Lilo
& Stitch
(Walt Disney) Rated PG
Release Date - June 21, 2002
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Starring:
Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers,
Zoe Caldwell, Kevin Michael Richardson, Daveigh Chase
Directed by: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
Produced by: Clark Spencer
Written by: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, Alan Silvestri
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Lilo
& Stitch
is a great little film. And
like Shrek and Toy Story (1 & 2) and The
Lion King, it’s not the form that makes the film great.
It’s the story… the humanity… the real emotional truth
of the film.
Even
more exciting, Lilo & Stitch suggests that Disney
has once again caught up with today’s world.
Make no mistake, the film has all the earmarks of old
fashioned Disneyana... watercolor backgrounds,
lots of 2-D animation, Elvis Presley songs and
a cute anthropomorphized star. But what is stunning about Lilo & Stitch is the very
unDisney-like subtext.
The
film manages to accurately show Hawaiian physicality as different
than typical Disney characters, yet beautiful in its own way. The one non-Hawaiian human, a character of
intelligence and power, is black.
And women rule this film, never embracing the classic
Disney stereotype of the weak female that needs to be saved
and the evil witch who envies the young beauty of the heroine.
More importantly, the film doesn’t call attention to
its choice. Which
is not to say that it is P.C.
It’s not insensitive, but it never seems to compromise
character for reality.
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