There's one in every family.
On the lush and tropical Hawaiian islands, a lonely little girl, Lilo (Daveigh Chase), adopts what she thinks is a dog. She calls her new pet Stitch (Chris Sanders), completely unaware that he is a dangerous genetic experiment who has escaped from an alien planet. Stitch's only interest in Lilo is using her as a human shield to evade the alien bounty hunters Jumba (David Ogden Stiers) and Pleakley (Kevin McDonald) who are bent on recapturing him. In the end, Lilo's unwavering faith in Ohana, the Hawaiian tradition of family, unlocks Stitch's heart and gives him the one thing he never had - the capacity to care for someone else.
Special Agent Matti
That's Lee-loh, folks, Lee-loh: not an ad for an inflatable mattress.
Meanwhile, the boys and girls at Disney have come up with another funny and touching animated film. It's well written, well drawn and well done. No-one will ever be able to accuse Lilo and Stitch of being undercooked.
The characters are an interesting mix of slightly wacky interplanetary beings, slightly wacky planetary beings and more than slightly wacky bureaucrats. Bureaucrats are the bane of a hero's life whether they're a secret agent or an orphaned Polynesian. Having dead parents is an interesting idea, too: death is glossed over far too often in American movies. Of course, Lilo's "broken" family reforms itself - this is Disney after all - but at least they gave it a try.
G
85 minutes (1:25 hours)
Film: 19 September 2002
DVD rental: 5 March 2003
VHS rental: 5 March 2003
DVD retail: 18 August 2004 - Special edition
DVD retail : 10 November 2004 - Special edition
VHS retail : 10 November 2004 - Special edition
DVD retail : 8 November 2006 - Double pack
