When he’s still - or at least not walking - Pleakley’s three-fingered hands are equally as expressive and that’s particularly important for a character that is shot in either ¾ or close-up for most of his scenes. These amphibious extensions act as barometers of the character’s inner most feelings as he postures and gestures with bravado one minute and then fidgets and wrings away in fear and panic the next.

It’s both a little sad as well as wildly funny to see how Pleakley’s little triumphs are short-lived. Two perfect examples can be found in a pair of short scenes in the third act running just 5 to 7 seconds each when he and Jumba finally capture 626. The first shot has Pleakley slide into the frame as Jumba has a grip on Stitch. Pleakley flashes his badge and instructs Jumba to “read him his rights!�? With just two frames and one wide-eye drawing, an insecure blip in the character’s otherwise flat-line of confidence is inserted perfectly. It’s like a hiccough bubbling to the surface. Moments later is an even nicer bit when he gets Galactic Command on the communicator and announces the triumphant capture. Watch these scenes in slow motion, and step through them one frame at a time if you have the luxury of a dvd or vhs of this film. You’ll see and economy of action at work, and the difference between truly good animation and truly masterful animation acting. Although he is almost always in motion, the slithery S-curve of Pleakley’s body is used sparingly and to great effect. Watch as he switches off the communicator, his eye shut. The acting is all in the poses here, and without benefit of the very expressive single eye. The scene is animated mostly on 2’s (i.e. there are two frames shot of each drawing rather than one drawing per frame) and he moves seamlessly from 2’s to 1’s and back to 2’s like a perfectly placed flourish in a musical bar otherwise composed of quarter notes. In twenty excellently posed drawings - the tenth one placed with precision at the mid-point of the gesture - this quick little move has a snappy rhythm only an accomplished artist could feel out intuitively. If this tight-lipped, cocky little flip of the wrist were written out on a musical score it would read as a rim-shot on a snare drum. This is followed by ten equally broad drawings that show his sudden awareness off left of Nani. These are like the discordant plucking of a guitar string that’s sour reverberations are felt in the follow-through of the antennae on the final 7 frames - his now wide-open eye unchanged. This floppy little sprig is a great example of masterful follow-through that makes all the difference, adding perfect punctuation to the character’s surprise. Played at regular speed the animation looks effortless and bubbles and bounces with a cartoony punch that only animation can accomplish.

Whether in a frame-by-frame dissection or in real-time, the character makes you giggle and grin every time he’s on screen. His vanity and his dignity in full throttle when he’s wigged and made-up to “blend in�? with the rest of the native population, Aquino and the team never cross the line into commentary. It’s made all the more amazing when you contrast it to the animator’s supervision of the character of David. But because this is the most free and playful and just plain goofy this animator has ever been it is Pleakley who emerges as the most enjoyable of the two, and thus one of the truly great animated performances.

I hope you’ll take the time to watch “Lilo & Stitch�? again with a special eye toward Pleakley (sorry…couldn’t resist) I think you’ll fall in love with this character as I did.

Yours in Animated Delight. - r.w.

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-- Rhett Wichman
-- All images are Copyright Walt Disney Enterprises, Inc.