Lilo & Stitch

Lilo & Stitch is an affable but hopelessly uneven fantasy revolving around a lonely little girl (Daveigh Chase’s Lilo) who unknowingly adopts an alien creature (Chris Sanders’ Stitch) that’s been designed to destroy everything it comes into contact with, and although the two characters quickly overcome their differences to become best friends, their relationship is inevitably threatened by forces both extraterrestrial and Earthbound in appearance. There’s little doubt that the distinctive visual style employed by directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders plays an instrumental role in initially capturing the viewer’s interest, as the filmmakers’ use of old-fashioned techniques and watercolor backgrounds prove an ideal complement to the laid-back, downright easy-going nature of Lilo & Stitch‘s opening half hour. The presence of several effective comedic interludes and a uniformly appealing supporting cast – Kevin McDonald, as a wacky alien scientist named Pleakley, is an obvious standout – cements the amiable atmosphere, yet there ultimately reaches a point at which the film radically shifts gears to become a far more action-oriented and flat-out frenetic piece of work (which, in turn, instills the proceedings with precisely the sort of derivative feel it had otherwise successfully avoided). It’s a shame, really, given the strength of Lilo & Stitch‘s comparatively low-key first half, although, to be fair, the movie does remain marginally entertaining even through its most shamelessly broad sequences.

**1/2 out of ****