Lilo & Stitch (2002) is written & directed by Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders. It stars Daveigh Chase, Chris Sanders, Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Ving Rhames, Zoe Caldwell, Jason Scott Lee, and Kevin Michael Richardson. The film follows Lilo (Chase), a mischievous, friendless young girl who lives with her older sister, Nani (Carrere), in their Hawaiian island home. Meanwhile, Stitch (Sanders), a genetically engineered monster designed solely to cause destruction, escapes his intergalactic prison and crash-lands on Earth. Captured by the local kennel, he’s eventually adopted by Lilo, quickly plunging Nani’s life into chaos. Although initially using the family as a simple means of escaping the kennel, Stitch begins to accept the sisters as his true family. Unfortunately, his new life is cut short when alien authorities arrive, intent on returning him to prison. Lilo and Nani are forced to decide whether their family motto of “Ohana,” which means “family,” also includes indestructible alien rat creatures. Spoiler alert, it does. 

Daveigh Chase would have been about 10 or 11 years old at the time of recording her lines as Lilo, but she effortlessly portrays someone who’s only about 5 years old. She’s not authentically Hawaiian, like Tia Carrere, who voices Nani, but her lack of accent works for the character, considering her young age. She’s too young to have transitioned fully from toddler-esque speech patterns, let alone develop a complex regional dialect. I don’t know if that’s actually how it works, but it checks out logically for my uninformed brain. Lilo is immediately endearing, thanks not only to Chase’s performance but also to the fact that her defining character quirks are specific. For example, instead of simply being told she’s lonely and a tad strange, we get to see her many off-the-wall hobbies. These include taking polaroids of people who are quite clearly the ugliest tourists on the beach, but she doesn’t see them that way. This works as a hobby that would believably alienate a kindergartener from her peers, but also something that endears the character to anyone old enough to understand how hilarious and heart-warming it truly is. 

This specificity is supported by the film’s unique Hawaiian setting and musical influences, which clearly inspired Moana (2016). That film focuses more on the non-US-based Pacific Island cultures, which gives it a strong, unique identity, but its nods to Lilo & Stitch, especially in terms of its music, are undeniable. This cultural flavor provides the film with a distinctive color palette and warmly juxtaposes the goofy sci-fi elements. In terms of US states, Hawaii is sort of ‘alien’ for lack of a better term. It’s this kind of picturesque, otherworldly oasis that is a far cry from the mainland in both distance and culture. I mean, even the notable inclusion of Elvis’ music supports this idea. The man’s flamboyant, over-the-top style was unlike anything people had seen, causing many to treat him like a king, or even some kind of alien. 

Thankfully, Tia Carrere provides the film with some much-needed authenticity as Nani. Her delivery is soulful and consistently evokes the setting. The character regularly screws up, but this behavior is easy to forgive given her situation. She’s young and never asked for the kind of responsibility thrust upon her, so the fact that she constantly tries her best is all the viewer really requires to feel sympathetic toward her many blunders. 

The supporting voice cast, which includes David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, and Ving Rhames, all leave an iconic mark on their characters. Chris Sanders, as the voice of Stitch, doesn’t have much to provide beyond some guttural grunts and growls, but he ultimately succeeds in drawing some emotion from the voice during the character’s handful of patho-fueled moments. He’s not supposed to speak; he’s just supposed to be a lovable menace, and on that level, he works as well as one could imagine. He’s like The Joker crossed with Han Solo and E.T. The film’s genius marketing may have partly contributed to its success. This saw Stitch entering some of Disney’s most iconic animated movies and harassing their characters. 

The themes of family and unconditional love are basic, but effectively tear-jerking. It’s simple enough to speak to children, but universal enough that anyone can relate to it in their own special way. It might’ve been in part due to nostalgia, but I found myself tearing up multiple times throughout. The only minor issue I have is that Stitch never actually earns Nani’s trust before she’s seemingly proven right about him being dangerous. Her feeling betrayed as opposed to vindicated going into the climax would’ve made a lot more sense for her arc, but it’s not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. 

Overall, this is easily what I’d consider a ‘classic’, seeing that it is now over twenty years old. The music is excellent, the characters are enjoyable, and the story is both heartwarming and tear-jerking. The mix of Hawaiian culture and cartoony sci-fi is one-of-a-kind and makes an admittedly great film like Moana seem creatively dull by comparison. It’s not necessarily mind-blowing, but it’s one of my personal favorite animated family films. A-