i still don't know how i feel about lilo and stitch i watched this film in the cinema when
it was released back in 2002 if you can believe it was that long ago and i don't remember not
liking it but over the years i kind of just not cared for it and then upon reflection i didn't
really like it that much but i acknowledged that i hadn't seen it in quite a long time so i thought
i'd give it another watch and give it another chance and my opinion has certainly changed
but would i say i like it i'm not sure there are things about it that i thought were fantastic but
there's a part of the narrative that just doesn't appeal to me personally it's not necessarily bad
but it doesn't speak to me and i'll talk a little bit about that without giving any spoilers
but the first thing i want to say about this film is that it's got one of the most important
messages in any disney film several really lovely important messages in this the prima the primary
one i guess being ohana the importance of family is nobody gets left behind and obviously because
lilo is an orphan she's being raised by her older sister her family unit has significantly shrunk
and it's really nice to see that this is representing an atypical family
they will unfortunately be children watching this who are in very similar situations
and it's good to see that they're being shown a family unit that's not just mother father
2.5 children it's very refreshing to see this slightly different dynamic
even though of course it's heartbreaking for lilo and at times difficult to watch
it's also nice to have something else not just princesses and looking for a happy ending they're
just trying to have a happy current they're trying to get through life because it's very difficult
and it's a lot more realistic in in that respect i also love the fact that lilo's
character is very well-rounded and very well developed now i actually don't like lilo
but it's not her fault and it's kind of the point lilo acts out a lot she's very naughty she
misbehaves she doesn't listen to her sister she completely overreacts but there's one line in this
that sums everything up that you need to know about this film and it's not a spoiler
but this is a very heartfelt moment that she has with stitch and she says to stitch
i'm paraphrasing but she says along the lines of i hear you crying at
night i know you miss your family um and i know that's why you act out and push me
and lilo a child is acknowledging that she knows that stitch is misbehaving because he's hurting
and i think that is so important this is for me the best message in this film there will be
parents watching this whose children are acting out and misbehaving and they don't realize that
they're being naughty if you like because they are hurting whether that's because of something
at home that's hurting them they're being bullied at school they have childhood depression it could
make some parents think maybe my child is acting out because they are hurting and suffering
because of something because not everybody's aware of that kind of relationship between
pain and aggression or lashing out and to me that that that's not something i remembered
from when i watched this when i was 10. and i was genuinely really impressed that aspect of it i
thought was fantastic even though i didn't like lilo as a character i love what she represented
because i thought it's a really important message the stitch side of it i don't like
i don't find stitch that cute i know a lot of people will hate me for that if you think
stitch is cute that's perfectly fine i can kind of see the appeal but for me he's not cute godly um
and how he was created if you don't know the backstory at the very beginning of the film
he has a failed experiment who is um
sent away he actually takes refuge on earth ends up in a dog pound and becomes lilo's pet
and he's not as destructive as he is made out to seem at the beginning of the film
but the aliens who um are trying to capture him are now on earth trying to you know capture him
while he's going out and about with layla and i didn't really care for those scenes i didn't
like the alien characters um there was one there was one um character i liked whose name i
i can't remember but it's the one-eyed kind of beigey green colored one you'll know who
i mean i kind of liked him i thought he was cute but the actual like scientific sci-fi
aspect of it i just didn't like thankfully it didn't detract from the bits that i did
but for the most part that didn't appeal to me now that's kind of the main point of the film
so it's not like i can say well they could have just left that out and it would have been great
still because it wouldn't be the same film and they haven't badly done that i think if you like
that kind of thing from a disney film with the aliens and you know the weird scientific
experiments gone wrong and imposing on earth you might actually enjoy it but i was more interested
when the social worker was there although cobra bubbles is one of the most bizarre characters ever
but i did enjoy it a lot more than i thought for the first time ever i am inclined to watch lilo
and stitch 2 which i will do also i have to say hawaiian roller coaster ride i love i've loved
that song forever so even though the film has a nose appeal to me that song definitely did um
a really good film in parts i can see why it's so popular for me
it's never going to be my favorite but i'm glad i gave it another
chance because i certainly like it a lot more now than i did previously