Logan’s Moving Pictures returns in time for Christmas and a film about family (the ones you have and the ones you build) with; Lilo & Stitch.
Sometime in late 2001, around Christmas I’m sure, Ryan and I saw a teaser trailer for a movie (a character really) that would go on to preoccupy a good portion of the next 18 years of our lives. Oddly enough, though, it wasn’t something we experienced together. At the time we were both dating people who were mildly obsessed with Disney films, and had both gone on dates with them to see some film or another and been treated to what looked to be a re-release of one of the classic ‘90s era flicks. I want to say for Ryan it was The Little Mermaid, for me though, I KNOW it was Beauty & the Beast, because my girlfriend loved that movie, it was her favorite in fact. But, instead of announcing that the beloved animated musical would be back in theaters, a strange blue creature crawled across the ceiling as the duo danced, jumped on the chandelier, sent it crashing to the ground and interrupted the beautiful moment. My girlfriend wasn’t amused at all, but I could not stop smiling. Mainly because I hated that movie, but also because I love the idea of something different from the House of Mouse. Not long after I was telling Ryan about it and he brought up his own experience, and that’s how we found ourselves greatly anticipating Lilo & Stitch in 2002.
I know we didn’t see it together on opening weekend. More than likely we both went with our respective girlfriends, at least I’m sure I went with mine. I wasn’t immune to the charms of Disney animation (important to distinguish between Disney and Pixar here, I think, especially at that time), but I could count on one hand the number of their films I could even stand to watch, and only a few of them would I throw into the category of downright loving. The Lion King was certainly one of the latter, as was Lady & the Tramp. Their take on Robin Hood was a childhood favorite, but both it and the Tramp are now just associated with romances that crumbled horribly, making them quite melancholy to watch these days. I appreciated what they tried to do with Atlantis (and Treasure Planet the year after Lilo & Stitch), but I wouldn’t say it’s anything more than just that, an appreciation. Most of Disney’s animated fare really wasn’t for me, then at least. But, Stitch was different. I loved him from the very first minute.
I know I can’t really speak for Ryan on this, or even say when exactly he first saw the film, but I do know that we both felt an immediate kinship with the fuzzy little alien. We’d go on to watch the direct-to-video sequels, as well as the short-lived animated series (the original one), and talk about the world almost the same way we talked about Star Wars or all of the comic book properties we both loved. The original film, like a lot of Disney’s output at that time, got a pretty luke-warm reception when it first hit. My brother and I might have been the only people we knew who were firmly on the “this is a masterpiece” bandwagon. It was a few years later that began to see the rise of Stitch in pop culture. Of course, that’s always a mixed bag when you’re an early fan of something.
It’s something that’s happened again and again across my life (and Ryan’s), oddly enough. I was a massive fan of the character of Deadpool, back when reading comics made you a pariah, and even amongst the pariah’s he was only seen as a Spidey rip-off. Ditto The Iron Giant, which had some critical acclaim for sure, but was an utter failure at the box office. It wasn’t until a few years after its release that the general public came around to it. Starship Troopers is another shining example. It’s maybe a little bit egotistical to say, but it always makes me happy to know Ryan and I were usually ahead of the curve on a lot of pop culture things.
Recently I was on a date with a woman at a bookstore and we came across a huge display of Stitch merchandise and I very quickly showed my happiness at that fact and beelined straight over. She was quick to question why a man in his 40’s had an affection for a cartoon character that had come out when he was in his 20’s. She seemed to relent when I explained it was a bit of a connection to my brother, and I didn’t really elaborate beyond that. It did, however, cement in my mind that it was time for me to revisit this piece of our shared pop history.
I’m so very glad I did.
There’s so much I want to talk about when it comes to Lilo & Stitch that it’s going to be very difficult to keep it focused and not just a jumbled mess of excitement and emotion. That the movie opens with the most sci-fi heavy setting in a Disney animated film was something that immediately endeared me to it when I first watched it decades ago. It’s still something that, every time I’ve watched it since, makes my heart full. I can appreciate most of what Disney offered when I was growing up, but as I said, most of it just really wasn’t for me, not something I’d actively seek out, so to see an animated film from them that fell solidly into my wheelhouse of interest…it was just exhilarating.
