STITCH! THE MOVIE (Walt Disney Home Entertainment, $29.99), the DVD premiere sequel to LILO & STITCH that's currently in stores, concentrates more on the antics of the mischievous alien than on the domestic crises of the little Hawaiian girl, as they try to thwart the other 625 alien experiments on the loose. But that's because it serves as a bridge between the successful and gorgeous feature and the upcoming LILO & STITCH: THE TV SERIES, premiering Sept. 20, 2003 on ABC's Saturday morning lineup and on the Disney Channel.
The sequel, directed by Robert Gannaway and Tony Craig and co-written by Gannaway and exec producer Jess Winfield, was first hatched while the feature was still in production. Key was trying to balance comedy and action and expanding Stitch's vocabulary. As in the original feature, getting the crew up to speed on working with watercolor paintings and matching the style of designer/creator Chris Sanders was most challenging for the Walt Disney Television Animation crew, according to Craig. Sanders once again voiced Stitch and was a consultant on the sequel. Computer-generated animation was used only moderately.
Bonus DVD features include Dr. Hamsterviel's Trivia Challenge, Dr. Jumba's Experiment Finder Game and a Jump 5 music video.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
