Stitch! The Movie | |
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![]() DVD cover featuring (clockwise from lower-left) Lilo Pelekai, Experiment 221/Sparky, Experiment 625, [lower-alpha 1] and Stitch | |
Directed by |
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Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring | |
Edited by | Tony Mizgalski |
Music by | Michael Tavera |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Buena Vista Home Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 60 minutes [1] |
Country | United States [1] |
Language | English |
Stitch! The Movie is a 2003 American direct-to-video animated science fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and Rough Draft Korea, released on August 26, 2003. [3] It is produced by Tony Craig, Jess Winfield, and Roberts "Bobs" Gannaway; Gannaway also co-wrote and co-directed with Winfield and Craig, respectively. It is the second film released in the Lilo & Stitch franchise and the third film chronologically, taking place after the 2002 first film and (by later extension) the 2005 direct-to-video sequel Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch . The film also serves as the backdoor pilot of the spin-off sequel series Lilo & Stitch: The Series , which Craig, Winfield, and Gannaway executive produced and debuted the following month. The story is an introduction to Dr. Jumba Jookiba's 625 experiments (made prior to Stitch) that he created with the financing of Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel.
Stitch has been trying to adapt to life with Lilo in Hawaii, but has a hard time fitting in without causing more disasters. Lilo tries to encourage him by saying he's one-of-a-kind, which just makes him feel worse, as he desires others who he could consider his "cousins". Meanwhile, ex-captain Gantu is hired by Jumba's former partner, a diminutive creature resembling a cross between a hamster, gerbil, and rabbit named Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel to retrieve the other 625 experiments. Gantu goes to Earth and abducts Jumba, finding and taking a blue pod with the number 625 on it; Stitch and Lilo take Jumba's spaceship and engaging Gantu in battle, only to be defeated and fall back to Earth.
Back at their house, Lilo, Stitch, and Pleakley find the container Jumba was hiding. Pleakley realizes that it contains the other 625 experiments, in dehydrated pods, and warns them not to tell anyone or put the experiments in water, aware of how dangerous they are. Deliberately disobeying his orders, Stitch and Lilo retrieve the container and hydrate one of the experiments, the electricity-based Experiment 221, who promptly escapes into the night. Jumba is being held captive on the ship of Dr. Hämsterviel, who demands the experiments handed over to him believing they're his. Unable to intimidate Jumba, Hämsterviel activates Experiment 625 to attack him. However, despite 625 having all of Stitch's powers, he is incredibly lazy and a terrible coward, prioritizing making sandwiches above all else. Meanwhile, Pleakley is able to make contact with Hämsterviel's ship via telephone, who proceeds to demand a ransom of the other 624 experiments in return for Jumba. Nani calls Cobra Bubbles to seek his assistance while Lilo and Stitch go out to find 221. They manage to track down 221 at a nearby hotel and successfully catch him with a glass vase; Stitch soon befriends him, realizing he's finally found a "cousin" of his own.
The rendezvous time arrives and Pleakley and Cobra show up to trade the container for Jumba, but Hämsterviel is annoyed to find one is missing. Lilo and Stitch soon arrive with 221, announced she has named it "Sparky", and declares that it and all the experiments are apart of their ʻ ohana . They set Sparky free and break Jumba from his bonds, just as Cobra signals the Grand Councilwoman's ship to rise out of the nearby ocean to blast Hämsterviel. Lilo protests, since he still has the other experiments, so Sparky uses his electrical abilities to disrupt the power on the ship, allowing Hämsterviel and Gantu to escape on their ship with the experiments, as Lilo, Stitch, and Sparky stow away.
Inside the ship, Lilo and Stitch manage to swipe the container and in the ensuing struggle, it ends up releasing the dehydrated pods, which rain down and scatter all throughout Hawaii. Having captured the two, Hämsterviel reveals his plans to clone Stitch a thousand times over, as he's strapped to a weight just heavier he can lift, while Gantu puts Lilo in a teleportation pod to send her to an intergalactic zoo. Before Stitch is vivisected by a laser for the cloning process, Sparky short-circuits the cloning machine, breaking him free, allowing the two to strap strap Hämsterviel to the device before they rescue Lilo.
Lilo, Stitch, and Sparky then short-circuit Gantu's ship, causing it to crash near a waterfall on Kauai. Landing Hämsterviel's ship back at the rendezvous point, they give Sparky a new home powering the Kīlauea Lighthouse, which hasn't been running in years. [lower-alpha 2] They then persuade the Grand Councilwoman to let them rehabilitate the other 623 experiments. The Councilwoman places Hämsterviel under arrest, and grants Lilo and Stitch the task of tracking down the other experiments. At that moment, Experiments 202, 529, 455, 489, and 390 [lower-alpha 3] are activated by various means, beginning the events of the series.
