Lilo & Stitch (2002, PG)

I’d actually never seen this movie before. I think what happened is that it came out during the handful of years that I wasn’t watching many animated films (outside of Pixar)—after I loved them as a kid, but before I got back into them as an adult. I’ve rectified other films I missed out on from this period, like The Princess and the Frog and The Book of Life, but this is one I’d never gotten around to. I’m very glad to have made up for that now, even if it’s long overdue!

Deep in space, the mad scientist Jumba has been brought to trial for his illegal experiments. He’s created an “abomination,” a lifeform engineered purely for destruction. But Experiment 626 escapes attempts to contain him. He steals his prisoner transport ship and ends up crashlanding in Hawaii. There, he meets young Lilo and her older sister Nani, who’ve been struggling to get by after the sudden loss of their parents. As Nani tries her very hardest to convince a social worker that she’s equipped to take care of Lilo, Experiment 626—now named Stitch—makes that incredibly difficult with his destructive tendencies.

One reason that I wanted to finally watch this movie is because it’s been popping up on my Tumblr timeline as a popular film for autistic folks. I’ll get into this more in future Neurodivergent Alley posts, of course, but holy cow, do I get why! I love how Lilo is portrayed, along with her difficult relationship with Nani. We often see Nani completely overwhelmed with these new responsibilities, flailing for answers and losing her temper with her little sister, and Lilo doesn’t make things easy for her. But despite all the friction and heartache, we see how much they love each other as well. The things Lilo says, does, and needs frequently don’t make sense to Nani, but she fears that a foster family would likely view her behavior through either a pathologized or punitive lens, never even really trying to understand her. Nani never stops trying, which is huge.

Adding Stitch into the mix ups the ante on this whole dynamic. He’s mean and rude and compulsively wrecks things, and both Nani and Lilo spend plenty of time angry and exasperated with him. But at the same time, he’s been denied the purpose he was genetically designed for—he’s built to seek out large cities and cause calamitous havoc, but now he’s stuck in a small island community. The instincts that were ingrained in him have nowhere to do. He was never made for family, but now he has one. What will he do?

It's a neat film. It features a lot of wild-little-gremlin comedy as Stitch spits, swears (in an alien language,) and bites his way through everything, causing chaos everywhere he goes. At the same time, though, it tells a really beautiful, heartbreaking story about family and belonging, and we watch these three characters—all misfits in different ways—learn and develop together amid serious growing pains. Really wonderfully done!

Warnings

Cartoon violence, lots of “don’t try this at home,” implied swearing in an alien language, some gross-out humor, and thematic elements.