Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch

Note: This review contains spoilers for Lilo & Stitch.

When Disney releases a hit movie, it’s not uncommon to give that success legacy support in the form of a sequel (often direct-to-video but sometimes theatrical) or a TV series, often both. Such was the case with Lilo & Stitch, a film so popular at the time that it spawned a multimedia franchise with four films (including the original), a 65-episode animated series (Lilo & Stitch: The Series), a Japanese anime (Stitch!), a Chinese donghua (Stitch & Ai) and numerous English and Japanese books and video games. Although the wider franchise has faded into relative obscurity, the original film is still celebrated to this day, with Stitch himself appearing as a summon in Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts III and serving as the subject of Disney’s annual holiday 626 Day.

In honor of this year’s 626 Day, we decided to take a look at one of the DTV sequels, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, animated by Disneytoon Studios. Although it’s not the second film released, despite the number in the title (it’s actually the third), we chose this one because it’s the only one not directly tied to Lilo & Stitch: The Series and is the second film chronologically, acting as a midquel between the original film and Stitch! The Movie. Unlike most Disney DTV sequels, this one does a decent job of capturing the spirit of the original film. Like most Disney DTV sequels, however, it still falls short of the overall quality of the original.

Sometime after the events of Lilo & Stitch, Stitch (Chris Sanders) wakes up from a nightmare where he turns bad once more and causes destruction to Earth, harming Lilo (Dakota Fanning) in the process. After consoling him, Lilo tests his goodness levels on a handmade chart until she has to rush to hula class. There, Kumu (Kunewa Mook) announces that each student is to perform an original dance at the local May Day festival. When Lilo feels down about having no mother to help her, she is inspired when Kumu shows her a photo of her mother winning the event at her age. As Lilo works on preparing for the competition, however, Stitch starts to glitch, slowly reverting back to his old destructive ways and questions his own goodness.

Stitch (Chris Sanders) has a nightmare about turning bad.

Although it’s a DTV sequel, which naturally lowers expectations, Lilo & Stitch 2 does have its surprising strengths. Its story does a decent job continuing the themes of family from the original film, with the title characters testing their bond through Stitch’s struggle to stay good and Lilo’s sister Nani (Tia Carrere) struggling with doubling as a mother figure for Lilo, who still misses her actual late mother. Nani also has her plate full handling Dr. Jumba Jookiba (David Ogden Stiers) and Pleakley (Kevin McDonald), who have integrated themselves into the Pelekai household, though not without issue. Jumba’s expertise as an evil genius also comes back, as he has to try and construct a fusion chamber to recharge Stitch’s molecules before his most successful genetic experiment dies, which adds a good ticking clock to the story. As with the previous film, Lilo’s chosen hula, based on the legend of Hiʻiaka, has a nice parallel with her relationship with Stitch throughout the film, laying the foundation for a solid emotional core.

Lilo & Stitch 2 also makes a very admirable attempt at capturing the feel of the original film by closely replicating its visual style. Of course, it doesn’t look quite as polished and there’s a noticeable increase in cost-cutting watercolors compared to the original film, but it’s still impressive that a DTV sequel looks even half as good as this one does. Even the music feels comparable to the original, between Joel McNeely trying his best to emulate Alan Silvestri’s Hawaiian score and the reuse of "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride", which helps create a consistent feel. Fittingly, this film sees an increased use of Elvis songs, including the Junkie XL remix of “A Little Less Conversation”. While all of the returning voice actors once again do a great job in their roles, Lilo was notably played by Dakota Fanning for this production and while she’s not quite as good as Lilo’s original voice actress, Daveigh Chase, she still does a decent job.

While there is some good here, however, the film does unfortunately hold itself back from rising too far above the typical quality of a Disney DTV sequel. Although it’s nice to see more of Stitch’s life with Lilo and how the events of the original film had changed the status quo, not everything lands as well as it could. For example, there’s a subplot where David (Jason Scott Lee) is worried about whether or not Nani still loves him, but this subplot feels too much like padding, as it ultimately doesn’t contribute anything significant to the story (except to give Pleakley something to do, I guess) and has a weak resolution. Connecting Lilo’s hula story to her relationship with Stitch is a neat idea, but its execution leads to an ending that’s less satisfying than it could be, arguably coming off as a Deus ex machina. On top of that, the characters feel watered down compared to the original film, with only one or two key traits emphasized at the expense of their more complex sides.

The subplot of Pleakley (Kevin McDonald, left) helping David (Jason Scott Lee, right)
could be removed without affecting the plot at all.

As a bonus, Lilo & Stitch 2 comes paired with an original short, The Origin of Stitch, which bridges the gap between this film and leads into Stitch! The Movie. Although it runs less than five minutes, this short was clearly made on a much lower budget, with its cheap animation, limited backgrounds and obvious use of promotional art from Lilo & Stitch: The Series. The core story, that Stitch has stumbled on Jumba’s computer and becomes worried about being a monster after seeing the evil scientist’s other Experiments, isn’t too satisfying either, as it doesn’t really break that much new ground thematically and is blatantly designed to set up the TV series rather than have a complete story on its own. Unless you plan on going through the wider Lilo & Stitch franchise, this short is skippable.

Before I end this review, this film has an odd sort of legacy for acting as directorial debut of co-director Tony Leondis, who also co-wote the screenplay. Leondis would eventually co-write and direct 2017’s The Emoji Movie, which, while financially successful, had a very negative reception and effectively tanked his career. This isn’t meant to say anything about Lilo & Stitch 2, but it was too interesting to not mention.

While I would whole-heartedly recommend the original Lilo & Stitch, I can’t necessarily say the same for Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. Some audiences may get some enjoyment out of seeing their favorite characters on the screen once more, but you won’t miss out on too much if you ignore it.