With their mission to capture and repurpose all the experiments on Earth completed,[d] Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley are honored as heroes by the Galactic Alliance. Jumba is offered to return to his old laboratory, Pleakley is offered a post as chairman of Earth Studies at Galactic Alliance Community College, Stitch is made the Captain of the Galactic Armada and commander of the newly commissioned Big Red Battleship 9000, and Lilo is made the Galactic Federation's ambassador to Earth and the experiments' guardian.
The aliens initially decline the offers for Lilo's sake, but she later lets them go after seeing how much they long for their new adventures. Before they leave, Lilo gives Jumba her favorite Elvis Presley record, Pleakley a small rock to use as a paperweight, and Stitch a necklace with a Kūtiki. In his ship, Gantu decides that since he failed to capture the experiments, except for 625, he will break Dr. Hämsterviel out of prison. He takes a two-man space shuttle, leaving a disheartened 625 alone. Gantu frees Hämsterviel, who develops a new plan upon learning of Jumba's current status.
While they enjoy what they are honored for, Jumba, Pleakley, Lilo, and Stitch begin to feel sad from their separation. While Jumba works on a new experiment, Gantu and Hämsterviel intrude his lab and force him to finish creating the experiment for their benefit. Jumba succeeds in the creation of a new Stitch-like experiment that Hämsterviel dubs "Leroy". Stitch, on assignment to recapture Hämsterviel, arrives at Jumba's lab and duels Leroy. However, he is defeated when Pleakley appears at an inopportune moment, distracting him long enough for Leroy to detain him in a capsule. Hämsterviel then has Leroy cloned to make an army to conquer the Galactic Alliance. Before leaving for Turo, Hämsterviel locks Stitch, Jumba and Pleakley in Pleakley's G.A.C.C. vehicle and sends the vessel toward a black hole.
On Earth, Lilo decides to contact Stitch but realizes that the only intergalactic videophone available on the planet is in Gantu's ship. Upon arrival, she finds 625 and asks to use the videophone, but it is not functional. Lilo, upon seeing 625 emotionally hurt, consoles and names him "Reuben", after one of his favorite sandwiches, and he repairs the galactic videophone. Lilo contacts the BRB-9000 to reach Stitch. Leroy, now controlling the ship, disguises himself as Stitch using shapeshifting, but Lilo sees through the ruse, noticing he is not wearing Stitch's tiki necklace. After Gantu reminds Hämsterviel of the threat of the other experiments, he commands Leroy to head to Earth to capture all of them. Realizing Stitch is in danger, Lilo asks Reuben for help in fixing Gantu's ship. Reluctant at first, he activates his Stitch-like abilities and quickly repairs Gantu's ship. As the G.A.C.C. vehicle heads towards the black hole, Stitch escapes his capsule and frees the others. When Jumba notes that they can disrupt the black hole's event horizon by throwing a small object into it, Stitch takes and bites Pleakley's rock, then throws it moments before they are sucked in.
On Earth, Leroy obtains Lilo's scrapbook of the experiments[e] and quickly captures them plus Lilo's rival, Mertle Edmonds, the owner of Experiment 007, Gigi. Lilo and Reuben arrive at Turo, but learn too late that Hämsterviel has taken over the Galactic Alliance. He orders Gantu to imprison the duo, then fires him after realizing Leroy did the capturing work faster. After having a change of heart, Gantu assists in the two's escape. As they find themselves surrounded by some of Leroy's clones, the G.A.C.C. vehicle suddenly appears through a wormhole, saving the group and reuniting Lilo and Stitch. With no time to explain, Lilo, Reuben and Gantu all climb in and head for Earth.
On Earth, Leroy has gathered all the experiments at Aloha Stadium. As Hämsterviel prepares to exterminate them all with the BRB-9000's primary cannon, the heroes suddenly arrive and destroy the cannon. However, Hämsterviel reveals that he brought along Leroy's clones as backup. The experiments fight the Leroys, but the latter, larger group overwhelm the former. Jumba then suddenly remembers that he programmed a secret shutdown command into Leroy: if he and his clones hear Elvis Presley's rendition of "Aloha 'Oe" (from Lilo's gifted record), they will temporarily deactivate. Stitch then interrupts the battle and performs the song, with Lilo, Reuben, and some experiments accompanying him, triggering the Leroys' command. With his plan foiled, Hämsterviel is captured again.
As the team is again honored by the alliance for their victory, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley ask if they could return to Earth with Lilo. The Grand Councilwoman grants this and asks Gantu if he would like to be reinstated as the captain of the Armada, which he agrees on the condition that Reuben is assigned as his galley officer. Back on Earth, Lilo sets up for one last ʻohana photo, with Mertle arriving with Gigi after discovering her dog was an experiment all along. Lilo's last picture in the scrapbook is her ʻohana, along with all of Stitch's cousins.
In a final scene, Hämsterviel is seen reincarcerated with the now-recovered Leroys placed in individual cells surrounding his, and the Leroys dance to "Jailhouse Rock". As the credits roll, a nearly-full list of Jumba's experiments[f] with their numbers and names scroll along the left side of the screen.
