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'Lilo & Stitch' Puts New Spin on Disney Movies
Thu Jun 20,10:35 AM ET

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -

Once upon a time, Disney cranked out hit animated movies based on a traditional formula of lovable characters and original music, but that changes on Friday when "Lilo & Stitch" arrives in theaters.

Lilo, a Hawaiian girl who can pick a fight, is no Snow White. Stitch, her alien companion bent on destruction, is no Bambi. And the animation looks more like a Looney Tunes cartoon than a big-budget Walt Disney Co. epic.

But all those changes may be good for Disney because its recent animated movies like last summer's "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," which had all the bells and whistles of a major Disney movie, have not fared too well at the box office.

"The idea was to put away as many conventions as we could," co-director Dean DeBlois told Reuters.

His directing partner Chris Sanders said that when he and DeBlois, veterans of Disney animation, first dreamed up "Lilo & Stitch" they looked at upcoming Disney movies and saw many of the same elements they had seen for years.

"It turns out everyone felt the same way. We were making wonderful films but we had to ask, 'Are we missing something?"' Sanders said. "So, we got the go-ahead to break the mold."

"Atlantis," Disney's major animated movie last summer, told of an adventure to find the fabled lost city under the sea. It cost an estimated $125 million to make and market, but earned only about $83 million for Disney in theaters, according to published estimates. To be fair, it earned twice that on video, and video is a major part of a movie's financial profile.

"The Emperor's New Groove," released in December 2000, cost more and earned about the same. In fact, one has to go to 1999's "Tarzan" to find a hit Disney animated movie ($436 million worldwide box office) using its traditional formula.

For the most part, Disney's blockbuster animated movies have been the irreverent, computer-animated films it makes and with partner Pixar Animation Studios Inc., such as last year's "Monsters, Inc." and the two "Toy Story" films.

"Lilo & Stitch" is as wacky as those films and while its animation is still hand drawn -- as opposed to digital -- the film's score is comprised mostly of Elvis Presley tunes. The King sings "Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog," and "Blue Hawaii," and country singer Wynonna chimes in with "Burning Love."

"It mimics what we tried to do with story. There are moments of seriousness, but also moments of serious levity," said DeBlois.

THE UN-DISNEY DISNEY

Early in the movie, audiences learn Lilo's parents died in an accident that left her under the guardianship of her 19 year-old sister, Nani. Owing to her loss, Lilo has become unruly in school, and she is disliked by her schoolmates.

Meanwhile, on the far-off planet of Turo, an experiment has created a blue, six-legged creature that is "bulletproof, fireproof and can think faster than a supercomputer."

But "Experiment 626" also gets a kick out of doing disgusting things like watching his own saliva drip to the floor before sucking it back into his mouth.

Moreover, he was created to destroy everything he touches and when he does, he is put in prison. He quickly escapes and travels to Earth, where he lands in Hawaiian paradise.

At first, "Experiment 626" is taken to be a dog and through a series of circumstances is adopted by Lilo and named Stitch. Thus, the two are paired in a sort of unholy alliance of bad manners and destructive methods.

Things go horribly at first. But when Lilo finally reveals her and Nani's plight, and after Stitch reads the children's tale "The Ugly Duckling," the pair forge a bond that stems from their lack of a normal family.

The concept of family, of course, has changed in recent years to include extended families and community, which are embodied in the Hawaiian word, "ohana." Lilo and Nani use ohana to mean that no one in their family ever gets left behind, and pretty soon the concept of ohana sinks into Stitch, too.

Together, Lilo, Stitch, Nani and Nani's surfer dude boyfriend must use ohana to try to defeat aliens who have come to reclaim Experiment 626, as well as a Hawaiian social worker named Cora Bubbles who wants to take Lilo from Nani.

"(The movie) really takes a look at the question of what a family is ... a family is what you make it," said Sanders.

So, in a way, the movie that is being called very unDisney-like for its animation style, story and soundtrack, is a Disney movie, after all.

"Lilo & Stitch" embodies themes of friendship, love and family that can make even the hardest of hard-boiled characters (like Stitch) turn soft inside.