Lilo & Stitch 2-Movie Collection (Blu-ray Review)
This summer Walt Disney Studios treats audiences to two animated comedies about bringing friends and family together even when they seem worlds apart in one fun Lilo and Stitch 2-movie collection. Available June 11, 2013 for the first time on Blu-ray with great picture and sound quality, the Lilo & Stitch and Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch movies are hours of fantastic fun in one incredible collection! The 3-disc Blu-ray Combo Pack includes both feature films on one Blu-ray disc plus each film on individual DVDs. Lilo and Stitch is the story of Lilo, a lonely little girl, and Stitch the mischievous little creature from outer space. When Stitch crash-lands in Hawaii, Lilo adopts him as her pet, but he soon turns her world upside down. Stitch takes Hawaii by storm, wreaking havoc and hanging ten while he evades the alien bounty hunters who are after him, and also learning about loyalty and friendship. Featuring six original Elvis Presley songs, Lilo and Stitch is fun for the entire family. The laughter continues in the sequel Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. As Stitch settles into life with his human family it appears his molecular makeup is out of whack and his friendship with Lilo is threatened as a result. Lilo and her friends must find a way to restore his “goodness” level before he ruins everything, including Lilo’s big hula competition – the same competition her mother won years before.
Film 
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When Dr. Jumba (David Ogden Stiers), a self-professed evil genius goes on trial for creating an illegal genetic experiment known as Experiment 626, things go horribly wrong. 626, a pint size creature made for destruction gets loose and escapes the prison ship that’s delivering him into exile on an asteroid. After stealing a police ship, 626 tries to evade the authorities but he is outnumbered and outgunned and his ship is damaged by his pursuers. To escape capture again, 636 activates the ship’s hyperdrive and manages to make it to Earth where he crash lands on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. Disoriented from the crash and unfamiliar with his surroundings, 626 is accidentally hit by a truck and knocked unconscious before he’s sent to an animal shelter because the driver assumed he was some kind of dog. Knowing that it’s only a matter of time before 626 starts wreaking destruction on Earth, The Grand Councilwoman orders that Jumba be given a pardon in exchange for his help in capturing 626 along with her liaison Agent Pleakley (Kevin McDonald).
Meanwhile on the island, Nani Pelekai (Tia Carrere) and her sister Lilo (Daveigh Chase) are adapting to life without their parents who were killed in a car accident recently. While Nani is trying to support the two of them through odd jobs, Lilo has been acting out and causing lots of trouble for the two of them. Because of how she acts, Lilo doesn’t even have any friends which only makes her feel even more isolated. Their situation hasn’t gone unnoticed, as a social worker named Cobra Bubbles (Ving Rhames) keeps checking on them as he feels that Lilo should be taken away to a foster home for her own good. As a last ditch effort to help Lilo, Nani takes her to a local animal shelter to adopt a dog so she will have a friend. They end up adopting 636 who is promptly renamed Stitch by Lilo.
Stitch ends up being even more trouble than Lilo and together they are the dynamic duo of destruction. Lilo tries to teach Stitch how to be good by using her hero Elvis Presley (whose music runs through the movie) as an example. Stitch does start learning how to be a part of a family which he discovers he really wants, even though it’s against his nature. Knowing that, Jumba and Pleakly try to provoke Stitch to cause trouble before they just give up and just try to capture him. What none of them know, is that the Grand Councilwoman has run out of patience with Jumba and Pleakly and that she’s sent her second in command to get Stitch for her. It won’t be long before all of these parties collide in a final confrontation where Stitch will have to decide if he wants to be a part of a family or not.
Like it or not, this is more of a Chris Sanders film than a Disney film. It has his distinctive look (which looks like all of his other movies – just compare Stitch to Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon), and his kind of sensibility. It’s a modern take full of issues that Disney princesses never have to deal with like social workers and unemployment. For some people, they may welcome that dash of reality in their animated fare, but I prefer the Disney approach myself. It doesn’t help that both Stitch and Lilo act like brats through most of the movie which didn’t really endear them to me. I just felt bad for the older sister who got put in a really crappy position when their parents died.
