Lilo and Stitch

[Farerb]

I'm still scratching my head over how the US is only just getting this 2 DVD release for this movie. While Australia had a 2 DVD set ages ago. I thought Australi awas backwards/slow when we got an edited version of Hunchback Of Notre Dame in our theatres, but it seems every now and then we leap forward.

Lilo & Stitch is fun and enjoyable but Treasure Planet was my favourite of the 2 Disney movies from that year. Mainly because by the end of Lilo I was cursing the whole damn Ohana menas family crap that appeared to be occuring every 5 mintues during the climax.

In terms of plots, there really isn't that much difference between the 2 endings. The dialogue is pretty similar, a lot of the action is similar. THe only difference is that one goes around buildings and one goes around volcanoes. I would assume that if L&S was made today they would have kpet the building plot point.

I've learned to appreciate Treasure Planet much more over the years. I even prefer The Emperor's New Groove to Lilo and Stitch (I find the film funnier). I liked Lilo and Stitch when I was younger and I am fond of it even now, but despite Nani's struggles bringing a little bit more weight to the film, the aliens shenanigans kind of bore me a little now. Overall, I think E.T and The Iron Giant were the better versions of this kind of story.

[Ben]

Hunchback is infamously one of the worst DTVs, rightly earning the "cheapquel" label, but Stitch 2 benefits from being made much closer to the original, so there are remnants of that production and people involved, which also and always helps. Although you say the original wasn’t particularly "ambitious", it actually did do quite a lot to break the mould, from the exquisite personality animation and watercolour backgrounds to integrating the CGI and, obviously, the very different approach to story. Stitch 2 doesn’t reach those ambitions, which is what makes it feel a lesser film, but it certainly doesn’t embarrass itself given its origins. Glad you enjoyed it.

[Daniel]

Stitch Has a Glitch is great. The only real things that bring it down for me are the runtime and the switch to Dakota Fanning for Lilo. Much like the series, I still prefer the original.

[Farerb]

Do you think it's too short or too long?

I haven't watched the series. I agree that the original is superior, but that's obvious considering it was a theatrical film and not something that was made for TV / Video. When I say it's decent, I mean compared to other DTVs rather than the original film.

[Daniel]

Too short. The film itself is barely an hour! Think it could've had a bigger emotional punch in the end. Things wrap up a little too easy.

[gaastra]

Disney needs to release more stitch stuff. We have three tv shows Last two aired out of order canon wise as stitch and ai was released after the anime but takes place before it! (in fact it takes place during a flashback in season 3 no less!) We also have another movie only released in japan! Yes japan got another dtv film we never got in America!

Order--

[Ben]

Don’t forget Leroy And Stitch, too, which I think was either the premiere or, actually I think was, the closing finale of the original series. And wasn’t there a Stitch The Movie? I seem to remember a few one-off things, though they fragmented and became too much to keep up with. I think I’ve seen the Stitch Movie, and definitely seen Leroy and some of the original series, but my main exposure has been the cinema film and video sequel.

[Farerb]

Stitch the Movie is the first episode of the show, Leroy and Stitch is the series finale. Just like Return of Jafar and King of Thieves.

[gaastra]

There were 6 stitch films. Only first was in theatres.

1. Lilo and stitch
2. Stitch the movie (sets up the show)
3. Leroy and stitch (ends the first series)
4. Stitch 2: stitch has a glitch.
5. Stitch and the planet of sand (never released in america.)
6. Stitch perfect memory (never released in america)

Last two were adult lilo era with yumi.

[Ben]

Right. Gotcha. Yeah, I knew about Stitch The Movie. Yep, remember that it started the series and that Leroy ended it. I do actually have both of those on DVD, unwatched for ages now!

[EricJ]

Stitch the Movie is the first episode of the show, Leroy and Stitch is the series finale. Just like Return of Jafar and King of Thieves.

