|
||||||||||||||||||||||
DVD Features
- DVD Release Date: March 24, 2009
- Original Theatrical Release: June 21, 2002
- 1.66:1 Widescreen
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
- French and Spanish Subtitles
- Suggested Retail Price: $29.99
The Movie
I’d like to give Lilo & Stitch a label. I’m often hesitant to label films. There’s always a certain amount of subjective nature to any piece of art. What you love, I may not and vice versa. Such is the conundrum of the reviewer. That said, I’d like to label Lilo & Stitch with with a word you might not expect, controversial. Now, this is a Disney movie, for sure. So, how can I use a word like controversial to describe this film? After all, it’s no Passion of the Christ, or Fahrenheit 9-11 now is it? No, definitely not. The controversy comes not from the general movie going public, but resides in the Disney fan public. The latter half of the film’s namesake is the controversy here. You are either in the Stitch camp or you are not. No other Disney character has such opposing factions.
Some people adore Stitch. Others despise him. I know people on both sides of the war. I, myself, tend to straddle the line. I think Stitch has been a bit overexposed, and I’m glad that his saturation level has been hit and that the “Stitchification” of Disney has started to wane. That has to happen if Lilo & Stitch is going to survive as a true Disney classic, and I do feel that this film has Disney classic written all over it. I think I just needed a little Stitch- free time in order to be able to come back and appreciate what a great little film this really is.
At its heart Lilo & Stitch is a “girl and her dog” film and the directors could have been satisfied to stay totally in that vain. Thankfully, there is a lot more to this movie. Co-directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois certainly filled the film with many unique characteristics. Lilo & Stitch takes place in our time, yet there’s a futuristic science-fiction outer space subtext. It’s filled with classic Elvis tunes, the first time I’m sure several of the young ones in the audience heard them. There’s the lonely kid at the center of the film, Lilo. She is an interesting character, a product of, in her own words, “…a broken family.” Lilo marches to her own drum for sure, but she is very likable and has a kind heart. There’s the gorgeous backdrop of Hawaii in all its subtle, pastel splendor. Hawaii itself is a character in this film, the way Manhattan is a character in the films of Woody Allen. The decision to paint Hawaii in this subdued manner was truly inspired. The film looks like no other, a delicate blend of floral patterns and watercolors. I think it’s beautiful. As a surfer, I find the scenes of Lilo, Nani, David and Stitch surfing to be wonderful and very representative of the sensation of riding a wave. There was a surfer involved with these scenes somewhere.
There’s the Abbott and Costello relationship of Jumba and Pleakley, the aliens sent to retrieve Stitch from Earth. There’s Cobra Bubbles, an ex-CIA social worker. Just say that sentence again. That’s one original and out of place character. And, of course, there’s the controversy, the other main character; everyone’s favorite genetic experiment, Stitch. Stitch is a trouble-maker for sure, genetically engineered to be so. He’s also a character looking for his place, and he finds it with the two orphans struggling to get by on their own. That’s a pretty poignant plot. I think that plot point is often overlooked when it comes to the perception of this film and the marketing of Stitch may have contributed to that.
The brilliant ads placing Stitch into recent Disney classic scenes from, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King certainly are memorable, and certainly caught the public’s attention. Perhaps, they also pigeonholed Stitch as a pain-in-the-neck, and left out the more poignant aspects of the film. Stitch arrives in each famous scene and wrecks everything. That’s followed by the thumping metal chords of AC/DC’s Back in Black and the title of the upcoming film. It certainly paints Stitch as a nuisance at best, and the antithesis to the beloved Disney classics at worst. The ads are included here in the Special Features. You can be the judge if they predetermined Stitch’s image and whether that image has justifiably turned people off to Stitch or not.
All in all, after some time away from Stitch, revisiting this film was a real pleasure. It’s an interesting mix of a film. The strong science fiction of the film’s opening 10 minutes is contrasted to the serene Hawaiian backdrop. There’s funny characters, chase scenes, and more tear jerking moments than you would imagine. Lilo & Stitch was a big hit for the company and has certainly found its odd place in the line-up of Disney animated classics.
The Goodies
There are many extras contained in the two discs. Some are new, some were included on the film’s s original release. Some extras from the original release were not included here. There’s certainly enough to keep everyone busy, especially the chock full documentary on Disc 2.
- Audio Commentary – I’m not a big fan of audio commentaries. That said, this is a fairly standard commentary, full of inside details from directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and producer Clark Spencer.
- Your Ohana Music video – This is a song by the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus set against a montage of scenes from the film. Considering they spent time in Hawaii, I wish there was some footage of these kids, as opposed to just movie scenes.
- Lilo & Stitch’s Island of Adventures – The previously released DVD game is represented here. Three segments from the game can be played; “Gecko Race”, “Hamsterviel’s Coconut Shell Game” and “Hamsterviel’s Match Game.”
- Disneypedia: Hawaii – The Islands of Aloha – This is a fairly entertaining segment where Lilo and her sister Nani talk about their homeland over actual footage of Hawaii.
- Create Your Own Alien Experiment Game – A game from the original release. Trivia questions are answered. Potions are mixed and experiments are produced. I’ll call it mildly fun.
- A Stitch in Time: Follow Stitch Through the Disney Years – Continuing on the successful ad campaign, here Stitch is inserted into famous scenes from Disney classics. This time though we go all the way back to Snow White. The voice of Jumba, (and many, many others) David Ogden Stiers is our guide.
