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Lilo & Stitch - Filmsnax Review

Full of memorable fun and heart, but no less a symbol of the "dark age" of Disney Animation.

Somewhere around the year 1999 Disney Animation started to lose their magic touch. The industry had shifted dramatically since Disney's early days, and the big wave of "megaplexes" (theaters with 20 or more screens) opening from 1995-2000 caused a boom in small-budget movies with strange premises to fill the space. But even worse, Disney's development process had ballooned in scope since the success of "The Lion King". The lag time to produce new movies had grown to as much as 3 or 4 years, and the budget had grown with it.

This culminated in the disastrous production stories of the films 'Tarzan' and 'Kingdom of the Sun' (which was completely scrapped and replaced with the last-minute production of 'Emperor's New Groove'), signifying what many call the end of the Disney "Renaissance" and the beginning of the "Dark Age" (or the "second dark age" if you're old enough to remember).

Many of the films from 1999 all the way to 2008 are fondly remembered and hold up to modern audiences, but at the time they fell short at box offices and the quality from film to film was wildly inconsistent compared to the run of smash hits Disney put out in the 90s.

So how is 'Lilo & Stitch' in 2002 somehow both an exception and an example of this chapter in Disney's history?

-- First the Good --

'Lilo & Stitch' is in many ways a perfect turn-of-the-century evolution of classic Disney animation, which was very much the intention for co-directors and co-writers David Sanders and Dean DeBlois. The premise is wackier and more irreverent than previous titles, and the intergalactic theming is completely unlike anything Disney had made before. Yet the core principles remain the same: loveable characters, memorable music, solid stylistic animation, and most of all, consistent vision throughout.

Especially notable is all the charming wordless interaction between characters. With little dialogue at all, the relationship between the titular duo is undeniable, best exemplified in the iconic montage ending in Stitch's beach performance. And the rest of the supporting cast is full of colorful characters that are instantly unforgettable even with the briefest of appearances, like the old woman watering her plants or the heavy man in sunglasses who keeps losing his ice cream.

Not to say that the written script isn't great too. There are plenty of quotable gems and the dialogue flows nicely. But the film wisely chooses to live and die by is visual storytelling and visual comedy, and the result works well.

Still, whenever lines are spoken the characters are filled with life thanks to Disney's somehow endless ability to cast spectacular voice actors. Classic voice actors like David Ogden Stiers and director David Sanders are joined by typically live-action performers like Ving Rhames, Daveigh Chase, Jason Scott Lee, and Tia Carrare. And the surly Captain Gantu is played by rising star Kevin Michael Richardson relatively early in his career.

Everyone shines here. The voices throughout the film are so full of heart, taking small moments and innocuous lines and making them powerful. Even the nasal, cartoony voice of Stitch is used sparingly and to great effect. (I've heard people describe it as "annoying", but I believe they are only remembering the many impressions that plagued media after this movie's release).

Of course, the animation in 'Lilo & Stitch' is great as ever, which would've come as even less surprise to 2002 audiences than it would now. For all the talk of a "dark age" Disney never skimped on quality animation, and even took this period to experiment with new styles in a way that really pays off here. There are a rare few moments when the movie's lower production budget peeks through the cracks, but overall the visuals are top notch. Stylistically, the lush color palettes, soft watercolor backgrounds (a first for Disney), and slight bulbousness in the character animation gives the film a timeless appeal, especially measured against the traditional styles of Disney films from only a few years earlier that already seem much older to modern audiences.

And lastly that iconic soundtrack, which is an absolute triumph. The use of Elvis hits really nails the upbeat tone of the movie, while also fitting diegetically into the story (which is a surefire way to make a soundtrack memorable). In between the Elvis tracks, composer Alan Silvestri does a good job of blending the tone between the drastically different alien and island settings, but the show is completely stolen from him with the two original songs written by Hawaiian musician Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu, "He Mele No Lilo" and "Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride". These two songs are the kind that stick with you for years, and accomplish the nearly impossible task of being beautiful and powerful without giving up being unassuming and catchy, and in a genre that most of the target audience was completely unfamiliar with.

Competition for the best feature of 'Lilo & Stitch' is fierce, but the music wins it from the animation and voice acting by a hair.

-- Then the Bad --

Competition for the worst feature is just as difficult but for a different reason: there is no standout problem. The few issues with this movie are more subtle and systemic.

Probably the most noticeable problem is the slightly-off pacing. 'Lilo & Stitch' only about 5 minutes shorter than average Disney film at the time, but it feels much shorter. Partially because the intro is quite long (though necessary, giving the audience a chance to see some Stitch action before he is sidelined for nearly a quarter of the movie), but also partially because the ending sequence rushes through several emotional story beats to get to the excitement.

