LILO & STITCH (Dean Deblois, Chris Sanders, 2002) R

Reviewed: June 27, 2002

It's a good omen when a film begins with a new spin on a movie studio's traditional logo. David Mamet's Heist made the Warner Bros logo black & white, telling us to be prepared for the classical noir flicks the WB use to churn out in the 40s. Doug Liman's Go! butchered the Columbia Pictures logo, fragmenting it with quick cuts of light streaks and 20somethings at a rave. And now here is Lilo & Stitch, putting a nice little touch on the Disney castle logo we've all grown so accustomed to. The logo changing mindset is simple. It's filmmakers telling their audience, hey, be prepared for something a little different. This is not the same big studio, cookie-cutter crap you're accustomed to. This is something... special.

And they're right. Lilo & Stitch is a great piece of work, miles above Ice Age, and even better than last year's animated smash-hit Shrek. Longtime readers know how upset I was at Disney's marketing campaign for Lilo & Stitch, how Disney's whoring of all their classic animated characters as a way of pimping Lilo & Stitch said to me they had reached a new desperation low because many of their recent animated films had performed so poorly (both commercially and critically). Alas, my worrying was interest paid in advance on a debt that never came due, because Disney truly does have something wonderful on their hands this time out of the gate. They deserve heavy box office recognition for what they've produced.

Well, maybe "they" is putting it too generously. By all indications writers/directors Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders deserve the lion's share of the credit for Lilo & Stitch's quality (well them, plus their hoards of immensely talented animators and actors and such), not Disney as a corporate entity. I've read that Deblois and Sanders managed to work their way up through Disney's animation reigns, and then finagled the helm of this feature, all the while gaining the power and control to go off in relative seclusion to Florida and craft the film there. Meaning Disney interference was kept to a minimum and a massive amount of trust was placed in the filmmakers. Credit must of course also be given to Disney for maintaining this trust, and for allowing the relatively unknown Deblois and Sanders to make a traditionally animated (Lilo & Stitch looks like a gorgeous, watercolor mosaic) film in these days of heated CGI pressure.

Lilo & Stitch proves that the mode of animation is not important-- all that matters is the characters and the story. Lilo's plot isn't groundbreaking (alien comes to Earth and meets lonely child) and the ending may be preordained, but the characters are so well drawn, the emotion is so true and not manipulative, and the story nuances and gags are fresh enough (my favorite gag involves the priceless 1980s toy, the view-master) to all meld together into an original piece of work.

Allow me an example to prove how adult and unsentimental this feature length cartoon is. There is a scene in which Stitch is rampaging Lilo's bedroom. He gets to her bed, removes her pillow and beneath the pillow is a picture. We don't see the picture in close-up, only from a distance. Stitch grabs the photo, then Lilo grabs it back from him, instructing him to never ever touch that again. You can tell it's the only possession of hers she actually cares about. She gingerly places the photo back on her bed. Still, we can't make out the image's content, only glimpsing it from afar.

I was astounded. The amount of trust placed in the audience -- an audience composed primarily of little kids, mind you -- to figure out that that photo is a picture of Lilo's dead parents is incredible. Iit probably went over most kids' heads, maybe even some parents as well. Granted, much later on we do finally find out more about the photo, but my point withstands. It was at that moment I knew Lilo & Stitch would continue to work as well for adults, as children. The filmmakers weren't going for the easy sentiment and indeed, throughout the rest of the pic they never did.

Lilo & Stitch particularly excels in its character development. The pre-credits prologue is devoted entirely to establishing Stitch, and I was shocked to discover he bears a much stronger resemblance to Tim Burton's Mars Attacks' aliens than E.T. Stitch was artificially created as a destruction machine. He is violent, mischievous, remorseless and near invincible, i.e. not even likable in a Dennis-the-Menace-he-may-cause-trouble-but-at-least-he-has-a-good-heart kinda way. Until the very end, Stitch has no heart at all. You only dig him in that deliciously evil way you dig Hannibal Lecter. Sanders and Deblois have guts. Not putting a standard villain in an animated film is a rarity and having the meanest character in the film supposed to be one of the most sympathetic, having the meanest character in the film be a little girl's savior, is a virtually unheard of masterstroke.

The story of Lilo, her dead parents and her young sister who's caring for her (under the constant threat of social workers taking Lilo away because they think sister's an unfit parent) is ripe for cheese, but miraculously the storyline never descends into hokum. Lilo and her relationship with her sister are treated honestly -- I knew I'd fallen for Lilo hook line and sinker when she's lying on her floor, sad and lonely, singing along to an Elvis album (speaking of which, as you probably know, Lilo & Stitch is not a musical -- in fact, most of the soundtrack is populated with Elvis and other assorted goodies).

The supporting gallery rules. Standouts are Ving Rhames as the ultra-slick Cobra Bubbles and David Ogden Stiers as Jumba, the mad scientist who created Stitch and now must hunt him across Hawaii (excellent choice setting the pic in a tropical paradise -- sense of locale is joyously realized, beautiful and integral to the plot).

Lilo & Stitch confirms Disney's back on top. Their next traditionally animated film, Treasure Island (due in November), looks like a winner as well. I saw the trailer before Lilo & Stitch and it drew me right into what seems to be a sumptuous, dazzling, action-adventure fantasy. With my faith officially restored in the Mouse House, I can't wait.

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