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The Movie
The movie opens with Lilo, Stitch, Pleakley and Jumba being honored for capturing and relocating all 625 experiments. As a reward, each is bestowed what they most wish for. Unfortunately for Lilo, that means her friends are heading back to outer space to continue their lives while she is left on a crummy island paradise with only her sister and the rest of the human community for company.
© Disney.
Meanwhile, Captain Gantu is captain no longer, as Stitch replaces him as head of the Galactic Federation’s space fleet. Gantu decides to break the notorious Dr. Hamsterviel out of space prison and gain revenge on the universe. Dr. Hamsterviel was a character added when Lilo and Stitch: The Series debuted in 2003, and is very prominent in the DVD. He forces Jumba to create a new version of Stitch “more evil, less fluffy” than the original, that he can clone and send to take over the galaxy. The upshot of all this activity is that Lilo and Stitch must reunite to save all the experiments and defeat Dr. Hamsterviel at his dastardly plan, and Stitch must do battle with his evil Leroy alter egos.
The main theme of the movie is “aloha” or the aloha spirit. Lilo believes that “the aloha you give will always come back,” which leads her to be able to say good-bye to her friends and wish the best for them, believing that good will come out of it. It’s a great and worthy sentiment.
Sadly, the rest of the movie is not as great as the sentiment. The original Lilo and Stitch combined old-school animation with fresh storytelling; the result was one of the best new classics from the Disney Company in years. The concept of space aliens in a culture clash with laid-back islanders who love Elvis Presley was groundbreaking at the time. But more than that, Stitch was a runaway hit as a lovable, original character, and began appearing everywhere in mass quantities.
© Disney.
The problem with any success lies in overexposure, and Disney is an expert in the art. Now that we have already seen Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch, multiple TV episodes, pins, plush, meet-and-greet characters, attraction makeovers and the like, the ideas that once seemed so fresh and funny are not so much anymore. Leroy and Stitch does not break any new ground besides throwing in a few more Presley song montages, and even that is getting tired.
The Goodies
There are only two bonus features on this DVD, and both are lackluster.
© Disney.
Lilo and Stitch TV Episode
Dr. Hamsterviel makes another appearance searching for buried treasure on the beach. The experiment, aptly named “Link,” fuses together two incompatible objects with hilarious results. Dr. Hamsterviel is apparently a regular on the TV program, adding extra alien villainy with Captain Gantu. Did I mention he was annoying?
Games and Activities
The flight simulator games challenges viewers to navigate though space debris and asteroids using the remote control as the joystick. Pilots move left, right or shoot with the Enter key. This is a pretty basic game with few variations; each new game looks pretty much the same. My 9-year-old played it for a minute, pronounced it “too easy,” and quit.
Interface
The interface is surprisingly animated for such a bare-bones release. Leroy is shown being cloned and running amok around Jumba’s lab. The negative side to this is that a little Leroy goes a long, long way, and viewers may tire of the movie before they even press play due to the loud soundtrack and frantic energy of the clones.
Audio and Video
Leroy and Stitch is presented 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, which is one of the only differences between this movie and a long television episode of “Lilo and Stitch: The Series.” In all other aspects the movie looks like the television episodes. Many scenes feature one character with occasional movement against a still background. It looks cheaply made and very unlike the lovingly hand-drawn and richly colored original movie. The sound is in high quality Dolby Digital 5.1.
The Final Evaluation
I pride myself in evaluating sequels to Disney films with fairness and on their own individual merit. A film can be a sequel and still honor the original movie characters and expand on them; it’s rare, but I always remain hopeful. This time, Leroy and Stitch did not prove my hopes correct. Though Lilo and Stitch is not a classic like Bambi or others from the golden age of animation, the characters are beloved by many, overexposed or not. Leroy and Stitch does nothing to bring new ideas or even humorous situations to established characters. Most of the plot lines and characters are borrowed from the television show rather than the original film. The whole package reeks of, “Hey, let’s make a few more bucks off of die-hard Stitch fans and unsuspecting grandmas who just want to have a new movie for their grandkids when they visit.” The Disney Channel has already aired the movie a couple of times, and my guess is they will be showing it many more times in the future. Fire up the Tivo if you have a die-hard Stitch fan and/or a grandchild coming to visit, and everyone should be satisfied. Save your money for one of the Platinum release DVDs coming out this fall.