The rapidfire conversion of villains into heroes and authority characters into 'deus ex machina's is particularly glaring. Much of the interesting dimensionality of the main characters throughout the movie has to be harshly shoe-horned into a spaceship-chase and a damsel-in-distress to give the movie a climax that it hasn't exactly been building to.

And if you've heard any trivia about the production of this movie, its almost certainly about how that spaceship-chase was originally animated as a plane chase, in which Stitch and the gang hijack a commercial flight and pilot it through downtown Honolulu causing lots of damage to skyscrapers. Given that the movie was set to release less than a year after the September 11 attacks, it was understandable that the studio didn't want that imagery in their family-friendly movie.

The unfortunate result is that last minute animations to fill the gap feature a lot of sloppy moments, including very strange character proportions and scaling (Jumba and Pleakley change in almost every shot), some obvious recycling of both background and foreground elements, and many shots being cut entirely shortening the length of the scene.

There aren't many but there are a few other moments that don't hold up to animation inspection. At least not in the way that, for example, 'Beauty and the Beast' does from ten years earlier. Many details are relegated to "the background painter's job". And scenes meant to feature lots of expensive background animation often choose to skimp and add plenty of "frozen onlookers". None of it is egregious (or even enough to detract from the experience, really) but it's there.

-- Did it deserve better --

I think it's fair to say that 'Lilo & Stitch' received appropriate praise and financial success.

Maybe even too much after having seen the wealth of merchandise and the many, many spinoff properties (including both a Japanese anime called 'Stitch!', and a Chinese donghua called 'Stitch & Ai' which is sadly not about Stitch vs Hal from 2001). The critical acclaim the movie earned is deserved, as the skill and passion from the production staff comes through clearly from concept to final product. Although even with its success, it was clear that critics were not treating it the same way they treated the "Renaissance" films.

If anything really negative can be said about 'Lilo & Stitch', it's that it simply lacks the ineffable storybook quality that makes Disney of the 90's like 'Aladdin' and 'Mulan' feel so untouchable, maybe even above criticism. Movies which are so full of magical moments that they elevate the medium of both film and animation. This movie was definitely not one of those.

And in fairness, this is partly by design. In 2002 audiences were not interested in that kind of movie anymore. Disney made this clear in the promotional material for the movie, which features Stitch rudely interrupting important scenes in previous Disney films. This movie was not meant to be taken seriously, it's meant to be fun, which it completely succeeds at. And even if that comes at the expense of cultural staying power, it trades that for a higher shelf-life of watchability.

Also worth noting that 'Lilo & Stitch' is the first Disney Animation film in over a decade not to feature a romance as one of the main plotlines. In fact it barely features one at all (only a few short references to David's interest in Nani). This was another way in which the film was a harbinger of the new era of Disney movies, which would increasingly feature "family love" as the emotional core of their storywriting.

All these design choices certainly paid off for Disney in the short term. 'Lilo & Stitch' brought in the cash like the studio hoped it would (which was crucial considering their last three films did not). But the writing was on the wall, and even positive reviews of the time agreed that this movie confirms what 'Emperor's New Groove' suggested: the Disney Animation "Renaissance" was over, and the future of their films would continue to be goofy and do so on a lower budget.

-- Final Rating --

'Lilo & Stitch' is as much a joy to watch today as ever. It is crammed full of ideas completely unique to Disney animation, with as much heart and style as any of their classics. Its only real crime is being too much fun to take itself too seriously. I give 'Lilo & Stitch' a grade of:

A-

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filmsnax · 12 days ago

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The Creator - Filmsnax Review

Countless films try and fail to do what Gareth Edwards' 'The Creator' makes look so effortless, which makes its failure to do what should be easy that much more tragic.

In the film industry 2023 was a bad time to be mediocre. 'Barbenheimer' and 'Super Mario' were dominating the theatres, while horror and family-animation kept a stranglehold on the streaming market. However there was also a total vacuum of big-budget science fiction as 'Dune' fans waited restlessly for their sequel. Couple that with the rising social conversation around AI and the right movie had a strong chance to rise above the smog of sequels, adaptations, and brand-deals.

But despite the opportunity 'The Creator' only barely squeaked out $100 mil box-office on an $80 mil budget. Where exactly did the movie go so wrong that they failed to capitalize on these odds?

-- First the good --

Visual effects is the basket the filmmakers rightfully put most of their eggs into. Despite only having half the budget of the aforementioned 'Dune', 'Creator' manages to fill all spaces with hundreds of detailed augmented humans, fully animated robots, and sci fi set pieces that are all believably physical while still fantastical and uniquely designed. Chief among those set pieces is the jaw-dropping "NOMAD" weapon which is brought to life especially with impressive futuristic sound-design by Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl.

Another wow is the cinematography, under cinematographers Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer. Between all the powerful shots of dramatic scale and beautiful geography is plenty of visual storytelling which occasionally toes the line of trope but manages to avoid crossing it. Action scenes are clear and impactful, and the pensive shots direct the eye with intention.

