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| Stitch! The Movie
DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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Stitch!
The Movie
(Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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August
26, 2003
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Length:
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64 mins.
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| Rated:
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G
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| Format:
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Widescreen (1.66:1) Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions
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Audio:
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English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, English DTS Digital 5.1
Surround, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Spanish Dolby
Digital
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| Subtitles:
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Closed-Captioned
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| Extras:
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Experiment
Finder Game, Dr. Hamsterviel's Trivia Challenge, Experiment
Gallery, Music Video, Sneak Peeks
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Stitch! The Movie is Disney's
direct-to-video sequel to the 2002 animated hit Lilo & Stitch. In
Stitch!, we find our heroes back for more wacky and wild adventures on
the Hawaiian Islands and in the depths of outer space. In the
original, Stitch (aka Experiment 626), discovered the value of being
part of Lilo's family, or Ohana, as the call it in Hawaii. In Stitch!,
we find our titular hero once again longing to find his own family,
and boy, does he ever find it! Turns out Experiment 626 has lots of
family - another 625, to be exact! When the other 625, still kept in
"experiment pods" are kidnapped by the evil (and somewhat
comical) Dr. Hamsterviel, with the help of returning baddie, Captain
Gantu, it is up to Lilo and Stitch to save the day.
What did I think of this movie? Not bad. Not great. It poses the same
problem I have with a lot of other Disney movies, but at the same
time, I'll give it bonus points for it's original content. The
problem? I'll get into that more later. For now, I'd like to focus on
the movie. I'll give it credit for featuring the voices of the cast
from the original movie. Before I began watching, I'll honestly say
that I didn't expect the voice work to be the same, and it had me
concerned, so it was a pleasant surprise. What wasn't so great was
that the animation was nowhere near as good as the original. Perhaps,
it's unfair to base the DVD solely on the quality of the original, but
for me, it was a concern. It seemed almost second rate and slapped
together, and it really was a distraction for me. I almost wished they
had spent more time on it, and perhaps released it as a feature film,
rather than throwing it together quickly in order to capitalize on the
success of the first.
In terms of the story, I was really expecting more, and this kinda
gets to what bugged me about the movie. The tagline for this movie is
"Stitch was experiment 626...meet the other 625!". This
wasn't even close. In reality, we meet only 2. Other than that, a few
more are shown, but only in the dying seconds of the movie. As a
matter of fact, Stitch, it seemed to me, wasn't really that big a part
of the movie. It was more about Captain Gantu, Dr. Jumba and the new
guy, Dr. Hamsterviel. Stitch spends the majority of his screen time
chasing one of his "cousins", Experiment 221 in an effort to
help save Dr. Jumba (his creator) from the bad guys. And when
everything comes to an end, it is only then that the other 625
experiments (or 623 exactly, since two are already freed) are
unleashed, just in time for the end of the movie. And here's the
problem. The whole movie is only a setup for the upcoming (and
inevitable) TV show, debuting this fall. It's all over the movie, from
the special features to the inserts included with the DVD.
"Coming This Fall." "Watch it on the Disney Channel and
ABC Kids!" It's kind of annoying to watch the movie (as an adult
anyways) only to realize at the end that you spent the last hour
watching what boils down to a commercial for an upcoming TV show.
Damn. How would this movie rate with a child? I'm sure, for fans of
the original, it would be fine. It's definitely strong in that it's a
boy's movie (space, gun fights) that appeals to girls too because of
the female lead. But frankly, my kids didn't watch it. Although my
oldest loved the original Lilo and Stitch, there were just too many
explosions and fights in space here that my kids didn't need to watch.
Maybe it'd play better for older children.
What were the Bonus Features? First up, we have the "Experiment
Finder Game" which has become a staple on most Disney kids
movies. (Why can't they come up with something else rather than
recycling the same idea with a different theme each time?) The object
of the game is to look in different areas for different objects. In
this one, you're looking for different "Experiments".
Nothing too difficult here. I played it twice and the characters were
in the same place both times. I don't know if this is a coincidence.
Shouldn't it be different each time to keep it original? Next up, we
have "Dr. Hamsterviel's Trivia Challenge". This one was
actually fun. There are two different options here. Movie Trivia and
Trivia from the upcoming TV Show. The movie trivia, I passed with
flying colors! I rule! But, since the show isn't even on TV yet, I
failed the "Super Genius" level miserably. Next up, we have
an "Experiment Gallery" which shows a variety of different
experiments, 98% of whom didn't even appear in the movie. Finally, we
are treated to a Music Video, featuring scenes from the movie. The
music, much like the music from the rest of the movie, isn't really as
good as the original (where I loved the music), so this wasn't really
that interesting. So the theme here? A bunch of
"Experiments" that aren't in the movie, but who can be
found, of course, on the upcoming TV Show.
So in the end it's all an advertisement, which I'm sorry to say, was
the downfall of the DVD for me. Unless of course you're planning on
watching the TV Show, in which case, this movie would be very good for
you. When is it on you ask? Just consult the DVD. It's written all
over. It's on everyday on the Disney Channel and on Saturdays on ABC
Kids...
| The Movie: |
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4/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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4/10 |
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What
did you think?
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Liam Cullin -
Editor
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