by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
Welcome to Cross-Platform Partners! In honor of a new movie release, I have selected a TV show to watch to pair with the movie. Think of it as a way to get hyped for the new movie, a preview of things to come, a means to tide you over if the movie won’t be released where you live for a little while, or a change of pace if you’ve run out of related movies or sequels.
For May, I paired Lilo & Stitch: The Series with the live action remake of Lilo and Stitch.
Lilo & Stitch was a huge turning point for Disney in the early 2000s. The movie reimagined “The Ugly Duckling” in a bonkers way and embraced Hawaiian culture, similar to how Mulan did in the late ‘90s. It also introduced a new way to market, with Stitch being put in various old trailers. Finally, it introduced the world to Stitch, an adorable agent of chaos, and Ohana, meaning family. At this stage, live action remakes have become a Disney staple, and Lilo & Stitch feels like the underrated gem that will bring Disney a much-needed win this year. Although the franchise has had much success with sequels, shorts, and a cult following, there was also a television series.
Lilo & Stitch: The Series follows the events of Stitch! The Movie, where Jumba’s (David Ogden Stiers) experiments have all been scattered around Hawaii. Lilo (Daveigh Chase) and Stitch (Chris Sanders) make it their mission to find all these experiments and find them homes, similar to how Lilo created a home for Stitch in the original movie. Hilarity and hijinks ensue shortly after that.
As a warning, to understand some of the show’s characters and events, some homework must be completed first. In addition to the original movie, watching Stitch! to understand what happens in the series is essential. It also gives the audience a much-needed update on how Lilo and Stitch are doing as a family, as well as how Jumba and Pleakley (Kevin McDonald) are integrated into the story. Plus, several characters, including some experiments, are introduced in the movie.
The series has two main things going for it: First, the art is gorgeous, feels like a watercolor painting, and ensures the music has a Hawaiian tone. Some may view the background art is sloppy, but I found it endearing and authentic to its roots. The second is that the show has the majority of the cast come back, an astonishing feat considering it was for a series on the Disney Channel for a movie that had so-so popularity at the time. The cast loves the characters, so their involvement gives the series more credibility.
Story-wise, the series’ primary focus is finding all the long-lost experiments of Dr. Jumba, which are all conveniently scattered around Hawaii. Each experiment has a unique characteristic, a fancy way of saying they can all do something. Lilo and Stitch find a use for them somewhere on the island, so Hawaii will eventually be a haven for the experiments. The ways each experiment finds use in Hawaii is so incredibly advantageous for the story.
Disney pulled out all the stops, particularly in Season Two, by crossing over a few different shows on their signature channel. Kim Possible and The Proud Family have episodes to themselves, and it’s a fantastic way for Disney to showcase their over-the-top shows organically. Move over, Marvel, Disney was doing the expanding universe thing way before you were!
The best part of Lilo & Stitch is the relationship between the two main characters. They’re adorable together, and manage to find ways to work together to help each other’s experiments. Stitch is incredibly helpful because he is strong and knows the alien lifestyle well. At her core, Lilo is a good-hearted young girl who wants to do right by all the people. They fight occasionally, like a regular family, but their devotion to one another makes this show (and the entire franchise) one of the best things Disney has done in a long time. The two are inseparable through some of the series’ troubles, like Lilo struggling to balance her real life and hunting for experiments, or Stitch occasionally getting jealous.
Lilo & Stitch: The Series is a fun show that is more than just an adventure of the week. It helps push the story forward, and even sets up some of the events of the other sequel movies. The series feels like a natural extension, especially with similar art and the original cast returning. Each experiment has a fun power to discover, and the solution to how to keep them in Hawaii is endearing, to say the least. As far as ways to incorporate a Disney movie into a television series, this is one of the best out there.
You can read more from Mike Hilty, and follow him on Instagram, Letterboxd, and Serializd