Somewhat confusingly, Lilo
& Stitch 2 is not the second Lilo & Stitch film, but the
third. It is, however, the direct sequel to the first film, so set before the
events of the actual second film, 2003's Stitch! The Movie and its
subsequent TV series, the latter still in production when this film came out. For the
rather minor, odd child of the Disney feature film studio in the midst of its
difficult period, Lilo & Stitch certainly gave rise to quite the
franchise - and that's not even mentioning the Japanese series, the bizarre Kim
Possible crossover or Kingdom Hearts.
So, before the introduction of
any of the rainbow-coloured Stitch derivatives, this film retains a more
simplistic, less-gimmicky core. Disneytoon were finally pushing against their
bad image of churning out highly inferior sequels and this was even slated for
a theatrical release until finally going direct to video...which given that Return
to Neverland made it to big screens can be attributed only to nostalgia
trumping quality in the world of Disney executive decisions - which I have to
say are very probably correct.
For all the negative
connotations that come with the idea of a Disneytoon direct-to-video sequel,
the quality here is good. The animation is not feature-film Disney but it is
also not an embarrassing drop or inadequate for the big screen. The casting is
strong - if you can't get the original voice actress for Lilo (because she is
busy voicing Lilo elsewhere, supposedly), you can't do much better than getting
Dakota Fanning in instead, especially when the two are good friends and she
does an excellent impersonation while retaining a few of her own recognisable
quirks. Despite not directing this - and How to Train Your Dragon still
a few years off - Chris Sanders returns to voice Stitch (as he seems happy to
do for just about anything), with helm duties taken by future B.O.O. creator/director
Tony Leondis - alongside Michael LeBash.
In a classic sequel to a
sci-fi story, and as hinted in the title, here we find Stitch having a glitch.
When Jumba made him, he was not quite fully charged-up, and thus he is now
losing energy. As he does so, he reverts for a few moments to his original,
highly destructive personality. This causes a great deal of problems for Lilo,
who is trying to put together a hula dance in honour of her deceased mother,
only for Stitch to periodically go feral and destroy things. Little Lilo only
sees it as him being randomly cruel, and he himself can only describe it as his
'badness' coming out, so it causes much heartbreak between them, especially
when he keeps causing problems on a pilgrimage to all the sites Elvis visited
in Hawaii.
Eventually, everything comes
to a head and Lilo realises just how serious Stitch's problems really are, seemingly
too late. In truth, the ending is very clumsy indeed - how did Jumba's machine
get there?? Couldn't we have had a line about the readings malfunctioning or
some residual power trickling through rather than the ultimate cheese of it
being declared impossible and too late only for it not to be? Especially since,
y'know, this being a midquel takes most of the tension out of the situation.
But ultimately, this is better
than the vast majority of Disney sequels, and the Stitch story lends itself to
continuation. It's simple, its characters are well-defined and interact well -
including comedy aliens and hapless love interest for Lilo's big sister - and
the chance for a big ole group dance at the end is always going to be sweet.
It's uncomplicated, unambitious and clumsy at the end, but it's also very cute,
perfectly functional and a lot of fun. So I don't mind recommending this above
just about any Disneytoon sequel I've seen except Simba's Pride, and
let's face it, there are definitely rose-tinted spectacles affecting my view on
that one.
I remember renting this movie the year it came out and thinking it was...okay. Since it was quite a while ago, all I really remember from it is Stitch's "Disney death" at the end and how cheap I thought it was. Actually, I watched a lot of the Disney sequels around that time and quite a few opted for the "Disney death" ending (if I recall correctly, Bambi II and Lady and the Tramp II) and it got annoying after a while (couldn't they think of something else? We know the main character's not gonna die!) But anyway, I'd need to watch this movie again to really judge it, but it's not the worst of the Disney sequels. Lilo and Stitch themselves are always cute to watch :3
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a hackneyed and cheap storytelling element, but I generally see it as a chance to see how the characters react to the situation rather than necessarily feeling swindled. It's true that this is one of the laziest examples of its kind, though!
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