A few weeks ago, my husband and I were in the store when my daughter spotted this movie – at first blush, I thought it was some poor Disney knockoff, but when I realized what it actually was – I felt sad. Leroy and Stitch is an animated film that concludes the Lilo & Stitch series that aired on the Disney channel from 2003 to 2006.
The series was a spin-off of 2002’s Lilo & Stitch and followed the adventures of Lilo; the Hawaiian girl who befriended Stitch, an experiment gone awry and their friendship helped them both to overcome some fairly strong negative traits. This utterly charming series managed to stay fresh throughout its run and I loved to sit and watch it with my daughter and nephew.
The Experiments
The movie Leroy & Stitch acknowledges that the personal quest of Stitch (also known as experiment 626) and Lilo to locate all 625 other experiments and set them up in a place they can call home has succeeded. In reward, Lilo, Stitch and other series favorites like Jumba and Pleakley are rewarded for their work. This family of misfits (make no mistake, they became very much a family for Lilo and her sister Nani)is given new titles, a return to former lives and more.
But they’re plans to move on are about to be put awry by the jealousy of Gantu, the disgraced officer who spent three years desperately trying to catch Stitch and when that proved unsuccessful, he tried to capture and destroy the other experiments.
I’m not going to spoil the plot, though you may have already seen the film when it aired on the Disney Channel on June 23 and later on Toon Disney on June 26th. It is also available on DVD. There are plenty of Disney inside jokes including a blink and you’ll miss it appearance of Timon and Pumba from The Lion King.
I will say that this series never failed to deliver and the quality from the first theatrical release to the series on the Disney Channel to the direct to DVD released feature films remained consistently high! It’s a real treat and a perfect crown to complete the adventure that began in 2002.
Other Films in the Lilo & Stitch series include:
So I say, Aloha Lilo and Stitch – thank you for teaching my daughter O’hana – which means family and no one gets left behind. Have you followed Lilo & Stitch on their adventures?