Lilo & Stitchwas a 2002 Disney movie about a Hawaiian girl named Lilo, who is raised by her sister Nani after their parents' untimely deaths. Their lives are turned upsidedown when the alien creature Experiment 626, nicknamed “Stitch,” crashes nearby and uses their family to hide. Lilo adopts Stitch as their new “dog.”
Given Lilo’s boisterous and bold attitude that is bigger than she is, and Stitch’s mischievous but adorable antics, they becomeone of Disney’s best duosever, stealing the hearts of fans and spawning multiple sequels, as well as a TV series which aired for two seasons. The franchise is so integrated into pop culture tha Jacob Elordi commented thatthis show is where he knew Elvis fromin interviews about his recent moviePriscilla.
With the inevitablelive remake of the film coming in 2024, and the 20th anniversary of the Disney TV series this year, it is a perfect time to revisit the lovable franchise and celebrate the best moments ofLilo & Stitch.
9Pleakley and Jumba —Lilo & Stitch: TheSeries (2003-2006)
Jumba is the scientist who illegally created Stitch and all his cousins and is tasked by the United Galactic Federation with collecting the only known hatched experiment, Stitch. Pleakley is a United Galactic Federation agent who is sent along with Jumba to keep him in line on Earth. The duo couldn’t be more different: Jumba is large, loud, and brash, whereas Pleakley is cautious, gangly, and frantic. Despite their differences, the duo decides on Earth that they will disguise themselves as a human couple. This undercover couple could be interpreted asone of Disney’s first LGBT+ couples.
Why It’s a Great Moment
These over-the-top and completely unbelievable costumes have created some hilarious moments, especially because they think their disguises pass much better than they actually do. One of Jumba and Pleakley’s best moments happens in the first movie when they are out in disguise before they become a part of Lilo’s family, and Pleakley is attacked by Stitch, who is in a particularly vicious mood. Stitch bites Pleakley and gets his whole head into his mouth, only unlatching after various efforts, resulting in Nani pouring a drink pitcher over his head. When he finally does release, Pleakley tries to play it off as casually as if he had toilet paper on his shoe, with the black bob wig he’s wearing never budging an inch.
8Experiment 624 —Lilo & Stitch: TheSeries (2003-2006)
The episode “Angel: Experiment 624” of theLilo & Stitchseries introduces Angel, a recurring character in later episodes. Although Angel was originally recruited by Gantu and his boss to use her song for evil, she eventually comes around to the right side. When Stitch sees Angel face-to-face for the first time, he is gawking and frozen, trying to croak out the word hi. For the rest of the episode, he is mystified by her, even though he is unaffected by her hypnotism.
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One of the best moments of this episode happens when Stitch is falling all over Angel and Lilo is jealous. She drags Stitch out of the room, claiming she needs help with her slug circus. Her jealousy, paired with Stitch’s humanlike infatuation, on top of the fact that Lilo is organizing a circus of slugs, makes this a sweet moment in the franchise.
7Grilled Cheese —Lilo & Stitch: TheSeries (2003-2006)
Despite being the henchman of Captain Gantu, 625 isnot a very bad villain. With his main interests being sandwiches and lazy days, he is an anti-hero who occasionally helps Lilo and Stitch if it means getting them out of his hair and getting back to sandwiches. Most moments he’s onscreen are made more hilarious and more infuriating to the characters by way of his one-track mind. One specific, sandwich-centric moment stands out from the rest. There is an electrical short on the ship that he resides in with Gantu, and 625 is complaining that Gantu didn’t get him any bologna, just cheese.
In the exact moment he complains, an electrical current zaps the cheese and bread he discarded onto the dashboard, perfectly grilling them. To which 625 exclaims, “Grilled cheese!” and immediately digs in. The addition of this character to theLilo and Stitchseries added an element of comedy that can be understood by younger viewers but also enjoyed by their parents.
6Gantu —Lilo & Stitch: TheSeries (2003-2006)
Fans don’t give enough credit to Gantu when they reminisce aboutLilo and Stitch. He was a villain, but arguably one of the funniest Disney villains. From having a goofy, useless sidekick to getting flustered easily, he was just doing his best. He didn’t try to be funny and hated being laughed at, which only made him funnier. He continues as a presence in the show, and is the butt of many jokes throughout.
The best moment of Gantu’s happens in the very first episode of the series when he asks a few locals if they noticed anything unusual today, and they tell him he is the only unusual thing they’ve seen today. They respond and unashamedly ask, “Why are you so big?” These jokes are made funnier with time, because the Internet has looked back on Gantu and decided that he was a very handsome alien indeed.
