighting unemployment and dealing with the difficulty of being social outcasts. And I think the themes give the film a depth that everyone can appreciate. It’s nice to see a film respecting the intelligence of kids. It tempers the cheery happiness with actually heartfelt moments that may pull a few tears out of you. It sweet but it’s not sugary. Trust me, that’s a good thing.

And if my cousin’s love of the film is any indication (she’s six), it’s definitely a film for the entire family. It’s an exciting adventure that has enough content for the adults to enjoy but is fluffy enough for the kids.

The film just made me really want my own Stitch. The character design and animation was great. Stitch and Lilo were both incredibly cute but I also really dug the designs of all of the different aliens as well as the way Nani and her love interest David were drawn. It was really nice to see characters that were attractive with out being the perfect beauties of the past Disney princesses. Not that I don’t love Belle et al but Nani is certainly a little more human looking.

I also thought that the animators and storywriters did a great job of taking advantage of the film’s exotic setting. There were plenty of colors, rainbow fish, blue waves, green mountains, red lava, sunsets, and plenty of flowers. There was also the interweaving of Hawaiian traditions into the plot, which I thought was pretty cool. It was almost like taking a vacation to Hawaii without ever leaving my living room.

The DVD also offers a nice presentation. The menus are easy to navigate and the extras are fun. I possibly could have done with a couple of more but the history of Stitch at Disney is priceless. It expands on Disney’s absolutely brilliant marketing scheme that placed Stitch in Disney’s past films. It also has a couple of cool other features and a neat game thing. The DVD is definitely worth purchasing for the great movie alone, but the extra bonus features are, well, a bonus.

With Lilo & Stitch, we get another Disney classic. Maybe not as traditional as those of the past, but sometimes different is an excellent thing.