9) Lilo & Stitch! Remember when I mentioned that I mostly grew up during Disney's second dark age in the early 2000's? Well, this is another example of one of my personal favourites, except this definitely has more positive qualities compared to Treasure Planet! I mean, it was popular enough to spawn a couple of direct to DVD sequels & a TV series (which I watched the hell out of) which included crossovers from other popular Disney cartoons like Kim Possible & Recess!

Anyway, I think what I love mostly about this movie is the heart of it, with a message about family (shown through 'ohana') thanks to the relationships between Lilo & Stitch and Lilo & her older sister/guardian, Nani (yeah, before you argue Frozen was the first Disney film about sisters, think again!). Another part which makes the movie interesting for me is the setting in Hawaii & it's clear Disney did a great job at reflecting the culture & it is very interesting seeing a completely different type of location & setting compared to their past films, & ironically doesn't make it feel dated because of the story itself being weirdly timeless. As for the comedy, I do really enjoy it thanks to Stitch's funny yet destructive antics & Lilo just being her bizarre self, along with the funny interactions between Jumbaa & Pleakley during their quest to find Stitch including a variety of rather unconvincing disguises. Another part I love in this film is the soundtrack. In fact, this was what introduced me to the music of the king of rock & roll Elvis Presley (I was around 6 when it came out) & I LOVED listening to it when I was a kid. Heck, I even love the original songs  the like Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride & the opening one after the space prologue with the Hawaiian influence& I consider them some of the most underrated Disney songs ever!

As for the animation, I love the use of watercolour backgrounds in Hawaii, giving out a nice juxtaposition to the space scenes & makes it reminiscent of Disney films from decades ago & the attention to detail is pretty amazing looking back at it along with it looking very colourful thanks to the setting. Even the character designs on the aliens are very creative & the humans manage to succeed having a realistic Hawaiian look while giving them that classic Disney flair. The character animation is also very well done thanks to the wide variety of aliens (in particular on Stitch) & is put to good use in the action scenes, the surfing scenes or even when David is doing his fire act at the luau. I even love the look of the spaceship in the beginning, giving out a big scope during the chase scenes, with the police cars looking pretty cool & the jail cells & plasma guns looking creative.

Probably the best aspect for this film for me has got to be the characters! With charming personalities & three dimensionality, they all give the movie the heart I mentioned earlier. Lilo has got to be one of the best, if not THE best kid characters I have ever seen period! Thanks to her bizarre & loud personality & Daveigh Chase's great voice acting, it's no surprise that she carries the movie forward & her relationship with Stitch (voiced by director Chris Sanders) is very adorable to watch along with Stitch's development & learning about family. Her older sister Nani is also with her equally loud yet loving personality & the situation she's in with looking after her after the tragedy over their parents makes her very sympathetic given she's not her parent yet has to act as a guardian to her. Even Cobra Bubbles, the social worker, is surprisingly sympathetic over Nani's plight with her sister despite his job getting in the way & wanting Lilo to be safe. Jumbaa & Pleakley can be pretty funny thanks to the straight man & idiot type of interaction between them & David Ogden Stiers & Kevin Macdonald's voice acting which thankfully avoids the latter from coming across as annoying!

 

 

If I did have to nitpick at some things, it would have to be the opening with the space going on too long & not really fitting the tone of the rest of the movie & the whole climax involving Gantu (it doesn't really help in the TV series they turned him into a huge buffoon) feeling out of place along with the fact he feels like he's there for the movie to have a proper villain when in reality, it wouldn't have changed anything if he wasn't in the film. And the ending is pretty predictable since it is pretty obvious that there'll be a happy ending out of everything thanks to the message, but I don't really mind compared to other predictable movies since all of it is really enjoyable nonetheless.

Sure, it may have a few problems here & there (much less than Treasure Planet), but with great & loveable characters, nice animation, a lot of heart & huge emotional depth, it's actually a nice little movie from Disney & is one of my childhood favourites! Oh yeah, I highly recommend you also go & watch the teaser trailers for this film because they are all absolutely hilarious!