An artist's negative opinion about the 2002 Disney animated film Lilo & Stitch has Twitter up in arms. The artist criticized the character Lilo, decrying her as a brat who's ungrateful for the sacrifices her older sister, Nani, makes. This take promotes a narrowly moralistic view of the movie while ignoring its context and deeper nuances, which actually make Lilo & Stitch an underrated classic and the best animated movie of the 2000s.
The plot of Lilo & Stitch revolves around an exiled alien, referred to as Experiment 626, who crash lands on an island in Hawaii. He is a genetic experiment created to cause destruction, but he's inadvertently adopted by a girl named Lilo, who rechristens him Stitch. Lilo recently lost her parents in a car accident and is now under the guardianship of her older sister. They're the only family they have left, and Nani desperately tries to prove to a probing social worker that she's a responsible caregiver. However, Stitch and the aliens searching for him cause numerous mishaps for the sisters, which almost leads to the pair being separated. Yet, after a hasty rescue, Stitch is allowed to stay on Earth and the Lilo and Nani are reunited, while also gaining some strange new additions to their family.
The characters in Lilo & Stitch are probably the best part of the film. Lilo is a unique protagonist and one of the most relatable characters Disney has ever produced. She is an antisocial 6-year-old girl with strange hobbies and a tendency to misbehave. The artist's controversial take accuses Lilo of being an ungrateful brat and a pain who's constantly throwing tantrums. Despite this criticism, Lilo is honestly the most realistic depiction of a child in a Disney film.
Children, especially those who have recently suffered a tragedy like Lilo has, tend to misbehave and act out. The loss of her parents has traumatized Lilo, and she's lashing out at Nani for trying to take the role of her mother. Sure, Lilo can be a bit of a brat sometimes, but she loves her sister. When Cobra Bubbles nearly takes Lilo away from Nani, it's clear from her scared reaction how much Nani means to her.
What Lilo wants most of all is a friend who won't run away and abandon her. This desire for a companion is granted in the form of Stitch. He's the physical manifestation of many of Lilo's negative traits, heightened to an absurd degree. Yet, what the artist's negative opinion fails to address is that Stitch is ultimately a sympathetic figure rather than a monster that furthers Lilo's bad behavior.
Just like Lilo, Stitch wants to belong and doesn't want to feel alone anymore. At first, Stitch uses Lilo as protection against his pursuers, but he slowly warms up to the girl. He starts to understand what Lilo and Nani have gone through and it makes him empathetic. His friendship with Lilo is what ultimately saves the two, giving them both what they want. Stitch doesn't have to feel alone or forgotten anymore because he finally has a family.
With the death of her parents, Nani has suddenly been thrust into the position of Lilo's legal guardian. Yet, although the critique seems to paint Nani as a dutiful saint, it fails to address how unfit she is as the sole guardian for Lilo. Nani is desperately trying to maintain custody of Lilo because she's the only family Nani has left. As a result, she tries to assume the role of a surrogate mother instead of the elder sister Lilo actually desires.
The responsibility of taking care of Lilo is too heavy for Nani's shoulders alone. And though it would be horrible if Lilo ended up in a foster family, it might have been good for her if the circumstances hadn't changed. Cobra Bubbles shines a light on this when he declares that Nani needs Lilo way more than Lilo needs Nani. In the end, though, Stitch, Jumba and Pleakley's inclusion in the little family relieves Nani of the stress of being solely responsible for Lilo, leaving her free to be the sister Lilo needs.
Lilo & Stitch is a great film due to the strength of its characters and its overall message about family. A good family doesn't leave anybody behind or forget them, and that's a lesson we could all benefit from remembering.