Then there’s the introduction of Lilo, a character I loved immediately and wholly. She doesn’t fit in with her “friends,” something immediately apparent when she’s late for her dance class because she has to feed Pudge. Pudge is a fish. He lives in the ocean. He likes peanut butter sandwiches. They didn’t have peanut butter. All they had was tuna. You can’t feed a fish tuna, tuna is fish. So she had to go to the store to get peanut butter to make Pudge, the fish who lives in the ocean, his peanut butter sandwich. Why is this important? Because, Lilo eventually explains, Pudge controls the weather. Her peers may not like her, and her sister, Nani, may get infinitely annoyed with her, but I found it impossible not to love Lilo from the moment we met her.
Years and years after Ryan and I first watched this movie, Ryan called me one afternoon to tell me about something that happened when he and his daughter Kaysi had been playing outside in the yard. As a kid (and even now as a teen) Kaysi asked a lot of questions. Those with kids will be quick to say “every kid does.” But, Kaysi didn’t ask the kinds of questions most kids ask, or at least not the ones they usually ask. Hers were deeply philosophical in the simplistic way only a child could express. She had been pulling up dandelions out of the yard, and when she came across one that had died and became its all-too-familiar ghostly growth, soon to be billowing in the wind, she pulled it from the ground and brought it to her dad. As she handed it over she said “It can be a flower if it wants to.”
I heard Ryan talk proudly about his daughter on many, many occasions, but I don’t know that he was ever more moved by her words and actions than in that moment. It’s become impossible for me to watch Lilo & Stitch and not think of that precocious and inquisitive little girl that Ryan helped bring into this world. Like Lilo, she also has an older sister, and they often argued when they lived in the same house (sometimes they still do, if I’m being honest), but are very much in each other’s corner when it counts. There are a lot of things this movie gets right, but the sisterly bond may be at the top of that list.
Of course, that’s not the thing that drew Ryan and I to this film, the thing that kept it etched in our hearts all those years. For us that was, is and always will be Experiment 626. The little blue fuzzball that Lilo adopts and promptly renames Stitch would go on to be as important in our personal pop culture landscape as most of his science fiction cousins in the Star Wars universe. He was Chewbacca and R2-D2 rolled into one, with the destructive power of the Alien Xenomorph to boot. More than all of that though, he was a character that was immediately pigeonholed by both his tormentors and the scientist that made him. Experiment 626 was to be destroyed for being who he was created to be, and then proves himself more cunning and capable than those people ever thought he could be. Immediately, undeniably, irrevocably endearing.
Both Ryan and I bult little mini-monuments to our favorite Hawaiian transplant. We collected Pop figures, bought the occasional stuffed version, bought collectible pins and buttons, keychains, you name it. And then when Disney bought Lucasfilm and started producing cross-franchise toys and such with their characters reimagined into the Galaxy Far, Far Away, well, you know we jumped all over that. Stitch as Yoda and Stitch as General Grievous were big favorites, but Stitch as Darth Sidious was up there as well. Our love for the little guy never waned either, Ryan was collecting Stitch merchandise up until he passed, and these days I never pass up anything too cool or unique that I want to add to our connection. Of course, he’s everywhere these days, so I have to limit what I get or I’d be buried in 626’s.
A cute and destructive protagonist with a sci-fi heavy plot and a soundtrack half-filled with Elvis songs (like a lot of kids our age, The King was THE musician for our Dad, so we couldn’t help but love him too) and lacking any over-the-top romantic angles, it’s easy to see why Lilo & Stitch became not just a Disney animated film we tolerated but truly loved and enjoyed. I spoke about how Ryan, I believe, found a deeper connection to Lilo’s story when his daughter was born, which is also easy to understand. I can’t say that it wasn’t the same for me, but Kaysi not being my kid it wasn’t quite the same. But, it is Lilo that presents the central theme that my head and heart always go back to when I think of this film, Ohana.
“Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”
It’s the motto Lilo & Nani’s parents lived by, it’s what keeps them bonded after they’re left orphaned, it’s the thing Lilo imparts to Stitch and they’re the words he echoes back to them when he finally accepts that they describe him as well. It’s a concept that I thought about the most while I was rewatching it.
Shortly after Ryan passed we had a “creative” day at my sister’s house. Lots of painting and just being together, adults and kids alike. I picked up a pretty big white canvas for myself, along with some stencils and some spray paint, knowing exactly what it is I wanted to do. I laid the canvas down, taped the stencils to it and then spray painted OHANA onto it. Then I asked every person there to pour some paint onto a mat and asked them to make hand prints all around the words. It hangs above my bed now. There are a number of people who weren’t there to participate, and my intent has always been to add to it, but that hasn’t happened yet…it will, my resolve on that has deepened as of late. The people I consider family stretches so far and wide that when I sat down to write just a little about them I found myself overwhelmed. There are so many people who help me in my journey, some of them daily, that to begin to talk about any one of them would be to risk leaving someone out.
I also recently rescued a dog, the first and only dog that I could ever say was “mine.” Like Stitch, she is an absolute mess. Only, instead of destructive tendencies she has anxieties and trauma. In that sense she’s more like me than any dog ever should be. Her name is Ripley, but not like the book of weird facts. Ripley, like Ellen Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo. You may remember my thoughts on her from a previous entry on Alien 3. I think some people would see it as an ironic name, her being so skittish and Ellen Ripley being so brave. I don’t think so. I think there’s a lot of bravery in confronting life every day when you’re terrified beyond belief. I’m sure there will be more on her in the future, but right now I can say that I’ve never related to a montage more than Lilo trying to teach Stitch about the world he now finds himself in, and I’m glad she’s become part of my Ohana. It means family, you know? Not just the one you’re born with, the one you find along the way, and the one that finds you.
Logan’s Moving Pictures returns in time for Christmas and a film about family (the ones you have and the ones you build) with; Lilo & Stitch.
Sometime in late 2001, around Christmas I’m sure, Ryan and I saw a teaser trailer for a movie (a character really) that would go on to preoccupy a good portion of the next 18 years of our lives. Oddly enough, though, it wasn’t something we experienced together. At the time we were both dating people who were mildly obsessed with Disney films, and had both gone on dates with them to see some film or another and been treated to what looked to be a re-release of one of the classic ‘90s era flicks. I want to say for Ryan it was The Little Mermaid, for me though, I KNOW it was Beauty & the Beast, because my girlfriend loved that movie, it was her favorite in fact. But, instead of announcing that the beloved animated musical would be back in theaters, a strange blue creature crawled across the ceiling as the duo danced, jumped on the chandelier, sent it crashing to the ground and interrupted the beautiful moment. My girlfriend wasn’t amused at all, but I could not stop smiling. Mainly because I hated that movie, but also because I love the idea of something different from the House of Mouse. Not long after I was telling Ryan about it and he brought up his own experience, and that’s how we found ourselves greatly anticipating Lilo & Stitch in 2002.
I know we didn’t see it together on opening weekend. More than likely we both went with our respective girlfriends, at least I’m sure I went with mine. I wasn’t immune to the charms of Disney animation (important to distinguish between Disney and Pixar here, I think, especially at that time), but I could count on one hand the number of their films I could even stand to watch, and only a few of them would I throw into the category of downright loving. The Lion King was certainly one of the latter, as was Lady & the Tramp. Their take on Robin Hood was a childhood favorite, but both it and the Tramp are now just associated with romances that crumbled horribly, making them quite melancholy to watch these days. I appreciated what they tried to do with Atlantis (and Treasure Planet the year after Lilo & Stitch), but I wouldn’t say it’s anything more than just that, an appreciation. Most of Disney’s animated fare really wasn’t for me, then at least. But, Stitch was different. I loved him from the very first minute.
