Cartoon Corner- Lilo & Stitch

Originally posted at the DL December 2015

Lilo & Stitch falls in a strange era of Disney, where the Renaissance was clearly over but they had no idea what to actually do yet.  So we got several fairly offbeat films.  They all are pretty different in tone and, what stood out on this watch-through, art styles.  In this case, everything feels very... round.  I think to some extent this might be a stylistic choice rather than a change in art style, because it means that Stitch looks extremely distinct from every other alien; he's pointy and dangerous, they're soft from years of bureaucracy.  Still, even the humans move in a very circular way, and of course the character designs themselves are a bit different from the norm since it's not a pack of white people.



Stitch of course is an adorable son of a bitch.

Okay so most of y'all know I have a nephew, who's in roughly the same age group as Lilo.  And daaaaaaaaaaamn.  Yeah that is pretty much exactly what kids that age are like, at least the ones that don't have friends.  Extreme dedication to their internal world and fierce need to fuck with their parents for the sake of it.  Lilo's particular hobbies are bit weird still, but she's also surrounded by tourists and uh... y'know so her morbidness makes some sense.

I wish I knew more about Hawaiian culture because I can't tell if they're pandering or not.  I suppose it's not a huge deal but they clearly put a lot of thought into the authenticity of the location (because it's Disney, putting stupid amounts of effort into things 99% of the audience doesn't know nearly enough to notice is their gig) so it's something you wonder.

Honestly in some ways the movie is so different in most areas that the one it's very stock and standard in, the basic themes and moral tropes, stick out like a sore thumb.  Lush, vibrant, Hawaiian, they let one of their quirkier animators take the lead of character design, aliens!  Telling an extremely basic Disney story in a very predictable way.  The characters are likable and believable so it's no problem to make it through the movie, but I feel like it changed the window dressing without really putting a new stamp on the core story.  It's definitely distracting in the last third or so of the movie.  Or I'm old and cynical, one of those.

Rating- 7/10.