It clearly pays off for realism that filming was done on-location rather than in front of a green screen, not just in terms of lighting and mountains but also in the compelling tapestry of background characters just sifting through grain or smoking cigarettes. The VFX team's ability to mix futuristic technology with the rural life in Southeast Asian villages is extremely effective, and as a result, the world building is dense, detailed, and full in a way that few sci fi movies achieve.

And living in that dense world is an absolutely stellar supporting cast. Allison Janney breathes so much life into her role as the vindictive anti-robot villain despite being given a criminally short amount of screen time. The same is true for Ken Watanabe, Gemma Chan, and the always-underused Ralph Ineson. As a war movie the rest of the cast is consistently successful at making otherwise-gratuitous explosions and violence feel emotionally impactful and real.

Of course every scene is stolen by the 9-year-old Madeleine Yuna Voyles who takes what could've easily been a knock-off Eleven from "Stranger Things" and instead creates a character which is compelling and unique. Start to finish her character is full of humor and emotional power. If no other aspect of this movie withstands the test of time, her performance definitely will.

-- Then the bad --

On the table meant to hold up 'The Creator' the most damning broken leg was simply weak storytelling. Edwards and his co-writer Chris Weitz clearly had an ambition for the scale of the story to match the scale of the world, and fell far short.

The movie forgoes any nuance provided by it's politically-charged themes in favor of a simple "blow up the Death Star" plot. Several threads built up as intrigue near the beginning are completely dropped or neutered, including: the story of main character Joshua's deep cover, the original "Nirmata" suspect being the father of Joshua's wife, and what relationship the AI actually have to "Nirmata" or even what the role entails. The movie hopes to earn back some intrigue by using somewhat excessive flashback, made worse by never really utilizing it with any purpose besides confusing an otherwise simple plot. Even the one "reveal" if you could call it that is promptly defeated and wasn't terribly consequential to begin with. (And I assume whoever decided to add the brief "monkey accidentally blows up a tank" scene thought they were working on a different movie.)

Almost as egregious as a poor plot, however, is a poor lead actor. If there was any way to vitalize this movie's story it was in the emotional connection between the characters, and lead John David Washington completely drops the ball. So many of his line reads were distractingly flat, especially in his scenes with child actor Madeleine. In a scene near the beginning of the film where he describes the loss of his wife to Colonel Howell played by Allison Janney, he gives the energy of a high-school play.

He is not saved by the script, either, which features a few bright moments but overall manages to be unfortunately paint-by-numbers. The supporting actors work hard to build up some pretty bland lines, but in some scenes like the exposition-stuffed flashbacks, it really sticks out as another weak link.

And the last major whiff is the soundtrack, which makes very little use of composer Hans Zimmer to instead focus on insert songs. Some of these work well (Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place" for example is an inspired choice), but most are either emotionless or outright annoying.

-- Did it deserve better --

Yes, but not without qualification. Under all the confused storytelling, 'The Creator' maintains very real emotional impact along with a wealth of creative worldbuilding that ultimately achieves most of the goals the screenplay could not. The amount of skill and passion put into the production of this movie is palpable, and the box-office numbers certainly do not reflect the quality of the result.

For all it's successes and failures, however, 'Creator' is most of all a relic of a recently-passed generation of sci fi.

Back in the early 2010s, even with lesser visuals, this movie would've killed. Even with Washington's lackluster performance, it has more heart than most sci-fi war movies of the decade like 'Edge of Tomorrow', 'Elysium', or those Star Wars sequels. Even with the weak script and storytelling, it has a more intriguing commentary than most AI movies of the time as well, easily stacking up as a counterpoint to 'Ex Machina'.

But to come out today, the bar for an insightful science fiction film is quite high.

I would be remiss to not mention the very obvious allusions to the Vietnam War that 'Creator' attempts to draw, presumably with the hope of calling back to classic Vietnam War films such as 'Full Metal Jacket' and 'Apocalypse Now'. Occasionally this light shines through in the subtle moments of worldbuilding and robot/human interaction, but without the moral complexity of those movies (or an R rating) the comparison works against the movie more often than not.

There's also a fair amount of criticism given to the movie for the decision to "side with AI" in a time when anti-AI sentiment is steadily growing, especially in creative spaces. This definitely gives a certain odor to the entire production which it doesn't work too hard to remove. Time will tell how this aspect of the film ages, but in the current landscape unfortunately I think it played a very significant role in the poor reaction from critics and audiences.

-- Final Rating --

There's a lot here to enjoy. Impressive visuals throughout and several great performances elevate a somewhat weak script and story. I give 'The Creator' a grade of

B-

'The Creator' and promotional poster above are the property of 20th Century Studios

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