Lilo & Stitch 2 Disc Big Wave Edition
Lilo & Stitch are back with a new 2 Disc DVD edition full of fun and games, the full length feature film and an interesting making of feature.
Film making 20/25
Cinematography 20/25
Audio 21/25
Bonus Features 23/25
Total 84/100
Lilo is a lonely little Hawaiian girl who lives with her sister after their parents were killed in a car accident and struggling with the recent loss. Lilo is driving her sister Nani crazy with all her antics and rambunctious behavior while Nani tries her best to keep them together under the same roof.
Stitch is an experiment, Experiment 626, that was created illegally by Dr. Jumba Jookiba in a far off galaxy and has been arrested. Dr. Jookiba is sent to jail and Stitch is taken into exile under heavy guard but escapes while en route to the planet he is being imprisoned on.
When the route that Experiment 626 is taking in his escape is figured out to be Earth the Grand Councilwoman orders Agent Pleakly to observe Dr. Jookiba in recapturing his experiment. The Experiment is extremely dangerous as the Doctor created it to head to the largest population center and destroy it so The Grand Councilwoman is offering him a chance to capture it in return for his freedom.
The planet that the experiment is heading just happens to be a small insignificant one that is the last place that an endangered species is living. So they need to be careful and not interact with another species, humans, on the planet so they do not disturb the balance of nature.
When the Jumba and Pleakly arrive they find out that Stitch has been run over by a truck and taken to an animal shelter as he sort of looks like a dog. Lilo has done another of her bad behaviors at her dance school and bit another student but she does apologize afterward. She gets into some more arguments with her sister and they end up making up and Nani takes her to the pound to get her a pet dog so she can have a friend.
At the pound the adults stay in the office area while Lilo looks for a dog in the back and finds Stitch who has already tried to make his own escape only to find Pleakly and Jumba waiting for him outside in the bushes with a gun. Stitch decides to make use of Lilo and her sister Nani at the pound and pulls in his extra legs and back spines to make himself more appealing to Lilo who adores him on sight.
She names him Stitch then takes him home where a few close calls with Jumba trying to get him back persuades Jumba that he will wait and Stitch will beg to be taken off planet. Stitch has to act like a normal dog which is quite hard for him since he is intelligent and can sort of speak, he can mimic speech and Lilo shows her sister this along with other tricks.
Nani has a few visits by the social worker named Cobra Bubbles who is a large forbidding man always with his dark sunglasses and black suit who is in charge of their case. He gives Nani and Lilo a last chance to shape up or he will have to take Lilo to a foster home because Nani has lost her job a couple of times mostly due to her sister but now also because of the antics of Stitch.
When Stitch gets into more trouble and Jumba fails to capture him the Grand Council Woman fires Jumba and Pleakly and tells Captain Gantu to fetch Stitch back. Captain Gantu first lost Stitch when he was trying to deliver him to the exile planet and is looking forward to the second chance.
Captain Gantu arrives at Earth and goes after Stitch but gets Lilo as well and Pleakly, Jumba and Nani work together to retrieve Stitch and Lilo but Stitch escapes on his own. The four then have to rescue Lilo from Gantu who does not realize that Stitch has escaped from the pod on the back of his ship.
They rescue Lilo from Gantu and end up meeting both Cobra and the Grand Councilwoman after the big fight where Cobra reveals he is a former CIA agent that had met The Grand Councilwoman years ago. Cobra had convinced the aliens that Earth is the last planet with mosquitoes that is an endangered species and the planet was left alone as their sanctuary.
When guards are taking Stitch away he asks to say goodbye to Lilo and the Grand Councilwoman sees that Stitch has become civilized. She orders Stitch to be exiled on earth as Lilo has proof that she bought Stitch and now owns him so Jumba and Pleakly are ordered to stay behind and watch over the new family.
Lilo & Stitch 2 Disc Big Wave Edition includes plenty of bonus features and extra content including the usual audio commentary, a two hour long making of feature, two music videos, a Lilo & Stitch Island Adventure game and deleted and early scenes. The extra content adds up to more than the full length film in bonus content and the making of feature is about the best of the bunch.
This is how extra content should be done for a film with plenty of not only interactive fun and games but informative and useful information about the film. It kind of helps that you have plenty of content during the making and filming going on by cast and crew but having a unique film also adds to bonuses available.
Lilo & Stitch is made in a new way for an animated film, especially after computers have taken over in animation; the film is made with water colors. To give a brief idea of the complexity this involves regular cartoons are commonly made with computers while watercolor animation has not been used in a major motion picture for years.
The use of watercolors for the background adds to the depth and vivid look of the film and creates a different feel to the animation and film. Lilo & Stitch is the first feature animation to use watercolors since Dumbo so the animators certainly had their work cut out for themselves as most were not used to working in that medium.
The additional features of the film are well put together with the second disc being the two hour making of feature that includes an in depth look at the film from original concept and piecing together the story to finial editing. The feature is called The Story Room: AN Interactive Behind the Scenes Look at the Making of The Film and it really does go into great depth as an addition to the film.
The deleted scenes and early versions are a nice look at the drawing and before color work done on some scenes but the other content is also well worth a look. The Big Wave edition of Lilo & Stitch is a great addition to any movie collection if you do not already own the film and adds a lot to the movie itself.