06/21/2002

BY MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal Arts Writer

Some of the best cartoons of all time were the Warner Bros. shorts of the 1940s and '50s. Their whip-snappy cleverness and sly, irreverent humor appealed as much to adults as to children.

Now Disney has come up with something to equal those wildly daffy films, the wonderfully hilarious Lilo & Stitch, my favorite film of the year so far.

Its setup is steeped in churlish irony. Lilo (pronounced LEE-lo) is a lonely little Hawaiian girl who thinks her new pound "puppy" is just the sweetest thing. Actually, however, it's the E.T. from Hell. Or close.

Lilo's new pet is really the creation of a mad scientist's genetic experiment from a galaxy far, far away and it's programmed to destroy everything it touches.

At the start of Lilo & Stitch, the furry blue "Experiment 626" escapes from an outer-space prison transport and crash-lands on Hawaii seeking refuge. Because the Interplanetary Council has designated Earth a protected zone for the "endangered" mosquito, they can't simply destroy our planet and its backward human population. Instead, they send the four-eyed mad scientist, Dr. Jumba (voice by David Ogden Stiers), and one-eyed Agent Pleakley (Kevin McDonald), to Earth disguised as tourists. Their mission: to capture and destroy the little critter.

Unfortunately, by this time the monster has been adopted from the animal shelter by the orphaned, lonely, friendless Lilo (Daveigh Chase). Despite the misgivings of her sister, Nani (Tia Carrere), Lilo christens the alien -- which has big eyes, big ears, and a big jaw filled with big teeth -- Stitch (Christopher Michael Sanders, who also co-wrote and co-directed the film). She thinks of Stitch as her best pal. Actually, after retracting two of his four hands, his antennae and the spikes on his back, Stitch does look kind of cute, like a blue koala or one of the creatures in the early part of Gremlins.

Lilo & Stitch bubbles with funny moments as Stitch becomes acclimated to Earth, not always easily or successfully. When he gets angry, Stitch sticks his toes in his mouth and rolls up into a ball. He can scare the living daylights out of humans, yet develops a real affinity for Lilo's favorite singer, Elvis Presley, whose biggest hits are a major part of the soundtrack. In one of the funniest sequences, Lilo dresses Stitch as the white-jumpsuited, Vegas-era Elvis and sends him out on the beach to entertain tourists, a well-intentioned idea that quickly leads to disaster.

The film is about how a creature who is very different from us can learn to adapt and grow emotionally. By the end of the film it may not be a surprise to adults that Stitch thinks of himself as part of Lilo and Nani's family, riding a surfboard at the beach and getting tucked in at night. But it's the road to that point that makes this one a winner.

It's not easy. While Stitch is trying to avoid Dr. Jumba and Pleakley, a very large Man in Black (Ving Rhames) is making Lilo and Nani nervous. He claims to be a social worker who is called in "when things go wrong." But he seems far too mysterious and sinister. He gives Nani three days to find a job and straighten out her life with the irrepressible Lilo before he must remove the little girl to a foster home. The menacing subplot in Lilo & Stitch gives it a grounding in earthly reality.

Still, Lilo & Stitch is pretty darned funny most of the time. Besides having the wacky, anything-goes spirit of the old Warner Bros. cartoons, it also has the chunky character look they were known for. Its backgrounds, however, are drawn in pretty, tropical watercolor pastels, the first time watercolor has been used on an animated film since the 1940s.

One of the most joyous, zany and touching films of the year, Lilo & Stitch is a winner in every department.

*****

Lilo & Stitch

Starring: Voices by Daveigh Chase, Tia Carrere, Christopher Michael Sanders, Ving Rhames, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Jason Scott Lee, Zoe Caldwell, Kevin Michael Richardson.

Rated: PG, contains violence.