5/5 Must-have for any fan of Stitch (or animation in general)
  by D. Myers (Colorado Springs, CO USA)
Since the film has already been reviewed ad nauseam here - in short: it's fantastic - I want to focus on the extras included in the 'Big Wave' re-release: simply put if you're a fan of Lilo & Stitch, this re-release is quite simply a must-have.

While the director commentary is great (and long overdue), the 2+ hr making-of documentary absolutely steals the show here. Gone is the overproduced retrospective fluff pieces centered around celebrity voice talent and what they thought of their characters in favor of a raw, frank expose of the creation of the film which gives unique insight into the film-making process.

You see clips from their trip to Hawaii, details on the evolution of the story, their reaction to criticism from screenings and much, much more. Most of it seems to be shot by a handheld camera and often in transit, but the fact that it was documented at all is welcome.

Then there are clips (clearly transferred VHS recordings) from chalk talks put on for the animators explaining the characters, their design and attributes. While cut and short, they really give a glimpse into the process that you can't get anywhere else. Chris Sanders' style book for the film is also a real treat.

If you're interested in seeing how an animated film like this gets made, this is a no-brainer.

5/5 i loved stitch
  by Franca Sperling-jacox (Vancouver, WA USA)
I thought the movie was well done and it shows how the love for a strange animal can change the attitude of the animal. the bond between Lilo and
stitch was heart warming. Lilo had no friends and she and the animal were treated like outsiders.

5/5 Lilo and Stitch plus tons of bonus features
  by z hayes (plano,texas)
My 4-year-old just recently watched Lilo and Stitch as a rental, and when i saw this 2-disc DVD set I decided to buy it. Besides the fun movie [which I love as well], there are many bonus features here which make this DVD-set a worthwhile purchase.

The story of Lilo and Stitch actually makes for quite a refreshing change from Disney's previously princess-obsessed features [not that there is anything wrong with that, but this makes a nice change]. Set in Hawaii,the main character Lilo, is a little orphan girl with emotional issues who has a caring but frustrated older sister [who can't seem to reach out to her]. Enter an inter-galactic mutant alien who lands on Earth, hides [from two other aliens who have been commanded to get rid of him] in an animal shelter and is promptly adopted by Lilo, who names him Stitch, and the adventures begin. There are plenty of catchy island songs, fun moments and even poignant scenes that will engage and entertain viewers.

The bonus features on Disc 1:
- feature-length audio commentary by the film's directors, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
- "Your Ohana" music video featuring the Hawaiian Kamehameha Schools Children's Chorus set to clips from the film.
- Lilo and Stitch Island Adventure Games, i.e. "Gecko Race", "Hamsterviel's Coconut Shell Game", and "Hamsterviel's Match Game"
- "Disneypedia: Hawaii - The Islands of Aloha" which is an educational journey narrated by Lilo and Nani about the state of Hawaii and its six biggest islands with footage of volcanoes, luaus etc.
- "Create Your Own Alien Experiment Game" where one can guess which order three substances should be mixed in to randomly produce an experiment.
- "A Stitch In Time:Follow Stitch Through The Disney Years" where Stitch is creatively interwoven into other Disney classics through the years.
- "Hula Lesson", all about the Hawaiian dance form.
-"Burning Love" - Behind the Scenes With Wynonna
- A-Teens' cover of Elvis' "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You"
- "Animating The Hula"
- 4 theatrical teaser trailers. i.e. "Inter-Stitch-ials" which introduce Stitch through other Disney features like "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", "The Little Mermaid", and "Lion King"

The bonus features on Disc 2:

- one of the more substantial features on Disc 2 is the approx. 2 hr-long making-of documentary, featuring insightful interviews with the people behind the animated feature. Some of the prominent creators interviewed are Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois, Clark Spencer etc. The documentary is not only lengthy, but detailed as well, and is definitely geared more to adults than little ones.
- Documentary foot-notes:
Mulan: "Mulan's Decision"
Walking is Falling: Joe Grant In Conversation with Dean Dulois
Chris' Pitch Book
Chris' Photo Gallery
Treatise on Stitch
Deleted Scene - "Stitch's Trial"
Deleted Scene - "The Untimely Death of Pudge the Fish"

-Deleted Scenes and Early Versions"
"Stitch's Trail"
"Gantu's Challenge"
"The Untimely Death of Pudge the Fish"
"Bedtime Story"
"The 747 Sequence"
"Model Citizen - Mayhem on the Beach"
"Jumba Attacks"
"The 747 Sequence" with Stitch's Gang

Conclusion - to me, the extensive bonus features made this a worthwhile buy, especially since I did not own the previous DVD release of the feature film. Highly recommended!