Later, Jumba and Pleakley hope to go home with the Grand Councilwoman this time, but they are left stranded on Earth once again.
Other voices, listed as "With the Voice Talents of":
Presented by Walt Disney Pictures and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, Stitch! The Movie is the lead-in to Lilo & Stitch: The Series . [2]
At some point, there was a decision to only have Stitch's name in the titles of both the film and the subsequent series, which was planned to be called Stitch! The TV Series. [4] Eventually, this was abolished, resulting in both this film and The Series having mismatched names. The Stitch! name (with exclamation point) was used as the title for an anime series five years after this film's release.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 20% of 5 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.8/10. [5]
In a 2019 list of direct-to-video sequels, prequels, and "mid-quels" to Disney animated films, Petrana Radulovic of Polygon ranked Stitch! The Movie tenth out of twenty-six films, the lowest of the Lilo & Stitch sequel films on her list. [6] Radulovic wrote that she liked the message of Stitch finding his family, but criticized it for not being as funny as the original Lilo & Stitch film, stating that "some of the [mundane] charm of Lilo & Stitch[...]is lost in favor of chasing a new alien [Sparky] and introducing the rabbitlike villain [Hämsterviel] who just wants world domination." [6]
In a similar list in 2020, Lisa Wehrstedt of Insider ranked Stitch! The Movie seventeenth out of twenty-five films, which was also the lowest of the Lilo & Stitch sequels on her list. [7] Wehrstedt wrote that she believed the film's premise did not warrant a full feature film, and its finale was too "open-ended" to have Stitch! The Movie "work as a stand-alone film like the rest of the Lilo & Stitch sequels." [7] However, she nonetheless claimed that "everything in the Lilo & Stitch world has an irresistible charm that propels it up many ranks considering what its plot and animation quality would be able to achieve without a bunch of cute little monsters." [7]
Lilo & Stitch is a 2002 American animated science fiction comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and produced by Clark Spencer, based on an original story created by Sanders. It features Daveigh Chase and Sanders as the voices of the title characters and also features the voices of Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Ving Rhames, Jason Scott Lee, Zoe Caldwell, and Kevin Michael Richardson. It was the second of three Disney animated feature films produced primarily at the Florida animation studio in Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida.
Liliana Mumy is an American actress. Between 2002 and 2006, she appeared as Jessica Baker in Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel, as well as Lucy Miller in the second and third films of The Santa Clause trilogy.
Lilo & Stitch: The Series is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It premiered on September 20, 2003, on ABC as part of ABC Kids, with a delayed premiere on Disney Channel on October 12, 2003. The series ended on July 29, 2006, after airing 65 episodes in two seasons.
Christopher Michael Sanders is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. His credits include Lilo & Stitch (2002) and How to Train Your Dragon (2010), both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with Dean DeBlois, The Croods (2013) with Kirk DeMicco, The Call of the Wild (2020), and the upcoming The Wild Robot (2024). He is also known for creating the story behind Lilo & Stitch and for creating and voicing its latter title character in the film and its franchise.
Leroy & Stitch is a 2006 American animated science fiction comedy television film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It was written by Bobs Gannaway and Jess Winfield, the latter of whom also served as producer alongside Igor Khait, and directed by Gannaway and Tony Craig. It is the fourth feature film in the Lilo & Stitch franchise and the third and final sequel feature film to the 2002 animated film Lilo & Stitch, serving as the finale of Lilo & Stitch: The Series and concluding the franchise's main continuity where Lilo Pelekai is a main character and Hawaii is the main setting. It is the last Western-animated production in the franchise to date. The film debuted on Disney Channel on June 23, 2006, and was also aired on Toon Disney on June 26, 2006.
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch is a 2005 American direct-to-video animated science fiction comedy-drama film produced by the Australian office of Disneytoon Studios. It was directed by Tony Leondis and Michael LaBash, both of whom co-wrote the film with Eddie Guzelian and Alexa Junge. It is the third film released in the Lilo & Stitch franchise and the second film in the franchise's animated chronology, taking place between the events of Lilo & Stitch (2002) and Lilo & Stitch: The Series pilot film Stitch! The Movie (2003), serving mainly as a direct sequel to the former. It was released on DVD and VHS on August 30, 2005, and is the last Lilo & Stitch film to be released in the latter format.
