Lilo y Stitch 2: Stitch en cortocircuito

I watched this having not seen the original I am unable to compare them. But for a straight to video Disney sequel the standard I did not find to be that bad. It was reasonably well animated and had a descent cast (I am not sure how many of them where in the original). It is a typical children's movie theme of morality but an unusual story to put the message across. We have the often mined theme of a parentless child finding friendship with another being (in this case Lilo with Stitch), but an unusual story to show it where Stitch has a glitch in his molecular make-up that is threatening to turn him evil. The admittedly short movie moves along at a good pace all coming to the inevitable conclusion but in a pleasant enough way. I enjoyed it and would certainly watch it again, but it would be better watched with children.

The first time I saw Disney's original, theatrically released "Lilo & Stitch" from 2002 was near the end of 2006, after it had spawned three direct-to-video sequels and a TV show. The first of the sequels was "Stitch! The Movie" from 2003, which I haven't seen yet, but 2005's "Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch" takes place before that one. I thought the original film was great the first time I saw it, but when I watched it again in 2009, I thought it was no more (and no less) than pretty good. I was hesitant to watch any of the sequels after that, knowing from experience that these direct-to-video sequels from Disney usually aren't very good. Approximately a year and a half after last watching the original, I've finally watched this "Lilo & Stitch" sequel, and can say that I have most certainly seen worse animated Disney sequels.

Stitch now lives with Lilo and Nani in their Hawaiian home, as do two other extraterrestrials, Dr. Jumba Jookiba and Agent Pleakley. As Lilo prepares for a local May Day festival hula contest, her mutant alien friend helps her, but he has a problem. When Jumba created the creature, he was arrested before he could finish charging the molecules of his mutant, so Stitch's molecules have never been fully charged, and he is now losing energy! This causes him to frequently turn evil and destructive again, wreaking havoc wherever he is, and if his molecules are not recharged soon, he will die! Jumba quickly gets to work on building a fusion chamber so he can save the result of his illegal genetic experimenting before it's too late, but as he attempts to create this machine, Lilo and Stitch continue their preparation for the competition, and as they do so, Stitch's frequent bouts of evil continue and obviously don't help! This threatens Lilo's chance of success in the contest, and also threatens her relationship with her alien pet, as she doesn't realize that the trouble he is now causing is not his fault!

The 2002 animated Disney flick features some great animation with its tropical backgrounds, and fortunately, that's also the case with this 2005 sequel. In the original film, I didn't find Lilo and Nani to be the most well-crafted characters in the history of animated Disney features, and that's still the case in "Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch", but they still have their redeeming qualities in both films. Stitch is still cute and lovable here, just like he is in the original "Lilo & Stitch". I don't think I found as many funny parts in this third film in the franchise as I did in the first, since I only occasionally laughed or smiled, and the Jumba and Agent Pleakley characters didn't seem to amuse me quite as much as before. I thought it was really funny when Pleakley disguises himself as a woman in the first film, but it didn't really seem that funny to me when he does it again here, at least not the first time, though it can be funny when he gives Nani's boyfriend, David Kawena, romantic guidance, which involves his disguise. The story isn't the most fascinating one, as some parts can be a bit bland and the conflict Lilo has with several different characters isn't always that entertaining, nor is Lilo trying to prepare for the contest, but overall, it's definitely not a bad story. There are poignant moments later on in the theatrically released movie that started the franchise, and that's another thing this third film has in common with the first one.

This sequel could have been mediocre or slightly worse, since it is one of the many direct-to-video sequels to Disney animated features, and judging by the ones I've seen (a good number of them), it appears one can expect them to be at least somewhat lacklustre, and never live up to their theatrical predecessors. However, "Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch" turned out to be one of the above average features in this category, even if it's not very high above average. By the end of this particular direct-to-video release, I wasn't 100% sure about my 6/10 rating, especially due to the poignancy towards the end. It is a pretty short feature at just a little over an hour long, and I feel that if it were a bit longer, I just MIGHT have no choice but to give it a 7/10, even though that's the same rating I gave the original after I last watched it, and this film is not nearly as highly rated as that one. Regardless of your age, if you like the original "Lilo & Stitch", then I don't yet know about the second film in the franchise, but this third one, while it could be much better, is probably at least not one you would absolutely hate.

Pulling back to the style of the original movie and less like the series, it's less sci-fi adventure and more of a standard drama with some soapy elements.

Much better than a direct to home media disney sequel has a right to be, though, I watched in only a couple of sittings.

Structurally, this does feel a bit stitched together (no pun intended) plotwise. The catalyst is that Stitch has...well... you know... and the plot is fuelled by misunderstanding but clearly Jumba knows what's going on; why doesn't he say anything?!

Stitch's internal conflict between his love for his Ohana and his programming could have been very engaging but that it's all just a glitch negates much of any thematic richness we could have gotten from this.

Another theme just jammed in there is honoring our departed parents and it works well enough but that element is a little more abstract. A subplot where Plikli tries to help David court Nani isn't so bad but it feels like it would be more at place in an episode of the show.

Exotic, vibrant and with a fair bit of charming humor. The trailers made it look excruciating and while there is some almost-too-real awkwardness in there, the whole thing just about goes the distance.

Did I miss the voice of Daveigh Chase? Yeah... Fanning is not exactly the best actor but she does the character justice though one does get the impression that Lilo has aged about 7 years over-night.

The original "Lilo and Stitch" was a wonderfully offbeat tale that took me by surprise (and even drove me to tears at the end!); the movie's take on the relationship between motherless Lilo (voiced by Dakota Fanning) and an accidental extraterrestrial visitor named Stitch was surprisingly compelling. This sequel is lighter, less spectacular fare--cute, not overly deep--but still entertaining. The story has Lilo entering a Hula competition...just as Stitch's circuits are beginning to go haywire, leading to a fair share of comic mischief and an ending that, once again, almost made me cry (for this, I give the movie an additional star).

I think that the original Lilo and Stitch is the best animated movie ever made. I was 19 when the original came out as well. When I heard about Stitch! The Movie I was skeptical, but that was basically just a two-hour long episode of the show they were planning (which is quite funny, albeit the animation is not up to par). But, when this movie was announced I was really worried. How were they going to stick a movie in the movie of two established time periods? Well, I was *very* impressed with the animation, but at only 68 minutes long, I knew from the start this movie was going to be a let-down. I thought it was quite funny, but it could have been so much more. Chris Sanders is hilarious, I'm not sure why he hasn't demanded that he has more to do with this series and not just Stitch's voice. I also have *no* idea why Daveign Chase (the original Lilo) did not play her in this movie. It's never been explained why. Dakoda Fanning did a great job, but Chase is already doing Lilo's voice for the TV show and everyone else reprised their roles. All in all, the jokes they did do were very clever, but the plot could have been stretched out into a longer movie.