5/5 Not Just Another Disney Princess
  by Celia Hayes (San Antonio, SA)
Kind of nice to have a Disney release about a little girl who isn't a princess, and an adorable little critter who is actually a genetically mutated space alien, as well as being an escapee from an intergalactic weapons laboratory. It makes an interesting and charming change, all things considered. Stitch has teeth, and claws, the ability to morph into the appearance of a puppy and an uncanny ability to sing like Elvis Presley. Lilo is a chubby little chunk of a girl, an unhappy and resentful orphan who lives with her older sister Nani. But they live on the beach in Hawaii, trying to keep up some kind of family life after the deaths of their parents - a little pool of misery in a tropical paradise. Nani's custody of her little sister is threatened by a supremely intimidating child welfare caseworker - and thinking that a pet might help, they go to the animal shelter. Stitch is hiding there, having scared the living daylights out of all the other dogs. It turns out to be a perfect match - a pair of lonely, unhappy nonconformists, although Lilo is blissfully innocent of exactly how much of a nonconformist that her apparent pet really is.

As with all recent Disney re-releases, the video extras on this set are generous - but somewhat confusingly organized, along the lines of "hey, boys and girls, let's throw everything into this and hope that most of it sticks!" The longest is a two-hour long "making of" documentary, which succeeds in being amazingly detailed and very interesting - I did not know that there was entire climactic sequence, of Stitch flying a 747 through a city which was omitted completely. (This movie had been in production at the time of 9-11) There are some games aimed at the younger set, a disappointingly short hula demo and lesson, and a short and mildly amusing short "A Stitch in Time," inserting Stitch into a whole series of classic Disney movies. I have to note that the audio of the movie itself is amazing - even on an ordinary television it sounds nearly as good as in a theater. What it sounds like on a high-end home-theater setup must be nothing short of miraculous.


5/5 Superb, loaded new edition -- nobody gets left behind, including director Chris Sanders
  by Gregory Ehrbar (Orlando, FL)
When LILO & STITCH first premiered on DVD, there was quite a bit of bonus material already, but this new "Big Wave" 2-disc edition really does pay off the package claim that there are more than two hours' worth.

Much of that time is taken up by the feature-length documentary that literally follows the creative team, particularly writer/directors Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois, from initial concepts to a glamorous premiere at Cannes (where, by the way, we get to enjoy a continental breakfast with Chris Sanders as he brings his bakery products to life on the tray).

It also contains the original climactic scene in which Stitch wildly pilots a 747 through the city. This seemed completely out of the realm of reality at the time to the filmmakers, but then 911 happened and it was totally changed. (I was working on the graphic novel version at the time and was sent a new script in order to change it, too.)

Making an animated film is not all sunshine and talking muffins, though. Sanders and Deblois are also seen in the midst of a disagreement, capturing a moment that does not appear to be staged. A lot of what the two explain on the audio commentary is also supplemented with the generous supply of deleted scenes on the discs.

One of the most interesting comments the filmmakers share is that they consulted with someone at Pixar who suggested a very pivotal plot point with the "Ugly Duckling" book. This was before the Disney*Pixar merger but clearly Pixar's influence was felt. In fact, Lilo & Stitch may be one of the most Pixar-like of the Eisner era Disney films because it has a very odd storyline. Perhaps this was because it was made in Florida, 3,000 miles away from day to day "input," just as Pixar remains six hours away.

The only thing that seems to have been shoehorned in the film was the teen pop song at the end, which Sanders and Deblois dart with comic sarcasm in their commentary. The music video of this song, by the A-Teens, are among the few items not repeated on this new edition. Most of them were, in part, added to the documentary feature.

Chris Sanders' presence on the bonus materials is well worth noting. He was let go from Disney after a publicly-known creative stalemate with John Lasseter about AMERICAN DOG, which was reassigned and renamed BOLT and ironically released at the same time as this edition. But it speaks highly of Lasseter's integrity and character as a human being, as well as a person who cares about Disney, that Sanders' important role in Disney history was not obscured or removed because of ego or corporate complication.

It would it be terribly wrong to eliminate the contributions and commentary of anyone who has made a contribution to the Disney organization and history and even more heinous if they were attributed to someone else. Committing such an act would be a disservice to Disney and the people who are part of its heritage, be it past or present. It would be like saying Ward Kimball animated STEAMBOAT WILLIE because Ub Iwerks left the Company. This would reflect poorly on professionalism, ethics and respect for the contributions of Disney people, past and present (remember Walt's quote about people?).

To the immense credit of everyone connected with this edition of LILO AND STITCH, such a tremendous, unconscionable act did not occur in this particular instance. It's a fine new DVD release, which truly delivers a lot of new material and lives up to its claim of "much, much more."