Forever Magical
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In Love with Stitch

On Wednesday during my daily rounds of the Internet for news about the Disney Company I saw a report on Animated Movie News that although the street date for the Lilo & Stitch soundtrack was June 11th, a limited edition lenticular cover version was on Disney Store shelves. I stopped working on the update, jumped in my car and drove to my Disney Store which a few blocks away. As I approached the Lilo & Stitch display the store’s manager says, “Nothing new to you here yet but we’re expecting some new stuff in a few days.” “Wow,” I thought to myself "I’ve been around here a lot lately haven’t I.” Leaving the store I popped on the cell phone and called two other area Disney Stores to see if they had the CD. The answer was no. Although I didn’t find the CD that day I realized something, I’m addicted to Stitch and having a lot of fun and the film’s not even out yet.

Scan of a mailer from the El Capitan that now serves as my desktop image
(c) Disney

Back at the Official Disneyana Convention last Fall, the animators from Lilo & Stitch were onhand to discuss their latest project. We were asked not to take photos or video or even take notes. The large room was decorated with displays of the character maquettes, storyboard ideas and some large stills of the movie scenes. As the animators spoke about the film it became clear that they put their heart and soul into it. The passion and love expressed as they talked about the film was reminscent of someone describing their child’s latest accomplishment like a first step. They were beaming parents. Following the presentation on the landscapes and general creation of the film we were treated to a short teaser. While watching the teaser I was surprised to find the animators were watching us watch the teaser. They seemed genuinely interested in our reactions to their creation. Their enthusiasm was infectious and I left the room very excited about this upcoming Disney animated feature and, being an Elvis fan, I was thrilled to learn songs by the King would be a part of this film set in the beautiful islands of Hawaii. I thought Lilo was an adorable little girl and Stitch was a lovable problem child. His gurgly voice which mostly mumbled but occasionally got out something intelligible was too much. In other words, I was hooked.

Stitch Boinger does the hula

A few months later, Stitch’s impish nature was displayed in the inter-Stitch-als. It was great fun to see him cause trouble as they “filmed” other classic Disney moments. I would have to say that the Beauty and the Beast one was my favorite. I’m guessing it's because it was the first and the most unbelievable. I thought it was an advertisement for the special edition release and then here comes Stitch. As more scenes from the film were unveiled and the campaign moved away from the inter-stitch-als the film’s heart really began to shine through. It appears to be the tale of two misfits who create their own family. It reminds me of one of my favorite Disney films, The Rescuers. The Rescuers came out when I was about 6 or 7 and was struggling to fit in at a new school. I identified with Penny the orphan and the little mice trying to help her. I can remember singing the film’s main theme Someone’s Waiting For You to myself when I would get picked on or selected last for a team sport. I get the impression from the current trailers that Lilo & Stitch will offer a story that helps kids handle being different like The Rescuers did for me. I was also small for my age with kindergarteners bigger than me although I was in the fourth grade. So I love it when small characters are able to team together to fend off enemies larger than themselves - another possible element from the trailer.