I know I can’t really speak for Ryan on this, or even say when exactly he first saw the film, but I do know that we both felt an immediate kinship with the fuzzy little alien. We’d go on to watch the direct-to-video sequels, as well as the short-lived animated series (the original one), and talk about the world almost the same way we talked about Star Wars or all of the comic book properties we both loved. The original film, like a lot of Disney’s output at that time, got a pretty luke-warm reception when it first hit. My brother and I might have been the only people we knew who were firmly on the “this is a masterpiece” bandwagon. It was a few years later that began to see the rise of Stitch in pop culture. Of course, that’s always a mixed bag when you’re an early fan of something.
It’s something that’s happened again and again across my life (and Ryan’s), oddly enough. I was a massive fan of the character of Deadpool, back when reading comics made you a pariah, and even amongst the pariah’s he was only seen as a Spidey rip-off. Ditto The Iron Giant, which had some critical acclaim for sure, but was an utter failure at the box office. It wasn’t until a few years after its release that the general public came around to it. Starship Troopers is another shining example. It’s maybe a little bit egotistical to say, but it always makes me happy to know Ryan and I were usually ahead of the curve on a lot of pop culture things.
Recently I was on a date with a woman at a bookstore and we came across a huge display of Stitch merchandise and I very quickly showed my happiness at that fact and beelined straight over. She was quick to question why a man in his 40’s had an affection for a cartoon character that had come out when he was in his 20’s. She seemed to relent when I explained it was a bit of a connection to my brother, and I didn’t really elaborate beyond that. It did, however, cement in my mind that it was time for me to revisit this piece of our shared pop history.
I’m so very glad I did.
There’s so much I want to talk about when it comes to Lilo & Stitch that it’s going to be very difficult to keep it focused and not just a jumbled mess of excitement and emotion. That the movie opens with the most sci-fi heavy setting in a Disney animated film was something that immediately endeared me to it when I first watched it decades ago. It’s still something that, every time I’ve watched it since, makes my heart full. I can appreciate most of what Disney offered when I was growing up, but as I said, most of it just really wasn’t for me, not something I’d actively seek out, so to see an animated film from them that fell solidly into my wheelhouse of interest…it was just exhilarating.
Then there’s the introduction of Lilo, a character I loved immediately and wholly. She doesn’t fit in with her “friends,” something immediately apparent when she’s late for her dance class because she has to feed Pudge. Pudge is a fish. He lives in the ocean. He likes peanut butter sandwiches. They didn’t have peanut butter. All they had was tuna. You can’t feed a fish tuna, tuna is fish. So she had to go to the store to get peanut butter to make Pudge, the fish who lives in the ocean, his peanut butter sandwich. Why is this important? Because, Lilo eventually explains, Pudge controls the weather. Her peers may not like her, and her sister, Nani, may get infinitely annoyed with her, but I found it impossible not to love Lilo from the moment we met her.
Years and years after Ryan and I first watched this movie, Ryan called me one afternoon to tell me about something that happened when he and his daughter Kaysi had been playing outside in the yard. As a kid (and even now as a teen) Kaysi asked a lot of questions. Those with kids will be quick to say “every kid does.” But, Kaysi didn’t ask the kinds of questions most kids ask, or at least not the ones they usually ask. Hers were deeply philosophical in the simplistic way only a child could express. She had been pulling up dandelions out of the yard, and when she came across one that had died and became its all-too-familiar ghostly growth, soon to be billowing in the wind, she pulled it from the ground and brought it to her dad. As she handed it over she said “It can be a flower if it wants to.”
I heard Ryan talk proudly about his daughter on many, many occasions, but I don’t know that he was ever more moved by her words and actions than in that moment. It’s become impossible for me to watch Lilo & Stitch and not think of that precocious and inquisitive little girl that Ryan helped bring into this world. Like Lilo, she also has an older sister, and they often argued when they lived in the same house (sometimes they still do, if I’m being honest), but are very much in each other’s corner when it counts. There are a lot of things this movie gets right, but the sisterly bond may be at the top of that list.
