Lilo And Stitch (Animated) (Special Edition) (DVD)

...teens herself, struggles to provide Lilo with a home. Being young, she doesn't have the wisdom and experience their parents had, and so has certain, perhaps unrealistic expectations of Lilo. Lilo's parents understood her free spirit, and helped channel it, and with them gone, she has more or less lost her way. With Lilo getting into scrape after scrape, her older sister Nani is at her wits end, terrified she will be seen as incapable of caring for ...
...Lilo might find solace and be occupied relatively trouble free if she gets her a dog, so takes her to the local animal shelter. There, she and the local shelter assistant are horrified at the tremendously ugly and odd mannered dog Lilo brings out and names Stitch.

It soon becomes rather obvious that Stitch is no dog at all. No, a Man in Black masquerading as a social worker arrives on scene to assess the alien situation, for the truth ... more

Poor Lilo. her life has fallen apart. Having lost her mother and father in a car accident, her older sister, barely out of her teens herself, struggles to provide Lilo with a home. Being young, she doesn't have the wisdom and experience their parents had, and so has certain, perhaps unrealistic expectations of Lilo. Lilo's parents understood her free spirit, and helped channel it, and with them gone, she has more or less lost her way. With Lilo getting into scrape after scrape, her older sister Nani is at her wits end, terrified she will be seen as incapable of caring for Lilo and have her taken away. Nani decides that lonely Lilo might find solace and be occupied relatively trouble free if she gets her a dog, so takes her to the local animal shelter. There, she and the local shelter assistant are horrified at the tremendously ugly and odd mannered dog Lilo brings out and names Stitch.

It soon becomes rather obvious that Stitch is no dog at all. No, a Man in Black masquerading as a social worker arrives on scene to assess the alien situation, for the truth is, Stitch is a genetically altered life form designed for mayhem and destruction by one mad scientist, Dr. Jumba Jookiba. Experiment 626, as Stitch is properly known, was destined for a penal colony as for being deemed irredeemable while Jumba faced trial. A crash landing let him loose upon the island of Kauai. What follows is a modern day light hearted sci fi romp in a tropical paradise, with traditional Hawaiian music and hula dancing as well as songs by Elvis Presley from Blue Hawaaii. It's all very tongue in cheek with lots of in jokes along the way, but with a very serious and resounding message about the true meaning of family.

This is one of the newer Disney animations that I really like on many different levels. One reason, of course, is the higher quality of script and general production values one associates with the studio, a well as the positive message contained within. I also really appreciate the authentic touches Disney added, with realistic body shapes and facial features. Lilo and Nani are not Anglicised beauties at all, with their own natural ethnic beauty shining through. Likewise, the correct use and inclusion of authentic regional slang helped give this a genuine flavour that went a long way towards making this a positive viewing experience.The soundtrack added to the fun, and is also available as a cd to listen to, as my daughter has repeatedly pointed out.

The many visual in jokes also provided extra laughs for those of usobservant enough to spot them (took me several views to notice them myself!). A few faves of mine along this vein are:

the use of a View Master toy by the alien Pleakley when trying to show information about human culture

Elvis' pink jeep from Blue Hawaii actually appears onscreen in one scene

Herbie the Love Bug is the vehicle driven by Stitch in one scene when he attacks Jumba with a car

the dogs in the pound are the same dogs in the pound as on Lady and the Tramp

and there are several figures of Mickey Mouse inserted in various scenes

The two disc special edition not only has a very nice digital transfer of the original film and soundtrack, but several extras:

Disney Hawaii The Islands Of Aloha Feature
This is a clickable map that takes you on a documentary about the state. They seem to have tried to make this kid friendly by using Nani and Lilo's voices, but it came off rather like a film your school might have forced you to watch. The only thing that grabbed my attention particularly was the volcano segment, so I suggest skipping this unless prepping for a trivia match or planning a holiday.

Create Your Own Alien Experiment Game
Answer some multiple choice trivia questions about the game, and you get parts of a creature that assemble into a new experiment. This was fun for about 30 minutes and has never been played again. My son cannot read that well yet, so did appreciate Jumba reading out all the questions and choices though, so younger kids can play along without much help, which is a bonus in its own right.

A Stitch In Time Follow Stitch Through The Disney Years
My children and I loved this bit. It's quite short, being under five minutes, and is basically a pictorial history of Disney films, with Stitch inserted into the stills "dressed" for the occasion. It was a good giggle.

Hula Lesson
My two like this bit. A very short (again, under 5 minute) feature, showing one how to do a simple authentic Hula. My daughter and her friends like doing this, to practice for their Hula dancing when playing with their My little Pony Butterfly Island games as the scenarios include luaus.

Burning Loves Behind The Scenes With Wynonna
I couldn't be bothered to watch this. Country music stars Wynonna and Gareth Gates are shown here in clips recording their songs for the film.

I Can't Help Falling In Love With You
Again, I did not watch this one, but my daughter tells me it is group of young people singing this Elvis Presley song badly, and that it wasn't that great.She's seven, so that's a big OUCH.

The Look Of Lilo And Stitch
The usual feature showing the animators et al developing their art until they have finished the look they were going for in the main characters.

Animating The Hula
Vaguely interesting to watch once. this shows how the animators took the time to watch real Hula dancers, and then animate their movements accurately.

On Location With The Directors
Yawn. I had to wake myself up at this point, and I am glad I did. This was a pretty interesting look behind the scenes. Watch them develop the story boards, bouncing around ideas, and lots of pictures of their truly stunning artwork that made it into the film (or not)

Deleted Scenes
Little vignettes of deleted scenes, shown in the usual colour and black and white footage of the parts that were never finished, along with narration of where the scene was supposed to go, and why they omitted it. There are three such scenes, and while interesting for a grown up perhaps as a watch once or twice sort of thing, no great shakes if you skip it.

Teaser Trailers
the usual Disney trailers, with some funny twists thanks to Stitch

Alternate Ending
It's what it sounds like, and I am not going to tell you what it is.

The Story Room The Making Of Lilo And Stitch
Lilo And Stitch Island Of Adventures Set Top Games
Never Before Seen Still Frame Galleries
I admit I skipped these, enough was enough!

So, stunning visuals, accurately pleasing palette, yada yada yada. This is a great DVD release of a very good family film that is bound to delight young boys and girls as well as their parents. It's rated U, and I got this during the current big Amazon children's DVD sale, at over 75% off, for the grand sum of £4.98. I think we got our money's worth. 

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