Disney have a wonderful way of playing with emotions, and here again they strike gold, making us care about the titular stars – both of whom are actually pretty unlikeable with very few redeeming features! It’s also a surprise to see Disney handling the sci-fi quite so well – the space-based opening sequence especially came as a surprise to me.
Disney doesn’t pull any punches when dealing with (Lilo’s) broken family, and the emotion is pretty raw at times… but this is a cartoon, and so of course the emotion is tempered with classic Disney humour and top notch animation, not to mention one or two surprises along the way. There are enough subplots are and adult nods (like Stich playing a B-movie monster rampaging through a model village – awesome!) to keep older watchers engaged, but the action is fast enough to keep younger children enthralled.
So, not just one for the kids, although if they get a hold of it, expect viewing after viewing after viewing…..