Don’t get me wrong, I did like some aspects of the movie as there’s some funny bits in there and I’m always happy to hear Elvis, but it just didn’t hold my attention like most Disney movies. It was predictable and the characters weren’t that interesting and the plot feels like a bunch of other movies that have been blended together to make this one. The sequel is even worse, as it focuses on Lilo trying to win a hula competition which of course Stitch keeps ruining for her. Only this time it’s not because he likes being bad, it’s because he’s dying because his molecules weren’t fully charged when he was created so he is starting to glitch which causes him to be destructive again. Any lessons learned from the first movie were lost on Lilo as she is just as selfish in this movie as the last one for most of the running time. Stitch, at least, seems to have learned and is trying to be good despite having to put up with Lilo. The first movie is good enough to recommend, but it’s not one that I would want to watch often. The second movie, I wouldn’t even recommend.
Video 
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Lilo and Stitch’s 1080p (1.68:1) transfer looks a lot better than the previous DVD release but not quite as good as other recent Disney releases. Colors come across very well, with a nice variety of bright colors that look good throughout the movie. Detail is also very good with a clean, crisp look to it that is considerably better than the previous release. Black levels are acceptably dark and solid. My main complaint about this transfer is that there’s some slight banding issues that are noticeable but not to the point of being overly distracting. It’s just enough to lose a star from what would otherwise be a perfect score. Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch is arguably the same quality as the first movie’s encode, but with less refined animation as it’s a direct to video release so it has a made for TV look to it. It too suffers from banding but other than that, it looks very good for a non theatrical release.
Audio
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Lilo and Stitch’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is more of what I’ve come to expect from Disney. From the start of the film to the finish, this mix is active and lively. Every laser beam, explosion, and rocket is delivered with power and with extremely accurate directionality. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand, and the music by Elvis Presley and the score by Alan Silvestri sounds fantastic. The rear speakers are very active and they provide some excellent surround sound throughout. The second movie isn’t as good but that’s expected. While the dialogue is clear, it’s easy to hear the difference between them as its limited range betrays its direct to video roots. It’s a decent mix and it does the job but it can’t compete with the original film’s presentation.
Extras
This 2-Movie Collection includes three discs – one Blu-ray that contains both version of the movie and no special features at all, and two DVDs for each film that have the limited extras. That’s annoying enough, but what makes it even worse is the fact that the audio commentary is relegated to the DVDs too which means if you want to hear it, you’ll have to watch the movie on a crappy DVD instead of the Blu-ray. As far as the extras go, I guess it doesn’t really matter that they are on DVD since each of the extras is in standard definition anyway. As an additional side note, if you have the previous “Big Wave” edition of the first movie on DVD, you might want to keep that since this set left out an entire disc of extras that was on that set.
Here’s what you will find on the DVDs:
- Audio Commentary – Thisis a lowkey commentary with writer/director Chris Sanders, co-director Dean DeBlois, and producer Clark Spencer who talk about making the film. Since the rest of the extras concerning the making of the movie run about five minutes or less and because this set is missing the previous disc of extras, this is about as good as it’s going to get if you want info on the movie.
- “Your Ohana” Music Video
- Lilo & Stitch Island Adventure Games – Here’s three interactive games for kids that includes: “Gecko Race”, “Hamsterviel’s Coconut Shell Game”, and “Hamsterviel’s Experiment Match Game”.
- DisneyPedia: Hawaii – The Islands of Aloha – A short tour through the Hawaiian islands.
- Create Your Own Alien Experiment Game – This is another game that allows you to create an alien though trivia.
- A Stitch In Time: Follow Stitch Through The Disney Years – A very short featurette where Stitch is added to pictures of other Disney movies. It’s about as exciting as it sounds.
- Hula Lesson – Want to put that bowl of popcorn aside to learn how to hula? I didn’t think so, but your kids might want to learn. explanatory.
- “Burning Love” – Behind The Scenes With Wynonna – Watch Wynonna cover Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love”.
- Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride – Another song from the movie.
- The Origin of Stitch – For the people that didn’t watch the movie, here’s another look at Stitch’s origins.
- Additional Games – More games instead of extras. This time it’s: “Where’s Pleakley?” and “Jumba’s Experiment Profiler”.
Summary
I don’t think this is one of Disney’s better efforts, but I know plenty of people that love it. There’s some funny parts in the movie and some great music by Elvis Presley and Alan Silvestri, but it could have been better. The same could be said about this Blu-ray too. While the video and audio quality veer from very good to okay, the extras are very disappointing. Not only are all of the extras on DVDs instead of on the Blu-ray (including the audio commentary), but even worse is the fact that this set is missing an entire disc of extras that was on the previous DVD release. I’ll let that statement set in. The DVD set offers better extras than the Blu-ray and that’s not acceptable. While that’s not cool, the rest of the Blu-ray set is a step up from the DVD so if you love the movies you should go ahead and upgrade.
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