5Sibling Duo of the Century —Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch(2005)
Lilo and Stitch often get themselves into trouble throughout the movies and the show, and each mischievous moment is funnier than the last. Some silly moments Lilo and Stitch that clue viewers in that they are more like siblings include when he tried to blend a smoothie with the lid off, when he got stuck in the laundry bin with underwear on his head, or when she accidentally gave him a bottle full of coffee.
While these moments plant the idea thattheir relationship is more like siblingsthan owner and pet, one moment solidifies that more than anything.
In the second movie,Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitchwhen they are bickering, and Lilo holds her finger an inch from Stitch’s face, causing Stitch to lose his mind, wanting her to stop touching him. She protests, saying that she isn’t actually touching him, which results in him mimicking her like a little brother. After a second, he loses his patience and, slobbering, he licks up the side of her face, resulting in a rolling tussle between the two.
This is one of the best moments because, even though it’s a funny moment in a movie made for kids, it deepens Lilo and Stitch’s relationship. When they first met, Lilo was always trying to contain Stitch and keep him out of trouble, but by this point, Stitch could behave most of the time, and they’d been a duo for so long that he knew how to get under her skin and get her to misbehave with him.
4Social Worker Visit —Lilo & Stitch(2002)
During a surprise visit from a social worker with the perfect name of Cobra Bubbles, Lilo and Nani basically do everything wrong. Cobra Bubbles enters, and in an effort by Nani to hide a picture Lilo drew of her looking sad and alone, Bubbles sees pots on the stove boiling over after she just mentioned she was running out of the house for an errand. He is dissatisfied that she would leave Lilo alone, and even more so that she would leave the stove on with Lilo alone at home. When it seems like it couldn’t get worse, Lilo comes in and misinterprets Nani’s hand gestures and tells Bubbles that she gets punished often with bricks before retreating into the other room and doing a voodoo doll ritual of drowning her friends in pickle juice.
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The chaos involved is the last thing someone wants during a surprise social worker visit, and it’s only funny because Nani is actually a good guardian for Lilo. This scene was a standout moment in the movie for parents watching and for viewers as they grew up and rewatched, because it perfectly captured the feeling of everything going wrong at the wrong time in front of the wrong people.
In the very beginning of Stitch’s story, he is lost on a foreign planet and doesn’t know where to go. He wanders around outside in the rain and learns the word “lost” from reading a book about the Ugly Duckling, which he relates to instantly. While this sequence is sad, Stitch is adorable in it, and clips from this sequence have been reposted countless times. He wakes up to a stir as Jumba is hunting him down, and Stitch tells him that he’s looking for his family, to which Jumba cruelly responds that he doesn’t have a family.
This scene from theLilo and Stitchmovie introduces Stitch as a forgivable monster who we can sympathize with, and lets him get away with bad behavior in the eyes of viewers because he’s so cute. Getting to see him like this lets us fall in love with him before he meets Lilo, who of course sees his sweet side instantly as well.
2Elvis —Lilo & Stitch(2002)
The music of Elvis Presley was often played in the series and movies, showing it was clearly loved by Lilo and Nani. As Nani is trying to find a job, Lilo teaches Stitch about Elvis as if he is a student of hers, just as diligently as she attempts to make him into a model citizen. He picks it up quickly and begins dancing with her using classic Elvis moves. He picks up the guitar even faster, then gets decked out in a white jumpsuit and wig to entertain touristson the beach with Elvis' music.
Seeing Stitch dressed up as Elvis is undeniably cute. Perhaps the best part of the scene is when Lilo wakes up her sister with the discovery that Stitch can play music from his mouth by putting his claw on a record. While it only lasts a moment, it shows that even though sometimes he is destructive, Stitch listens to Lilo. Furthermore, it shows that all the Elvis music has gotten to him, and his love of Elvis solidifies him even further as part of the family. Not only is the moment adorable knowing Elvis’s music is such a big part of Lilo and Nani’s lives, but knowing this scene is what introduced Jacob Elordi to the rock and roll legend he recently portrayed adds a layer of magic to the already wonderful moment.
1Ohana —Lilo & Stitch(2002)
“Ohana” is one of the central themes ofLilo and Stitch,and has become one of the most memorable parts of the franchise. It is established in the first movie that “Ohana means family, and family means nobody is left behind or forgotten.” This theme that family can be chosen and is determined by loving each other, not by how much money they have or how perfect life is, or even what species they are, was a big statement to make in the early 2000s even if it didn’t seem like it at the time.
The best moment in Lilo and Stitch happens in the first movie when the Grand Counselwoman of the United Galactic Federation tries to take Stitch away, and instead of arguing, he asks if he can say goodbye to his family, then explains that even though his family is small and broken, they are what he has, and that’s enough. This scene shows how far Stitch has come from the destructive alien monster he was at the start. It is aheartwarming moment with a timeless messagethat makes Lilo and Stitch infinitely re-watchable.
