Director Dean Fleischer Camp brings chaotic charm and uneven energy to Disney’s latest live-action gamble
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp of “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” this new, just OK “live-action” “Lilo & Stitch” arrives hard on the heels of the controversial flop “Snow White” and also combines live-action and CG animation. The film, in fact, begins with a fully CG sequence set in a galaxy far, far away, where “Experiment 626,” soon-to-be known as Stitch, was bred for war and is “invincible and smart.” 626 escapes and crash-lands on Earth, where he is mistaken for a dog and locked in a kennel. He is soon adopted “E.T.” style by lonely, misunderstood Lilo (likable and spunky 6-year-old Maia Kealoha), who lives with her surfer, older sister Nani (a very good Sydney Agudong). Tracked by two aliens who inhabit cloned human bodies, none-too-convincingly, newly-named Stitch creates havoc wherever he goes, making trouble for Lilo. But she loves him. He is sort of the living manifestation of a young child’s inclination to get into mischief and destroy things, and he is all too good at it.
Another problem for Lilo and Nani is a Wicked Witch-like social worker named Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere, who voiced Nani in the original). Mrs. Kekoa tells Nani that she must clean the house, have a job, and have health insurance by the end of the week, or she and Lilo will be separated. When is the last time a major Hollywood film brought up health insurance?
Once again voiced by original co-director and co-writer Chris Sanders (director and co-writer of last year’s delightful “Lilo & Stitch”-like “The Wild Robot”), Stitch has six limbs (he hides two of his arms), blue fur, big floppy ears, a big round face and sharp teeth. He looks like a little devil crossed with a gremlin. There is nothing soft, fuzzy or sentimental about his relationship with Lilo.
As in the original film, Lilo introduces Stitch to the Hawaiian notion of “ohana,” aka “family,” which he is not familiar with as the creation of a mad scientist. In early scenes, Lilo is ridiculed by girls her age and bullied. Lilo and Nani listen to the vinyl records left behind by their late parents. Nani wants to study marine biology at college, which somehow means to Lilo that her big sister wants to be a Marine. When Lilo first sees Stitch’s spaceship approaching Earth, she believes it is a shooting star, and we hear a fragment of the Disney theme “When You Wish Upon a Star” from “Pinocchio/” (1940). But why does Stitch’s spacecraft announce warnings in English?
In this film, the alien trackers have a gun that opens portals to other spaces, a new development with comic potential. The ugly duckling angle is dropped in the new screenplay by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes, based on the screenplay by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois. Stitch remains one of Disney’s least overtly lovable characters ever, and that is what makes him ironically lovable. See? But why does he insist on breaking so much glass? At some point, slapstick becomes something idiotic. Courtney B. Vance takes over the role of UFO-savvy CIA agent Cobra Bubbles, voiced by Ving Rhames in the original. Billy Magnussen and Zach Galifianakis are fun as the alien trackers in human disguise. Veteran Amy Hill, also of the original voice cast, brings maternal strength to Lilo and Nani’s neighbor Tutu. Once again, this “Lilo & Stitch” believes that there is no such thing as too much Elvis, and the King makes his reappearance in the form of such standards as “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Suspicion.” When he isn’t eating crayons, Stitch rather naturally develops a fondness for such kaiju films as “Godzilla.” Some of the new action does not make a lot of sense. One scene in particular might confuse children (we’ll see how much). The space vessel used by the comically aloof alien Grand Councilwoman (voiced by Hannah Waddingham) resembles a flying hairdryer. Stitch finally dresses as Elvis at the end. It would have been funnier if Nani had joined the Marines.
‘Lilo & Stitch’
Rating: PG for action, peril, thematic elements.
Cast: Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Writer: Chris Kekaniokalani Bright, Mike Van Waes
Running time: 1 Hour, 48 minutes
Where to Watch: AMC Boston Common, AMC Causeway, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, Landmark Kendall Square and other suburban theaters.
Grade: B
Boston Movie News 