Stitch & Leroy were made to pilot/finale the TV series, L&S2:SHaG was made because of the then 00's Stainton dictum that all new 00's Disney releases were to automatically get made-for-video sequels, to cement their marketing.

Which is why 2 stays more to movie canon, and why we got it instead of that cool-sounding Treasure Planet sequel they were working on.

[Farerb]

Did you really want a DTV for Treasure Planet though? I kind of wish they all just disappeared, never to be seen again.
I wonder if Disney treated them like they did Song of the South, would people be as upset?

[Ben]

None of the DTV titles — even the "better" ones — really *truly* need to have ever existed, but they do. I don’t think I’d have any issue classing them as television movies, basically, and goodness knows we’ve had a whole industry of those going back to the 60s or even before, but it somewhat narks me when they do those "2-Movie Collection" releases and put the likes of Hunchback II and Pocahontas II on a level playing field as the theatrical originals instead of as just an extra, which they really are by this point.

The only theatricals that really deserve that — and even here I’d say they still warrant their own releases — would be The Rescuers and Fantasia. Yes, we obviously have more sequels and remakes now in the CG age that get lumped together, but at least those are all theatrical releases. Interestingly, it’s the lesser titles that usually get this "double-feature" bundling, as if they know they don’t have a chance of selling on their own, since the "better" titles got their own releases when it came to Blu-ray updates.

A bunch of them were not "bad" — for what they were and intended to be. But many were also rightly derided. None of them, I believe, were ever truly "worthy", however entertaining or enjoyable, or even "good" as they may have been. Whatever decent qualities a few may have had, there would always be at least one element — animation, story, songs or, yes, sometimes even just a shirt length — that would detract it from being mistaken for a full feature.

I think probably the closest they ever got, in terms of DTVs, was with The Three Musketeers, which is fondly remembered even though, if you want to get hyper critical, does suffer in terms of some story lags, use of pre-existing music for its songs, and the "too clean" digital finish of the flat-shaded animation, which ironically gives it a "cheaper" look rather than the lusher visuals a cinema release film from the same era would have had.

No denying, though, that they’re an interesting aspect to Disney animation history, and one that obviously made a lot of easy money for the company in the heyday introduction of DVD to the marketplace. But, no, I don’t think many, or any, would be truly missed if those discs were allowed to just go out of print and the films were never added to D+. I still think even there they should just be "extras" for maybe comparison's sake.

[EricJ]

Did you really want a DTV for Treasure Planet though? I kind of wish they all just disappeared, never to be seen again.

Uh, you do know the story was leaked, don't you?
(Like, on THIS site?):
https://animatedviews.com/2014/buried-t ... -planet-2/
(There, Dan, I did it before you could. )

...You know the Furries would be all over Kate in a heartbeat.

None of the DTV titles — even the "better" ones — really *truly* need to have ever existed, but they do. I don’t think I’d have any issue classing them as television movies, basically, and goodness knows we’ve had a whole industry of those going back to the 60s or even before, but it somewhat narks me when they do those "2-Movie Collection" releases and put the likes of Hunchback II and Pocahontas II on a level playing field as the theatrical originals instead of as just an extra, which they really are by this point

Near the end, a few execs admitted that marketing Cinderella TV episodes as the Cindy 2 "movie" was the mistake they would never live down--and why they put that extra effort getting the cruise-ship show for Cindy 3--but a few of the upgraded TV "movies" are actually pretty good if you go in knowing they're TV episodes:
Kronk's New Groove (which was passed over for "Emperor's New School") is tolerable, and Atlantis II is actually pretty darn GOOD, let alone far less annoying than the actual movie. It helped to give these insane nuts something to actually do every week, and put them in context.

Like Lilo and Hercules, some initially disorganized Disney movies need a series, as a second draft to find their footing.
If they decided to stretch Treasure into a space-Navy series, it would be one more example.

[Farerb]

I never watched Atlantis II and I actually heard it's as unwatchable as Mulan II and Hunchback II, which unfortunately I own because Disney made me, but never bothered watching them.