Of course, that’s not the thing that drew Ryan and I to this film, the thing that kept it etched in our hearts all those years. For us that was, is and always will be Experiment 626. The little blue fuzzball that Lilo adopts and promptly renames Stitch would go on to be as important in our personal pop culture landscape as most of his science fiction cousins in the Star Wars universe. He was Chewbacca and R2-D2 rolled into one, with the destructive power of the Alien Xenomorph to boot. More than all of that though, he was a character that was immediately pigeonholed by both his tormentors and the scientist that made him. Experiment 626 was to be destroyed for being who he was created to be, and then proves himself more cunning and capable than those people ever thought he could be. Immediately, undeniably, irrevocably endearing.
Both Ryan and I bult little mini-monuments to our favorite Hawaiian transplant. We collected Pop figures, bought the occasional stuffed version, bought collectible pins and buttons, keychains, you name it. And then when Disney bought Lucasfilm and started producing cross-franchise toys and such with their characters reimagined into the Galaxy Far, Far Away, well, you know we jumped all over that. Stitch as Yoda and Stitch as General Grievous were big favorites, but Stitch as Darth Sidious was up there as well. Our love for the little guy never waned either, Ryan was collecting Stitch merchandise up until he passed, and these days I never pass up anything too cool or unique that I want to add to our connection. Of course, he’s everywhere these days, so I have to limit what I get or I’d be buried in 626’s.
A cute and destructive protagonist with a sci-fi heavy plot and a soundtrack half-filled with Elvis songs (like a lot of kids our age, The King was THE musician for our Dad, so we couldn’t help but love him too) and lacking any over-the-top romantic angles, it’s easy to see why Lilo & Stitch became not just a Disney animated film we tolerated but truly loved and enjoyed. I spoke about how Ryan, I believe, found a deeper connection to Lilo’s story when his daughter was born, which is also easy to understand. I can’t say that it wasn’t the same for me, but Kaysi not being my kid it wasn’t quite the same. But, it is Lilo that presents the central theme that my head and heart always go back to when I think of this film, Ohana.
“Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”
It’s the motto Lilo & Nani’s parents lived by, it’s what keeps them bonded after they’re left orphaned, it’s the thing Lilo imparts to Stitch and they’re the words he echoes back to them when he finally accepts that they describe him as well. It’s a concept that I thought about the most while I was rewatching it.
Shortly after Ryan passed we had a “creative” day at my sister’s house. Lots of painting and just being together, adults and kids alike. I picked up a pretty big white canvas for myself, along with some stencils and some spray paint, knowing exactly what it is I wanted to do. I laid the canvas down, taped the stencils to it and then spray painted OHANA onto it. Then I asked every person there to pour some paint onto a mat and asked them to make hand prints all around the words. It hangs above my bed now. There are a number of people who weren’t there to participate, and my intent has always been to add to it, but that hasn’t happened yet…it will, my resolve on that has deepened as of late. The people I consider family stretches so far and wide that when I sat down to write just a little about them I found myself overwhelmed. There are so many people who help me in my journey, some of them daily, that to begin to talk about any one of them would be to risk leaving someone out.
I also recently rescued a dog, the first and only dog that I could ever say was “mine.” Like Stitch, she is an absolute mess. Only, instead of destructive tendencies she has anxieties and trauma. In that sense she’s more like me than any dog ever should be. Her name is Ripley, but not like the book of weird facts. Ripley, like Ellen Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo. You may remember my thoughts on her from a previous entry on Alien 3. I think some people would see it as an ironic name, her being so skittish and Ellen Ripley being so brave. I don’t think so. I think there’s a lot of bravery in confronting life every day when you’re terrified beyond belief. I’m sure there will be more on her in the future, but right now I can say that I’ve never related to a montage more than Lilo trying to teach Stitch about the world he now finds himself in, and I’m glad she’s become part of my Ohana. It means family, you know? Not just the one you’re born with, the one you find along the way, and the one that finds you.
Moving Pictures will return in two week …
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