Lilo & Stitch


3.5/4

Starring: Daveigh Chase, Chris Sanders, Tia Careere, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Ving Rhames

Rated PG for Mild Sci-Fi Action

“Lilo & Stitch” makes me happy.  It’s not great art by any means, but as fun entertainment, it succeeds very well.  Packed with big laughs and an even bigger heart, it is well worth the time of anyone who wants to feel good.

Experiment 626 (Sanders) is the creation of the mad scientist Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Stiers).  626 is indestructible, intelligent, and created with the sole purpose of destroying things.  Unfortunately, before he is exiled, he escapes and lands on Earth.  There, he becomes the “pet dog” of a little girl named Lilo (Chase).  Lilo lives with her sister, Nani (Careere) in Hawaii, but life is not happy for them on the island paradise.  The relationship between the siblings is fracturous, and Lilo is inches away from being sent to an foster home.  Will Stitch, as little Lilo calls Experiment 626, save this family, or break it?

The voice talents are well cast.  Daveigh Chase gives her best vocal performance as Lilo.  She’s not a happy girl, but she tries to fit in.  Sadly, she isn’t getting the social interaction that she needs to grow in a healthy way (it doesn’t help that the neighborhood girls are super bratty).  Tia Careere, whose career has been in stasis since her terrific performance in “True Lies,” is excellent as Nani.  Lilo may be impossible to handle, but Nani loves her baby sister.  Chris Sanders (who co-directed the film) makes for a mischievous Stitch.  He uses fast-talking gibberish and fractured English to good effect, and his maniacal laugh is peerless.  Stiers is suitably loopy as Jumba, and McDonald is hilariously shrill and neurotic; the two make a good team.  Ving Rhames is also on hand as the mysterious social worker, Mr. Bubbles.

This is an often very funny film.  It pokes fun at Elvis, the endangered species list, and there’s a running gag about a fat man who can never seem to get a lick from his ice cream cone.  That’s actually kind of the problem.  The comedy, which almost always works by the way, comes at the expense of Lilo and Nani’s happiness.  This creates a big disconnect; one minute we’re laughing, the next we’re feeling sorry for the two sisters.

Many critics have decried the animation as lacking.  While it’s true that it comes up short when compared to the likes of Disney’s Golden Age movies like “Beauty and the Beast” or “The Lion King,” the film is colorful and appealing.  The filmmakers did their job.

Putting it simply, “Lilo & Stitch” is a lot of fun for the whole family.

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