Lilo and Stitch Discussion

[D82]

A Lilo Story

I don't think I have ever told this story before. It is a bit personal. But to me it was also kind of revelatory when it happened.

In 1999 I was working on the character of Lilo at Disney's animation studio in Orlando/Florida. One evening an acquaintance of mine from LA was visiting, and he asked me to join him for dinner at a Disney World restaurant. At one point during dinner he asked me what I was animating at the moment. I started to describe the sequence pictured here. Nani and Lilo are having a moment in a hammock at night after Nani had gotten fired from her job. Lilo doesn't understand what her sister is trying to tell her. The two of them would not stay together anymore, because the next morning child services would take Lilo. Nani had failed to be a guardian of her little sister. (She was drawn by the great Stephane Sainte-Foi.)

The scene I had just finished animating was when Lilo wobbles from one side of the hammock toward Nani to comfort her. I kid you not when I admit that I got all teary eyed just talking about this moment in the film. My mind went..wowowo..hang on here, this has never happened before when talking about my work. What the heck?

I reflected on this later on and realized that this (fictitious) little character had gotten a hold of me emotionally. And this was the kind of footage you animate from an internal place, almost with tears in your eyes.

What the heck?

http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2022/03 ... story.html

That's a nice story. It's incredible how a fictional character can become so real to us, even to the animators who created it.

[Jules]

That's a nice story. It's incredible how a fictional character can become so real to us, even to the animators who created it.

I would say it's less than about the fictional aspect and more about the rendering. Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins are also fictional characters, but onscreen you're looking at flesh and blood actors portraying them. Those people existed physically in front of the camera lens as the motion picture film was rolling, and that aids our suspension of disbelief.

I recall this is what Walt Disney and his artists were so apprehensive about with Snow White. Would the audience perceive the characters as "real" - the same way they do with live actors? Or would they be forever conscious they are merely staring at nothing more than animated ink lines and paint on a cinema screen, completely neutering the dramatic aspects of the film? If the latter had happened, the film would have fallen flat on its face. But I cannot blame Walt and his artists for their nervousness. Who knew what audiences would think? This was completely new to them.

And yes, there were earlier animated features despite what the Walt Disney Co. would have you to believe - most notably Lotte Reiniger's masterpiece: The Adventures of Prince Achmed. However, that film, while indisputably an animated feature film, was never preoccupied with the same concerns Walt had for Snow White. This not a knock on Reiniger. Achmed is a remarkable film, but its ambitions lie elsewhere - and in many ways it is vastly different to Disney's animation output.

While Snow White may not be the world's first animated feature from a technical definition of the term, I firmly believe it is the world's first animated feature that truly encapsulates and achieves what is required from a feature-length narrative - and that includes the characters' animated performances, which to my knowledge had no challenger in any earlier animated feature from anywhere around the world.

While I am irritated when Disney insists Snow White is the world's first animated feature in promotional bs, I don't get too mad because I know the film deserves every ounce of recognition it gets, even if there were hundred other animated features before it.

For the record, Steamboat Willie also ISN'T the world's first synchronised sound cartoon.

[Kyle]

While I am irritated when Disney insists Snow White is the world's first animated feature in promotional bs, I don't get too mad because I know the film deserves every ounce of recognition it gets, even if there were hundred other animated features before it.

For the record, Steamboat Willie also ISN'T the world's first synchronised sound cartoon.

On snow white, I didn't even know that was a claim. Though I'd be hard pressed to think of an older one. I thought the claim was it was the first animationed feature in color. though even that may end up wrong, I wouldnt know.

[Farerb]

‘Lilo & Stitch’ Director Got ‘Frustrated’ by ‘Frozen’ Praise: We Did Sisterhood Over Romance First
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/lilo ... 235300612/

[Disney's Divinity]

Tiana and Charlotte's friendship is also a predecessor to the sisters in Frozen. But that's life, the film that's most successful is most remembered--much like TLM is remembered as the turn-around and beginning of the Renaissance more than Oliver & Company, The Great Mouse Detective, or Who Framed Roger Rabbit? And let's be honest, Frozen centers on the sisters' relationship, whereas L&S is still primarily about Stitch and his relationship with Lilo and how that changes him. Much like Tiana's relationship with Naveen (or even her dead father) is more important than her friendship with Charlotte. Frozen was the first Disney film where the relationship between two (good) female characters was the centerpiece.

[Sotiris]

‘Family Means No One Gets Left Behind’: An oral history of Lilo & Stitch, the Disney movie that almost brought hand-drawn animation back
https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/an-oral ... racle.html

For ‘626’ Day, Watch How this Disney Animator Helped Create Stitch from ‘Lilo & Stitch’
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/video- ... -animator/

Working With Stitch: Inside Feature Animation at Hollywood Studios
https://disneyparksblog.com/wdw/stitch- ... d-studios/

The New Voice of Stitch (Lilo & Stitch)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzEvzIzeBkk

How I Became the Voice of Stitch (in Lilo & Stitch)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC2NclOrKtQ

How I Created Lilo & Stitch (Behind the Scenes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-4UEfgvnbo

[DisneyFan09]

Thanks for posting the article! Since these articles from Vulture has now become a tradition, it`s still remarkable that it wasn`t published in June when Lilo & Stitch had it`s Anniversary. But oh well, better late than never

[blackcauldron85]

Lilo & Stitch Chibis | All Hail Pudge! | Chibi Tiny Tales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW52g2dGbpo&t=63s
(via laughingplace.com)

[Sotiris]

Art by Andreas Deja.


Source: http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2023/09/lilo-scar.html

[D82]

It's a nice drawing.

[MoonMarc21]

Cute!!!

[Sotiris]

Lilo & Stitch Gets a New Comic by Greg Pak & Giulia Giacomino in 2024
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/lilo-st ... o-in-2024/

Celebrate Stitch Day with a New Graphic Novel from Dynamite
https://graphicpolicy.com/2024/04/09/ce ... -dynamite/