I Like Monday 23
This Monday, I like ... Disney's Lilo & Stitch.
Image taken from Wikipedia - original artist John Alvin, copyright the Walt Disney Company, Wikipedia licencing terms found here
I saw Lilo & Stitch in the cinema by default; basically, there was nothing else on that interested me, and hey, a Disney movie is usually good for a hour-and-a-half's entertainment. I had seen a couple of the teaser trailers that had been running, specifically the ones with Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid, and I thought they were funny, clever and intriguing. The idea of Disney's characters crossing in and out of each other's worlds, messing with each other's stories, appealed to the mega-crossover-fanfic-lover in me. Plus, Beast gets to be all heroic and save Belle from a falling chandelier! :DDDD The character of Stitch as presented in the teasers - curious, clumsy, mischievous and a shameless flirt - was certainly different from your stereotypical Disney protagonist. AND he was an alien! Sci-fi Disney! AWESOME!
Following from the art style of director, creator and voice of Stitch himself, Chris Sanders, the movie has a distinctive look: all soft curving edges and rounded corners. Characters and objects look (for want of a better word) chunky, solidly built, and there is a pleasing range of body types on display here. Nani, Lilo's elder sister, has the best-looking thighs I've ever seen on an animated character; just watch the sequence near the beginning where she runs home after missing Lilo at the dance school. The movie is also full of colour: brilliant greens and blues, oranges and reds. Hawai'i looks beautiful here, a gorgeous tropical paradise.
And next to all that colour and comforting curves, there's the angst. Have I mentioned before how much I love angst? Yes, I'm pretty sure I have. Well, there's a lot of angst here. Nani and Lilo have lost their parents in a road accident. Lilo responds by burying herself in the music of Elvis and obsessive rituals such as her sacrifice of a peanut butter sandwich to a fish she calls "Pudge", while Nani struggles to cope with her new responsibilities as the "adult" in the family. On top of that, social services, alarmed by Lilo's bizarre behaviour and suspecting neglect, are threatening to break the sisters apart. Halfway across the universe, Stitch is the product of illegal experiments to create the ultimate weapon (shades of Wolverine), and is written off at the start of the movie as a monster incapable of being rehabilitated into society. He appears to have no memory of his origins, though, since Jumbaa later has to inform him that he has no family (a bit of a heartbreaker, that scene). He is initially driven purely by the instinct to survive - and the instinct to destroy, which hampers him from fitting in anywhere. Yes, there's lots of humour, and some eminently quotable silly dialogue ("If I gave Pudge tuna, I'd be an ABOMINATION!!"; "I prefer to be called EVIL GENIUS!!!"). And the final rescue sequence gets a bit soppy. But there is a core of sadness here, of people struggling with loneliness, identity and how to fit in with a society which doesn't understand them.
And oh how I love Lilo! She reminds me a lot of what I was like as a kid. The whole thing with Scrump, the hand-made doll and the bug-eggs in her ears? I would totally have made up that same story! Hey, I used to play a game where the evil Jack-in-the-ball* routinely took all the other toys into slavery! It was awesome! :D
Quirky and damaged characters, lovely animation and a soundtrack full of great Elvis songs - I am glad there was nothing else on at the cinema that evening, or I might have missed out on one of my favourite movies of all time.
* We didn't have a Jack-in-the-box when I was young, we had one in a ball (see the first picture in the second row here)... no wonder I turned out like I did!
Image taken from Wikipedia - original artist John Alvin, copyright the Walt Disney Company, Wikipedia licencing terms found here
I saw Lilo & Stitch in the cinema by default; basically, there was nothing else on that interested me, and hey, a Disney movie is usually good for a hour-and-a-half's entertainment. I had seen a couple of the teaser trailers that had been running, specifically the ones with Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid, and I thought they were funny, clever and intriguing. The idea of Disney's characters crossing in and out of each other's worlds, messing with each other's stories, appealed to the mega-crossover-fanfic-lover in me. Plus, Beast gets to be all heroic and save Belle from a falling chandelier! :DDDD The character of Stitch as presented in the teasers - curious, clumsy, mischievous and a shameless flirt - was certainly different from your stereotypical Disney protagonist. AND he was an alien! Sci-fi Disney! AWESOME!
Following from the art style of director, creator and voice of Stitch himself, Chris Sanders, the movie has a distinctive look: all soft curving edges and rounded corners. Characters and objects look (for want of a better word) chunky, solidly built, and there is a pleasing range of body types on display here. Nani, Lilo's elder sister, has the best-looking thighs I've ever seen on an animated character; just watch the sequence near the beginning where she runs home after missing Lilo at the dance school. The movie is also full of colour: brilliant greens and blues, oranges and reds. Hawai'i looks beautiful here, a gorgeous tropical paradise.
And next to all that colour and comforting curves, there's the angst. Have I mentioned before how much I love angst? Yes, I'm pretty sure I have. Well, there's a lot of angst here. Nani and Lilo have lost their parents in a road accident. Lilo responds by burying herself in the music of Elvis and obsessive rituals such as her sacrifice of a peanut butter sandwich to a fish she calls "Pudge", while Nani struggles to cope with her new responsibilities as the "adult" in the family. On top of that, social services, alarmed by Lilo's bizarre behaviour and suspecting neglect, are threatening to break the sisters apart. Halfway across the universe, Stitch is the product of illegal experiments to create the ultimate weapon (shades of Wolverine), and is written off at the start of the movie as a monster incapable of being rehabilitated into society. He appears to have no memory of his origins, though, since Jumbaa later has to inform him that he has no family (a bit of a heartbreaker, that scene). He is initially driven purely by the instinct to survive - and the instinct to destroy, which hampers him from fitting in anywhere. Yes, there's lots of humour, and some eminently quotable silly dialogue ("If I gave Pudge tuna, I'd be an ABOMINATION!!"; "I prefer to be called EVIL GENIUS!!!"). And the final rescue sequence gets a bit soppy. But there is a core of sadness here, of people struggling with loneliness, identity and how to fit in with a society which doesn't understand them.
And oh how I love Lilo! She reminds me a lot of what I was like as a kid. The whole thing with Scrump, the hand-made doll and the bug-eggs in her ears? I would totally have made up that same story! Hey, I used to play a game where the evil Jack-in-the-ball* routinely took all the other toys into slavery! It was awesome! :D
Quirky and damaged characters, lovely animation and a soundtrack full of great Elvis songs - I am glad there was nothing else on at the cinema that evening, or I might have missed out on one of my favourite movies of all time.
* We didn't have a Jack-in-the-box when I was young, we had one in a ball (see the first picture in the second row here)... no wonder I turned out like I did!