there's a "cuddly" stitch doll, and a changable talking one. the talking one speaks alien. if you put his extra arms in and antennea in, he'll speak english

I loved the movie. For those of you wondering about the animation, they used watercolor backgrounds and traditional hand-drawn animation. None of the CAD stuff. Now it could have very well been done on a computer, but it retains the old look of, say, Dumbo.

Now, then, onto my marketing theory:

Disney is going to make TONS off the merchendizing for this movie. In fact, it was a stroke of genius to whoever came up with it. What is it, you ask? Well, every single person who has half a heart will, after seeing this movie, head to the nearest Disney store to buy a Stitch doll so as to give it a home and a family. GENIUS! The more gullible people will even buy several Stitch dolls, as "no one gets left behind; no one is forgotten"

Brilliant, those Disney bastards! lol

Good point - it'll be interesting if they indeed market them that way.

went to see it AGAIN (dragging friends)

during the ending montage it's lilo's birthday and there are 7 candles on the cake.

an extended Mulan? where is this? what was extended?

quick fact: it was animated at MGM studios right here in FL same with Mulan. I remember I first heard about this movie 3 years ago when you take that tour at the MGM studios.

and let me be the first to say that I liked the movie much better then any of the Pixar movies (Bug's Life being my fav). I thought it had a lot more heart. and really gets you to relate with the characters. any movie that gets you to relate to a four armed bogger pickin' wall climbing genetic experiment has done pretty well IMHO.

edited to add: This movie used watercolors as previously stated. Dumbo was the last to use watercolors and there are a couple references to it in the movie (Dumbo doll in Lilo's room). as well a a reference to Mulan (poster in Nani's room) since as i said before MGM did the animation for both.

I took my sister to see it yesterday, and I loved it just as much the second time. It's a really great movie! The jokes were just as funny, the sad parts just as sad and poignant. I went home and showed my sister The Three Caballeros, it was a fun Disney day.

I saw this with my girlfriend, and I thought it was real good. It reminded why I loved disney movies as a kid. Toy Story, and Emperor's New Groove, et were very good but different from the Disney I fell in love with when I was younger this movie brought back to the beginning.

hehe even michael jackson went to see it according to the sf chronicle... at the sf metreon! reserved a row... with a bunch of kids in tow of course:P

I loved it! I agree with most when I say it is refreshing to see disney try something new. I think Stitch is awesome and I am so happy they made a character(Lilo) that is flawed. She does not fit the classic "perfect barbie doll body" of past disney movies. She is also a social outcast. The scene when she was very real to me. Maybe that is what made the movie more personal for many children out there; The fact that it deals with real issues in a very fun style. I think the Goofy Movie did a good job with this too. Good job Disney!!


-Fish

there was a mulan poster in the background of Nano's(sp) bed room when lilo wakes her up to hear stitch with a record player trick.

the movie was great. Stitch as a character was very cute in it's design and the voice was an added bonus. Very good movie And I'll watch it again

The only thing that bothered me about the movie was the strange "Social Worker" character who sure didn't seem to be that type. Was he really a Social Worker or was he a CIA agent.
And if he was a CIA agent (all dressed in a severe black suit) why does he bother Lilo's little family?

he's the one they call when things go wrong.

btw. he was modeled after marcellus wallace

I didn't like it that much. While the premise of the story can be endearing, it didn't grab my interest. I never truly did care for the characters and sitting through this movie felt like somewhat of a chore. It didn't even really feel like a Disney movie to me. When the movie ended, I felt that it wasn't in the same league with The Lion King, Aladdin, and the other Disney classics.

Very cute movie. What I really liked was that it wasn't the typical Disney movie. It wasn't always all cute and nice. Very funny also. Nowhere as good as Minority Report though!

Was it CIA...I forget....


-David

I loved it.

cool observation! thanks for the info!

It seemed to me to be VERY real. Former CIA, worked/fought aliens, retired fairly well off, decided to live in Hawaii for his retirement.

Didn't want to be bored, thought "what should I do?", decided "hey, social work would be cool" - a 60 year old black guy can do social work.

And, given his background "they bring me in when things go wrong" worked out PERFECT.

And what makes it even more than perfect? The exercise of figuring out the details is left to the movie watcher - no detailed explanations offered or given. It is LIFE - often complicated, often strange.


"You have COBRA written on your knuckles...." --- priceless.

Its the best damned Disney in a very long time. Its all pretty much been said above me so I wont bother.

don't let that stop you - would love to hear about your favorite parts.

I just saw the movie today. And though the plot was kind of formulaic and the dialogue, well, was in my humble opinion, no good.

the computer graphics in this movie was amazing! . it was almost like the spaceships were coming out of the screen. in the future, this may look low-tech. but for right now, i consider the use of these graphics as a minor breakthrough in the incorporation of computer graphics with traditional animation. maybe one day they'll make a complete movie

Well - as evidenced by the number of times I posted in this thread (and I started it) - I liked it.

Was the plot formulaic? Yep.

Was the dialogue sometimes hackneyed? Yep.

But it worked. At least, in my opinion.

Thanks for reviving the thread. Given the release this week (and you already have it I take it!), maybe we can get some more interesting discussion.

I got to see a prestreet copy of this from work, and I have to say not only as an animation fan, but as a movie lover that Lilo and Stitch is a very funny and refreshingly good movie. Of course the plot is familiar, but so are the plots of every other TV show and movie out there. TV shows and movies play off of the same themes but just add different things to the mix to make it appealing. And the different things thrown in to the mix of Lilo and Stitch made this movie very appealing to me.

The first time I watched it, there were times I had to pause the movie because there were times tears came to my eyes that it was so touching. I was watching it blind, and I missed several of the little jokes thrown in, but I got the more main jokes and I also found it to be very funny.

The second and third time I watched it, the tears didn't come to my eyes (tho I still get broken up at the end of Iron Giant every time I see it) but I kept on laughing in the same places and catching some of the funny small one line jokes they threw in there that I missed the first time. And I laughed just as hard all three times I watched it, and loved it all thee times I watched it, and noticed more and more how beautiful the animation was each time I watched it.

I also kept on feeling I wasn't watching a Disney movie but rather something I'd expect from Pixar or Dreamworks, two animation studios who make movies that appeal to adults just as much as kids. And I noticed that this movie was rated PG. Is that a first for Disney to release a PG rated movie? I never pay attention to ratings on anything, hardly, I just happened to notice that. I just hope that this is a sign of a new leaf Disney is turning over for the next several years, because I could go the rest of my life without another dumb ass musical movie with singing animals and singing furniture for more movies along the lines of Lilo and Stitch.

Having seen Lilo & Stitch three times in the theater (and definitely getting the DVD ), I have to say that this is Disney's best animated feature since The Lion King in 1994.

Between the flat-out GREAT storytelling, superb character designs, extraordinary faithfulness to the small-town Hawaiian culture on the island of Kauai, the BEAUTIFUL watercolor-painted backgrounds, and one of the most rascally and loveable characters in a long, long time, I think Lilo & Stitch is definitely one of the best movies of 2002, period.

It demonstrates how good a Disney animated feature can be when upper management at Disney keeps its distance.