Story

After being convicted by the United Galactic Federation for illegal genetic experimentation, Dr Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) is imprisoned. His destructive and intelligent mutation – Experiment 626, who’s later called Stitch (Chris Sanders) – is exiled. But 626 escapes, steals a spacecraft and crash-lands in the Hawaiian Islands.

Meanwhile, Lilo Pelekai (Maia Kealoha), a lonely and mischievous young girl, struggles to fit in with her peers after her parents die. She is being cared for by her older sister, Nani (Sydney Agudong), who’s under increasing pressure from a social worker to give up her claim on Lilo and allow her to be placed in care.

Nani is trying to hold the last of her family together and prove she can care for Lilo, but things go from bad to worse when Lilo adopts a dog from the local shelter. Neither Nani or Lilo is aware that the dog is Experiment 626, or Stitch, and that aliens have been sent to Earth to neutralise him.

As Stitch tries to outwit the aliens sent to capture him, he begins to learn about what it means to have a family, even an imperfect one. He also starts to understand that he’s capable of far more than he was created for.

Themes

Family breakdown; death of parents; aliens; bullying; lack of personal identity; loss and grief

Violence

Lilo & Stitch has some violence. For example:

• In a Federation spaceship, there are robots trained to target Stitch and shoot him on sight. Stitch spits on the scientists and turns their armed robots against them. He destroys a laboratory and wreaks havoc on the ship as he escapes. The robots shoot everything in sight.
• An entire Federation army fires at Stitch as he flees in a red police space cruiser.
• There are threats to vaporise planet Earth to contain Stitch.
• Lilo yells at Nani, ‘Leave me alone to die!’
• Stitch bashes every control in a space cruiser.
• Stitch is repeatedly zapped by a collar until he manages to zap the collar and break it off his neck. He causes a massive power outage in the process.
• People try to hit Stitch with a broom after he crashes a wedding and farts in a punchbowl.
• A woman hits a man in the face with a broom and nearly hits Stitch. She smashes the wedding cake instead.
• A tour bus runs over Stitch in slow motion.
• Agents shoot darts at Stitch.
• One alien shoots another.
• Stitch rips the upholstery in Nani’s car and tosses a CD out the back window. The CD hits another car and causes an accident.
• Stitch accidentally sets a table on fire.
• Stitch wreaks havoc at Nani’s house, knocking over furniture, filling the blender with forks and turning it on, lighting the gas stove and leaving it, knocking everything off the table and breaking plates.
• Stitch eats a photo and tries to eat a chair.
• Two alien agents chase Lilo and Stitch on a jet ski. A character flips over on the jet ski, and Stitch nearly drowns Lilo when they’re flung into the water.
• Stitch uses an alien gun to shoot through the floor and ceiling and then he repeatedly falls through the hole that is now a portal.
• A creepy alien with a gun tries to shoot Lilo and Stitch.
• A door is shot off its hinges, and shots are fired at a window and roof.
• An alien shoots through the door to Lilo’s parents’ bedroom. Stitch then shoots at the alien and bites him on the neck.
• Lilo pepper-sprays a person, and Stitch is blasted into a cabinet.
• A hole is shot in the floor. A refrigerator falls through the hole and crushes a character.
• Nani’s house falls down and begins to collapse around Lilo.
• Stitch attacks a man and punches him. The man electrocutes Stitch.
• A character is sucked out through a hole in the side of a spaceship.
• Lilo and Stitch crash a spaceship into the ocean.
• Lilo is trapped under debris and pinned to the ocean floor.

Sexual references

Lilo & Stitch has some sexual references. For example, a neighbour has a crush on Nani. He stumbles over his words and says, ‘I love shredding you. I love watching you’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Lilo & Stitch shows some use of substances. For example:

• Stitch drinks from a pineapple with a little umbrella in it.
• Lilo and Stitch shoot each other with a spritzer hose in a Tiki bar.
• Lilo and Stitch stack and destroy wine glasses.
• Stitch drinks the liquid from a lava lamp, despite Lilo telling him not to.

Nudity and sexual activity

Lilo & Stitch has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

• Nani and a boy kiss in a photo.
• While Stitch is doing a hula dance, his skirt drops to the floor. He quickly moves to cover himself.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Lilo & Stitch:

• Capri-Sun juice packets are shown and used in several scenes.
• Hawaiian Airlines is clearly displayed.

Coarse language

Lilo & Stitch has some mild coarse language, name-calling and insults. These include ‘crikey’, ‘garbage girl’, ‘silly’, ‘buffoon’, ‘pizza face’, ‘stupid’, ‘hairy potato’ and ‘freakish monster’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Lilo & Stitch is a live-action remake of Disney’s 2002 animated movie of the same name. It features a lot of fast-paced special effects and a familiar storyline that celebrates unconditional love, individuality and the embrace of difference.

Lilo & Stitch is best suited to viewers aged over 8 years.

These are the main messages from Lilo & Stitch:

• Family means that no-one is left behind or forgotten.
• Family includes the people who love and support you no matter what.
• Just because people see you as bad doesn’t mean that’s how you must be.

Values in Lilo & Stitch that you could reinforce with your children include family, belonging, determination, redemption, compassion and responsibility.

Lilo & Stitch could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the importance of family connection and togetherness and how families can be good, even if they’re not perfect. Also, making a mistake and doing something wrong doesn’t make necessarily make you a bad person.