This Week in the Mercury
Monday, March 30, 2009
Film DVD Review: Lilo & Stitch.
Posted by Erik Henriksen on Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 1:48 PM
For some fucked-up reason that probably only furries can comprehend, doing a Google image search for "lilo and stitch" is a weirdly pervy affair—but despite having seen some Lilo & Stitch-related imagery that no one should ever, ever have to see, I'll still gonna go on record as saying that Disney's 2002 film was one of the last great American 2-D animated flicks to be released before computer animation took over.
Lilo & Stitch was rereleased on DVD last week—branded as Lilo & Stitch: 2-Disc Big Wave Edition—and I watched it again over the weekend, and if it weren't for my sentimental attachment to The Jungle Book, it might be my favorite Disney film. The DVD's worth checking out if you, like me, find yourself wishing American 2-D films weren't practically extinct at this point—and also if you, like me, have plenty of time to kill until Miyazaki's new film gets released.
At the heart of Lilo & Stitch's appeal is Stitch himself—he's one of those rare intentionally cute characters who is, in fact, cute. But Lilo's pretty great too: As far as I can tell, she was one of the first female Disney characters to not be a perfect little princess, and she's at her most endearing and identifiable when she's grumpy and troubled, or lashing out and hitting other kids, or simultaneously resenting and loving her older sister, Nani. It's not Bergman-level drama, but it is surprisingly complex for a mainstream Disney flick targeted at six-year-olds, and it reflects a level of nuance and smarts that I don't think the studio has matched since.
And while the plot's pretty much cribbed straight from E.T., the Hawaii-set film's gorgeous pastel palette and watercolor backgrounds gives the thing a distinct, welcoming feel. All the character designs, be they for the plot's various humans or various aliens, are thick, curved, and graceful—again, something that's a big difference from older Disney flicks—and one gets the sense that, from the sci-fi plot to the more realistic characters to the Elvis-laden soundtrack, the filmmakers were aiming to make a movie that'd be quite different from the Disney status quo. I'm sure this was a market-tested, focus-grouped decision, and it should probably feel mercenary and contrived, but directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders keep the whole thing feeling organic, heartfelt, modern, and genuinely funny. At this point, Pixar has managed to make this sort of stuff feel utterly natural—and indeed, expected—in animated films, but it's easy to forget that before Pixar became the world-ruling juggernaut it is today, there were a few other animated films worth watching, too.
ALSO OMG DID YOU KNOW THEY MAKE STITCH COSTUMES FOR DOGS? I am currently taking donations to buy one for Olive, the Mercury's office pug!
GYAAAAH WHAT THE SHIT IS THAT LAST ONE NEVERMIND NEVERMIND KILL IT KILL IT
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