The following is a review of the theatrical release of Lilo and Stitch originally posted at The Truth Laid Bear. I am currently restraining myself from buying the DVD (which was just released on December 3rd) — it's on my Christmas list — but once I do get it, I'll do another review...

I'm not a huge modern-era Disney fan. Little Mermaid was fun; everything else since I could pretty much take or leave. Didn't even bother with Mulan and Atlantis; although Emperor's New Groove was a blast.

But Lilo and Stich... this one's a classic.

I first encountered Stitch in one of the many mini-preview "inter-Stitch-als" that Disney released on the Web in the leadup to the release --- starting way back about six months ago. It was a takeoff on Beauty and the Beast, which Stitch crawls out on a chandelier to observe Beauty and her Beast dancing gracefully through the ballroom --- and then proceeds to come crashing down in the middle of the dance floor, nearly squashing the pair.

Beauty dusts herself off, raises her nose and sniffs, "I'll be in my room --- Get your own movie," walking off stage --- and Stitch, muttering something incompressible in his own odd language, then gives an unmistakable wolf-whistle as the fair lady passes out of sight.

I was hooked. I liked this little guy's style.

And it only got better. Watching the Interstitchals that followed, and the full length preview that eventually came after them, gave tantalizing glimpses of a film that combined beautiful handpainted animation with a central character who embodied fun in a way that I hadn't seen in a Disney flick --- or any other --- in ages; if ever.

So when I finally saw the film last weekend, I expected to have a good time. I expected to laugh; I expected to revel in Stitch's blithe disregard for all civilized norms of behavior and his sheer perverse joy in wreaking havoc on the world around him.

What I didn't expect was to be touched. The goddamn thing actually brought tears to my eyes.