Head to this page to read more about the sequels and spin-offs. The idea of 625 other experiments by Jumba was inevitably too tempting for Disney to ignore, and they quickly developed a franchise out of this film's success. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten." In other words, True Companions. Stitch inadvertently learns the meaning of ʻohana: " ʻOhana means family. Jumba, who is hot on his trail with the help of the neurotic Agent Pleakley ( Kevin McDonald). However, while Lilo wants a companion, Stitch, as she named the alien, wants a human shield to deter Dr. He adopts Lilo as readily as Lilo adopts him. Escaping from the United Galactic Federation, 626 takes a shortcut to the closest planet, which is 70% water (important because he is too dense to swim or float) - and miraculously lands on the bitty Hawaiian archipelago in the middle of the Pacific, crashing on the island of Kauai. Experiment 626 ("six-two-six") has a vast capacity for knowledge, spectacular combat abilities, and a programmed instinct to destroy anything he comes across.
Jumba Jookiba ( David Ogden Stiers), the maddest scientist to splice genetics this side of the Milky Way, stands trial for illegally engineering a new life form (actually 626 life forms, but it is his latest that we're concerned with). Nani loves her little sister, but the stress of responsibility makes her a bit short-tempered and resentful. Lilo, often lost in her own world, neither understands nor is understood by her hula classmates. Recent orphans of a car accident, sisters Nani (voiced by Tia Carrere) and Lilo Pelekai ( Daveigh Chase) are practically alone in the world except for each other. He wrote the entire draft along with his directing partner Dean DeBlois and even voiced the protagonist Stitch - a character he originally created back in 1985 for a failed children's book pitch - himself.
Unlike other Disney animated films, Disney was hands-off the creative development and did not interfere with the story: director Chris Sanders wanted the film to reflect his own drawing style.
Set mainly in the lush Hawaiian island of Kauai, this movie was a significant breakaway for Disney on many counts, including an unconventional protagonist, crossover "Inter-Stitch-ial" trailers, the lack of either romance troubles or a real villain, and the score drawn from home-grown Hawaiian songs and artists - and, of course, Elvis Presley. It was both critically and commercially acclaimed, a rarity for Disney's animated films during their "Experimental Era" after the Disney Renaissance. Entry #42 in the Disney Animated Canon, Lilo & Stitch is a 2002 traditionally-animated sci-fi comedy-drama film.