According to writer-producer Jess Winfield on his TV.com forum thread, Leroy & Stitch was made during the production of the second and final season of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, with production finished in 2005.[5] The film was originally set for a direct-to-video release in the Northern Hemispherespring of 2006.[5] The animation production was outsourced to Wang Film Productions, a Taiwanese studio that previously worked on some animation for Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
Leroy & Stitch debuted on Disney Channel on June 23, 2006 and also aired on Toon Disney on June 26, 2006.[3] It was released on DVD in the United States on June 27, 2006 under Walt Disney Pictures.[8][9] Bonus features of the DVD include a then-unaired episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series titled "Link" (in 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio) and a set-top game The Big Red Battleship Flight Simulator.[3] Distributed by Walt Disney Home Entertainment, DVD sales in the United States earned a total of $16,672,732 as of September 2021.[10]
Critical reception
Leroy & Stitch received mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 40% with an average rating of 5.4/10, based on 5 reviews.[11]
Skyler Miller of AllMovie gave the film a rating of 3½ out of 5 stars,[h] praising the voice acting, Elvis Presley songs, and "[the] fast-moving plot that mixes frenetic action, sentimentality, and a few laughs." Miller wrote, "While [Leroy & Stitch is] not nearly as engaging or emotionally rich as the original [Lilo & Stitch] film that inspired it [...] all in all, Leroy & Stitch is a fitting wrap-up to an enjoyable animated series."[12]
Edward Perkis of CinemaBlend gave the film a rating of 1 out of 5 stars, stating the film is "just another direct-to-video sequel of Disney with no unusual stuff in it," and further uplifted and preferred the original film.[13]
Common Sense Media (CSM) gave the film's quality 4 out of 5 stars and applicable for ages 5 above based on 10 reviews from both parents and children.[14]
In 2019, Petrana Radulovic of Polygon ranked Leroy & Stitch ninth out of twenty-six films on her list of direct-to-video sequels, prequels, and "mid-quels" to Disney animated films, one rank higher than Stitch! The Movie.[16] Despite criticizing Leroy & Stitch for focusing more on the aliens and space over the "charming" characters like with Stitch! The Movie, she ranked the finale film higher than the pilot film because of all the now-united 626 experiments' "wacky and really specific powers", stating that "[w]e get to see what they've all been up to after acclimating to life on Hawaii[...], and see them in action in the final battle."[16] In a similar list in 2020, Lisa Wehrstedt of Insider ranked Leroy & Stitch seventh out of twenty-five films on her list.[17] Werhstedt wrote, "For fans who were really involved with the series [...], this film acts like the perfect finale." However, she also criticized it for "los[ing] a bit of the human charm of the original and the previous [released] sequel."[17]
Lilo & Stitch Hawaiian Album is the soundtrack to Disney's Leroy & Stitch. The majority of the Leroy & Stitch soundtrack are Elvis Presley records, while other parts of the soundtrack include music inspired by Gustav Holst's "The Planets".[18][19] The soundtrack also contains score pieces from the original Lilo & Stitch film (which was composed by Alan Silvestri) and from Lilo & Stitch: The Series's pilot film Stitch! The Movie (which was composed by Michael Tavera, who was also the composer for The Series).
Stitch!, an anime spin-off of Lilo & Stitch that succeeded this film
Notes
↑ Titled as Disney's Leroy & Stitch on its title card and stylized as Leroy Lilo & Stitch on its cover art.
↑ Leroy & Stitch is often considered to be a direct-to-video film instead of a television film due to its DVD release just four days after its premiere broadcast.
↑ Three succeeding works in the franchise—Japanese anime series Stitch!, Chinese animated series Stitch & Ai, and Japanese manga Stitch & the Samurai—replace Lilo with different humans who become Stitch's new best friend and change the setting to other regions on Earth.
↑ The scrapbook was first seen in the Lilo & Stitch: The Series episode "Snafu", which first aired just before Leroy & Stitch premiered.
↑ The list shows only the experiments from Experiment 001, Shrink, to Experiment 626, Stitch. It does not include Experiment 627 (who is mentioned when Jumba suggests that Hämsterviel just numbers Leroy as 627, only for Gantu to remind Jumba that he already made 627), Experiment 628 (who only appeared at the end of the episode "627" in pod form), 629/Leroy (who wasn't officially numbered 629 until 2020 through a special one-off chapter of the manga Stitch & the Samurai), Skunkuna (an unnumbered experiment from Stitch! who is said to have been made by Hämsterviel, contradicting Jumba being the experiments' creator) and Experiment 000 (an experiment who was introduced in Stitch! as the predecessor to all of the other experiments).
↑ Leroy wasn't numbered in the film; he was later designated Experiment 629 via a Disney Tsum Tsum-based side story of Stitch & the Samurai released in June 2020, nearly fourteen years after the release of this film.[4]
↑ After AllMovie removed professional reviews from the site in 2024, AllMovie's rating for the film was changed to 2 out of 5 stars.[2]
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1 2 3 "Lilo Leroy & Stitch DVD Review". DVD Dizzy. June 27, 2014. Archived from the original on July 1, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2006. Though Leroy & Stitch seemed destined to be direct-to-video, just a few weeks ago, it was announced that the movie would air on television twice shortly before its DVD release. It did that last Friday on Disney Channel and last night on Toon Disney.
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