Stitch's Great Escape! was a "theater-in-the-round" attraction based on Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise. A non-canon prequel to the original 2002 film that detailed Stitch's "first" prison escape, it was located in the Tomorrowland area of Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort, as the fourth attraction to occupy the building and theater space that was previously used for Flight to the Moon, Mission to Mars and the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, many of the animators who worked on Lilo & Stitch were directly involved with the attraction's development. The attraction, which struggled with a mixed reception from park guests during its existence, was the only major permanent attraction based on Lilo & Stitch to have operated in the United States; all other such major attractions since have been exclusive to non-American Disney Parks resorts.
Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626 is a 2002 action-adventure video game developed by High Voltage Software and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. The game serves as a prequel to the 2002 Disney film Lilo & Stitch. The game was released on June 19, 2002, two days before the theatrical release of the Lilo & Stitch film.
In science fiction, a shrink ray is any device which uses energy to reduce the physical size of matter. Many are also capable of enlarging items as well. A growth ray typically only has the ability to enlarge.
The Daniel K. Inouye Kīlauea Point Lighthouse, also known as Kīlauea Light, is a lighthouse located on Kīlauea Point on the island of Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi in the Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.
Stitch! is a Japanese anime television series. It is a spin-off of Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise, serving as the franchise's second television series after Lilo & Stitch: The Series. The anime series aired in Japan from October 2008 to June 2011, later receiving additional television specials in 2012 and 2015. It features a Japanese girl named Yuna Kamihara, who takes the place of Lilo Pelekai as the best friend of the titular Stitch, and is set on a fictional island in the Ryukyus off the shore of Okinawa called Izayoi for its first two seasons, replacing Kauai, Hawaii, then moving to a fictional Okinawan city called New Town for its third season.
Lilo & Stitch, also marketed as Disney Stitch or simply Stitch, is an American media franchise created by Disney that commenced in 2002 with the release of the animated feature film of the same name written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois. The combined critical and commercial success of the original film, which was a rarity for the company's feature animation studio during the studio's post-Renaissance downturn in the early 2000s, led to three direct-to-video and television sequel feature films, a short film, three animated television series, several video games, theme park attractions, comics, literature, and various merchandise.
Stitch, also known as Experiment 626, is a fictional character from Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise. A genetically engineered, extraterrestrial life-form resembling a blue koala, he is the more prominent of the franchise's two title protagonists, the other being his human adopter and best friend Lilo Pelekai.
Disney's Lilo & Stitch: Trouble in Paradise is a 2002 action-platform video game developed by Blitz Games for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows. The game is a tie-in to and based on the Walt Disney Feature Animation film, Lilo & Stitch. The PlayStation version was published by Sony Computer Entertainment, while the Windows version was published by Disney Interactive Studios.
Stitch & Ai is an English-language-produced donghua television series and a spin-off of Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise. It is the franchise's third TV series, after the Western animated Lilo & Stitch: The Series and the Japanese Stitch! anime series. It was produced with the assistance of American animators. Set in Huangshan, Anhui, the thirteen-episode series features a Chinese girl named Wang Ai Ling in place of the original 2002–06 Western continuity's Lilo Pelekai and the anime's Yuna Kamihara as the titular human companion of the alien Stitch.
Disney's Lilo & Stitch is a 2002 side-scrolling platform video game developed by Digital Eclipse for the Game Boy Advance. Based on the Disney animated film Lilo & Stitch, it was first released in North America on June 7, 2002 by Disney Interactive, with Ubi Soft publishing the game in Europe on October 4, 2002, and in Australia on March 24, 2005.
Lilo & Stitch is an upcoming American science fiction film directed by Dean Fleischer Camp and written by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback, the film will be a live-action/CGI remake of Disney's 2002 animated film Lilo & Stitch. It will star Maia Kealoha as Lilo Pelekai, with Lilo & Stitch writer-director Chris Sanders reprising his voice role as Stitch. Zach Galifianakis, Sydney Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance, and original cast members Tia Carrere, Amy Hill, and Jason Scott Lee will also star.
Disneys [sic] direct-to-video features actually originate with two separate entities within the company: the TV animation group, and DisneyToon Studios (once part of the TV group but as of 2003 moved within the feature animation division). Its [sic] a complex arrangement that all but guarantees an inconsistent look to the films, and just to make matters more confusing, pictures from both divisions occasionally receive theatrical runs prior to their home video release." "The overlapping output from the TV group sometimes results in, if not dueling, then overlapping sequels. Case in point Stitch Has a Glitch is my movie, but its [sic] not based on the TV series where Stitch has all the experiments Morrill explains.