There’s a part of me that wants to resent Disney’s 2002 theatrical animated film “Lilo and Stitch”. Why? Because it feels a little bit like a ‘cuted-up’ version of the much superior 1999 film, “The Iron Giant”. Both films about lonely children raised by a single parent/sibling who meet up with an alien and then teams up with then against forces who view them as a threat. Is it just me? I suppose it really doesn’t matter though, because while I might have “The Iron Giant” in my pantheon of all-time-favorite animated films, “Lilo and Stitch” is certainly entertaining in it’s own right.

Lilo is a lonely Hawaiian child who is being raised by her older sister Nani (Tia Carrere). She’s an odd and difficult child and their relationship is strained. Things aren’t made any easier when social services starts nosing around, in the form of the intimidating, yet awesomely named, Cobra Bubbles (Ving Rhames). Even worse, when Nani takes Lilo to the pound to pick out a pet, she selects the newly arrived on Earth, Experiment 626, a super-intelligent, nearly indestructible, chaos creating, genetically created life form on the run from a Galactic Federation for being an ‘abomination’. Clearly someone at Disneyco has some strong feelings about genetic stuff. 626, hiding from two aliens sent to quietly retrieve it (voiced entertainingly by Kevin McDonald and David Ogden Stiers) accepts Lilo’s adoption and new moniker as “Stitch”. Unfortunately, Stitch is as difficult as Lilo is, causing trouble for his new family instinctively every chance he gets. Eventually though, the oft-repeated Hawaiian concept of ‘ohana, about sticking by your family, gets through to him and he calms the hell down. All is not well though, as his pursuers are becoming more vigilant and social services has already decided to close the deal on Nani not being Lilo’s guardian. OH MY GAWD…what will happen?

What you have to remember when asking yourself why Cyrus is reviewing this is that it is a science fiction movie about alien civilizations. On that level alone, “Lilo and Stitch” is highly entertaining, throwing in a bevy of alien races and goofy ray guns, enough to bring a smile to the face of even the most disheartened fan of classic alien fictions. Hell, I did, in fact, find the story touching as well, even tearing up maybe just a little at one point, as I think most folks with strong family ties probably will. I also dug the animation style with it’s watercolor backgrounds (only done before in two other early Disney films) and more natural looking body types. Nani isn’t the Barbie-fied adult female character of impossible proportions we’re used to seeing. That actually makes her hotter.

What? Oh, like you’ve never thought that way about a cartoon chick. You’re already at Spill.com, I KNOW you’re lying. Get over it. And stop touching my signed pictures of Jessica Rabbit.

So here it is, after a LONG wait for a special edition of this film. Other than the movie, what does the two-disc DVD have to offer?

SPECIAL FEATURES:

-Audio commentary- Chris Sanders (director) and Dean DeBlois (Director)

-“Your Ohana” Music Video featuring a bunch of Hawaiian kids that holds absolutely no appeal for me.

-“Lilo and Stitch Island Adventure Games”: More of the usual barely interactive ‘games’ to keep the young'uns away from Momma while she watches her stories.

-“Disneypedia: Hawaii-The Islands of Aloha: Explore the Hawaiian Islands”: Highlight one of the Hawaiian islands to get a brief overview of the island’s features voiced by a certainly-grateful-for-the-work Tia Carrere and Daveigh Chase who played Lilo but also Samara in "The Ring" and Samantha Darko in "Donnie Darko"...puts a whole new cool creepy twist on this movie for me. Plus now, she's 18 and hot. Not that it matters here. Just saying. Daveigh, have your people give me a call. We'll do lunch and discuss your daddy issues.

-“Create Your Own Alien Experiment Game”: Trivia game. Hohum.

-“A Stitch in Time: Follow Stitch Through the Disney Years”: A short joke-doc about Stitch having appeared in all the other Disney cartoons over the years. Not that funny for anyone capable of growing pubic hair.

-“Hula Lesson”: 3 minute overview on Hula dancing. Because you NEEDED to know.

-“Burning Love: Behind the Scenes with Wynona”: Singing the end cover of the Elvis tune “Burning Love” . In this case, looks like she had more of a giant hunka hunka burning cheese.

-“I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” Music Video Performed by A-Teens: Kill them. Kill them all. Abomination.

-“Animating the Hula”: So as not to offend any actual Hula dancers, they not only went to a lot of trouble to consult real Hula dancers, but added this short Featurette about it as well.

-“Inter-Stitch-ials: Theatrical Teaser Trailers”: Those clever fake trailers Disney released inserting Stitch into other classic Disney sequences. Much better than the silly fake doc I mentioned earlier.

-It's the Big Documentary Just Called, As Near As I Can Tell, 'Documentary': 2 hours plus on the making of along with “Documentary Footnotes”, added bits of video and assorted stuff.

-Deleted Scenes: Not packed with 'must-sees' but one of them, a nearly finished version of the ending where the protagonists fly a kidnapped 747 and fly through a city with it, was taken out for, one one imagine, obvious reasons. It's still pretty cool. Plus, added carnage to other scenes that Disney censors must have been aghast at.

"Lilo & Stitch" wasn't reinventing the wheel but it was cute and fun for any age. It was one of the best releases from Disney's non-Pixar division in the 2000s. I'm glad to own a copy of this and it's nicely put together new features, especially the seriously big documentary. I'm still not going to go watch the direct-to-DVD sequels or the TV series or even the new re-imagined Japanese version. Ok, maybe the last one. Will Stitch have tentacles and will Lilo be in a traditional Japanese schoolgirl outfit?

Good lord, I even make myself sick sometimes.

Click Here to Buy Lilo & Stitch 2-Disc Big Wave Edition