- Hula Lesson – This is the kind of Special Feature I enjoy. Considering how much Hawaii is a part of this film, it’s nice to delve into the culture some more. In this sequence, Mark Keali’i Ho’omalu discuses the significance of the traditional dance, so overexposed in the tourist trade and in Hollywood, yet so important to the Hawaiians.
- Burning Love: Behind the Scenes with Wynonna – The country star is shown recording the Elvis classic, in what seems to be a church, and discusses her love of “The King.”
- I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You – One of my favorite Elvis songs, given an unbelievably short treatment here by Swedish pop stars A*Teens. No, you’ve never heard of them, nor have you seen them since.
- Animating the Hula – Once again, another of my favorite type of features. This segment shows why a Disney animated film is like no other. The painstaking recreation of the Hula is examined here by the directors. As a viewer, I never would have known how authentic these animated dancers were. The fact that they went to Hawaii, filmed Hula dancers and had the animators recreate the fluid and meaningful movements prove a higher level of care was given to this film than one would expect. The split screens showing the real dancers side by side to the animated ones really drive the point home.
- Inter-Stitch-ials – The aforementioned movie trailers are contained here; Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King.
Disc 2 – Documentary
I like the fact that this piece is untitled. It’s almost like they just wanted to get down to business and tell you what the making of this film was like, and boy do they. This feature clocks in at just over 2 hours and is packed with interviews and behind the scenes footage and it really delivers. This may be one of my favorite behind the scenes features. It’s very informative and yet very informal. Many of the interviews are conducted in everyday environments like in Chris Sanders’ car or in a park with Dean DeBlois and his dog. It’s very conversational. There are some typical interview setups, but most are very atypical to what you’re used to seeing in this type of feature. The passion and commitment of everyone involved with the film really shines through in these settings. It seems like people are being more real. I think it’s a fascinating look at the making of a film that really wasn’t so high on my list. I became more involved and intrigued by the film as I watched this documentary. To me, that’s a successful behind the scenes feature.
- Documentary Footnotes – As if the 2 hour feature wasn’t enough, there is a section called Documentary Footnotes. These are basically continuations of themes discussed in the documentary. For instance, there is mention made in the documentary of Chris Sanders pitch book; drawings and story that he showed in his initial proposal of the film. The pitch book is included here and you can click through more than 40 pages and see what the director’s original vision for the film was.
- Mulan’s Transformation – Sanders and DeBlois met while working on Mulan.
- Walking is Falling – This is an discussion DeBlois had with none other than 95-year-old Disney legend Joe Grant. Wonderful!
- Chris’ Pitch Book – As mentioned above.
- Chris’ Photo Gallery – Personal photos taken by Sanders on the research trip to Hawaii.
- Fishing With Ric – One of those unconventional interview settings I mentioned before. Art Director Ric Sluiter discusses the film while fishing.
- Ric Sluiter Interviews Maurice Noble – Another great interview with another animation legend.
- Casey Jr. Scene – The scene from Dumbo is referenced and therefore is here in the footnotes.
- Chalk Talk Features – Two videos of Supervising Animators Alex Kupershmidt and Andreas Deja talking to their staffs. Kupershmidt discusses Stitch and modern Disney Legend Deja handles Lilo.
- The Sanders Style Book – This is sort of an instructional video for the film’s animators. It’s pretty interesting and attempts to clarify to the staff the look and style of the film, especially when compared to other Disney films.
- Dean Pitches New Sequence – A storyboard pitch.
- Lilo & Stitch Trailers – The famous trailers are repeated here.
- Deleted Scenes and Early Versions – There are five deleted scenes in this section and three early versions of scenes. Some are more completed than others. Most are in raw sketch form.
Wow, that was a lot to cover. Unlike other special features I have come across, each one of these features was interesting and appealing to me. In my opinion, if you’re a Lilo & Stitch fan (or if you’re an animation fan at all) Disc 2 makes the set worth purchasing. It’s a job well done for sure.
Audio, Video and Interface
The film sounds great and looks great. This is not an old Disney classic that needed any restoration, so what you saw on the screen is what you saw on the initial release and is what you see with this version. The menus are easy to use and feature more of the muted watercolor backgrounds that give the film its unique look.
Hidden Mickey Alerts
According to HiddenMickeys.org, there are many classic Mickey shapes throughout the film, too many to list. There are however some other cool Hidden Disney things in the movie. After Lilo adopts Stitch, she walks by a restaurant called Mulan’s Wok. As she stands by a souvenir shop, there is a stand of postcards and you can briefly see one for Orlando featuring Cinderella’s Castle. In Lilo’s room there is a picture of Mickey on her wall and a Dumbo toy near her easel.
The Final Evaluation
It should be mentioned that, oddly enough, Lilo & Stitch: 2 Disc Big Wave Edition is not being offered in the Blu-ray format.
So, how does my theory on Stitch being an agent of controversy play out after viewing and reviewing Lilo & Stitch: Big Wave Edition? Like I said earlier, some Stitch-free time has passed and I felt like I was ready to revisit with Experiment 626, admittedly, a character I was less than enamored with since his inception. The verdict is, I have a renewed appreciation for this film and for the character himself. The watercolor backgrounds and style of the film are beautiful to behold. I enjoyed watching Lilo & Stitch and really formed a deeper appreciation for the film after watching the extensive special features. If you haven’t bought it before, this is certainly the one to buy. If you do own the original release, give it to the kids or sell it at a garage sale and make this the one copy that you own.
