Brian Kuhl's Blog

I remember having an image, fairly or not, of the 1960s being a time of nuclear families.  You had a mother and a father.  They had two or three kids together and the father was usually in charge.  Things had changed by the time I was growing up in the 1980s.  In elementary school, I remember a kid once asking me which parent I lived with.  When I said both, he assumed I meant they had joint custody.  It wasn’t uncommon for parents to be divorced or even remarried.  The definition of family was different from what I had seen in older shows.

Nani and Lilo lost their parents in a car accident.  Nani, being the older sister, took it upon herself to raise Lilo, but it‘s not easy.  Nani has to be the responsible one when all Lilo wants is her sister back.  Lilo seems aggressive towards her friends, fighting with at least one of them.  Nani decides that it might be a good idea for Lilo to get a dog.

It’s about that time that Experiment 626 lands on Earth.  He was designed to attack major cities, causing all sorts of havoc.  His main drawback is that he’s too dense to swim.  It’s ironic, then, that he should land on an island with no major cities.  It is, however, the island that Nani and Lilo live on.  After being run over by a truck, Experiment 626 is presumed dead or near death, but is taken to the local dog shelter, anyway.  This is where Lilo decides to adopt 626 and name him Stitch.

Stitch was created in a lab by Jumba.  As such, Stitch doesn’t have a family.  Lilo at least has memories to fall back on.  Stitch just has an irrepressible urge to destroy stuff.  He even makes Lilo’s room to look like San Francisco just so he has something to knock down.  Lilo takes it upon herself to teach Stitch better.

The movie is somewhat predictable.  Stitch can’t help but cause trouble for Lilo and Nani.  Many of his actions might be amusing if it weren’t for the presence of Mr. Cobra Bubbles, a tough social worker that’s checking up on Nani and Lilo.  The pressure’s on to look perfect.  If not, Mr. Bubbles will take Lilo away.  This is why it’s a big deal that Stitch leads to Nani getting fired.

The presence of Jumba doesn’t make things easier.  Jumba is sent to earth to get his experiment back.  He’s told not to harm humans, but that doesn’t stop him from making a scene or two.  It also doesn’t stop him from leaving a mess that makes Nani look bad.  It would seem that Lilo has found a kindred spirit in Stitch, but Stitch is proving to be more trouble than he’s worth.  Even Lilo has to recognize that.

It isn’t until Captain Gantu arrives that things come to a head.  Gantu was the one originally tasked with transporting Stitch to be exiled on an asteroid.  Gantu manages to capture Stitch.  In the process, Lilo is imprisoned in the same container.  Stitch escapes, leaving Lilo to be taken away by Gantu.  Stitch takes it upon himself to get Lilo back.

As you might imagine, the movie is geared towards younger audiences.  The big thing to watch for is cartoon violence.  There’s one big gun fight between Jumba and Stitch, which is the worst of it.  There are a few scenes where Stitch talks in his native language, only to have other characters gasp.  We can’t understand what Stitch is saying, so nothing falls on small ears.  Even the death of the sisters’ parents is handled well.  All that’s said is that they went out for a drive one night while it was raining.

Both of the titular characters are ugly ducklings of sorts.  Neither seems to be wanted, but both seem to take to each other.  (In Stitch’s case, maybe it takes a little longer.)  It’s a fun movie.  Many adults will probably see things coming.  Mr. Bubbles is there mainly to create tension, so it’s expected that Stitch will do things to jeopardize Nani’s status as guardian.  Nani tries, but Stitch is not meant to be helpful.  He’s meant to be destructive.

I hope I haven’t turned anyone off from the movie.  It is fun.  Despite being geared towards children, it can be fun for adults, too.  I know there are those out there that will be sold on it simply because it’s Disney.  The movie has the watercolor look of the older films, which is good.    I’ve seen the movie several times over the years and it holds up well.  I wish I could get more movies like this.

IMDb page

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

Warning:  This review gives away major details.

I had heard that “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” wasn’t that good. Most movies based on something other than a book (or another movie) tend to be below par when compared to other movies. (This is most apparent with the Saturday Night Live skits that were made into movies. “Wayne’s World” was the only one that did well, in my opinion.) I think that Final Fantasy did a lot better than other game-based movies, but is still lacking in some respects.

I have to admit that the plot is kind of thin. It’s 2065 and what’s left of humanity is fighting these alien phantoms that came to Earth with this big meteor. For some reason, they like to attack people by grabbing their souls from out of their bodies. Whenever one phantom is destroyed, a new one appears, keeping the number of phantoms steady. Aki Ross is looking for 8 spirits that, when combined, will eliminate the alien threat (or phantom menace, if you will) permanently. The movie starts out in space, but Aki soon returns to what’s left of New York City to look for a plant. This is the sixth of the spirits. She still needs to find two more. She’s operating under the guidance of Dr. Sid. (From what I understand, there’s a Sid in every Final Fantasy game, although there may or may not be a connection between any of them.) If they succeed, they can eliminate the phantoms without any threat to humanity.

There’s an opposing views on how to handle the phantoms, though. General Hein has been working on this big mega-super-weapon called Zeus that could theoretically blast every last phantom to bits, assuming they can’t run fast enough. Sid and Ross think that this is a bad idea because it might injure the Earth. (Both believe in a Gaia, or life force, within the Earth and all of its inhabitants.) Hein, along with many of the other characters, think that it’s a bunch of spiritual rubbish and want to use the weapon. However, the ruling council decides to wait.

Eventually, Ross figures out what’s going on, due mostly to these dreams that she’s been having. What she realizes is that the meteor is what’s left of another planet. The alien Gaia and many alien souls came to Earth on it. She claims that they’re lost and confused, but they don’t seem to have any reservation when it comes to killing people. About the same time, General Hein gets permission to use Zeus to destroy the meteor. Ross, Sid and a few others have to get to the planet to find the eighth spirit before Hein destroys everything.

The story is interesting, but not really that involved. There’s no explanation as to why the aliens attack humans. Are they doing it to feed? Are they really just thrashing out? What’s the deal? There’s also little explanation as to why the 8 spirits are important. Yes, there’ that whole thing about canceling out the spiritual waves or something, but how do Ross and Sid know it will work? How do they even know what they’re looking for?

Also, there’s little mention of other people except when it comes time to kill a bunch of people. It’s also implied that there’s at least one other outpost of humanity left, other than New York City and Zeus, which is orbiting Earth, but no one ever says how many people are left or where they might be or what they’re going through. There’s really not much of a story beyond the main characters, and all but two of them get killed. It basically comes down to a peaceful solution versus a military solution. It’s a good story, but the writers could have done a lot better with it.

The big thing was the animation. The animation was fantastic, giving us characters that you’d swear were real at times. The auditory technology isn’t quite as good, so the movie has to use actors to do the voices. (Alec Baldwin voices Captain Edwards and Ming-Na of ER fame does the voice for Aki Ross. You may also recognize Donald Sutherland as Dr. Sid.)

Now for the big question: Will I recommend this movie? Yes, but I wouldn’t rush out to the store go rent it. One of the advantages of having NetFlix is that it’s a flat fee for as many movies by mail as I can rent in one month. (Blockbuster and Walmart are offering similar services.) If you’re looking to fill up your queue, go for it. It’s a great movie if you’re looking for a no-brainer to watch on some weekday night.


IMDb page