LILO & STITCH

Yes — and gladly. LILO & STITCH is one of Disney's genuine delights: a strange, funny, tender story about a grieving little girl, an exhausted big sister, and an alien weapon of mass destruction who all end up needing the same thing — a family that won't quit on them. The animation is beautiful, the Elvis-soaked soundtrack is a joy, and the movie earns its happy ending instead of just declaring one.

It isn't spotless. There's cartoon action violence — exploding ships, lasers, brief fights — plus a couple of light "butt" jokes and two brief comic detours into evolution and voodoo that Christian parents will want to be ready to address. None of it is heavy, but it's there, and it's why this isn't a movie for the very young.

For older kids and up, though, this is a family movie in the truest sense — and a good one. Watch it together, and talk about the parts that need talking about.

Lilo is a lonely little girl on a Hawaiian island, raised by her overwhelmed older sister after their parents' death. Meanwhile, in a distant galaxy, an illegal genetic experiment called #626 — built for chaos — escapes custody and crash-lands on Earth, right on their island. Stripped of his memory and hunted by the agents sent to recapture him, #626 disguises himself as a stray puppy. Lilo adopts him at the animal shelter, names him Stitch, and takes him home — with no idea what she's actually invited into her family.

Four stars, and it's earned. The animation is genuinely beautiful, the storytelling moves with real confidence, and the Elvis Presley soundtrack gives the whole film a warmth and personality that sets it apart from other Disney comedies of its era. It's also worth noting that the character designs favor believable, imperfect bodies rather than idealized ones — a small but real craft choice.

The comedy lands, the emotional beats land, and the film manages to be laugh-out-loud funny and genuinely moving in the same scene more than once. This is confident, well-made family animation from start to finish.

What this film exalts is family — not the family you're born with, necessarily, but the one you choose and fight for. Lilo's belief in "Ohana," the Hawaiian word for family, is the moral center of the whole story, and the film treats love, perseverance, commitment, and redemption as things worth building a life around. In one important scene, Lilo prays that God would restore her family and send her a friend who won't leave — and the film frames Stitch, however strange an answer, as exactly that.

The film isn't perfect in its worldview. There are two brief, comic references to evolution — a Councilwoman is shown a cartoon of humans evolving from slime — and a scene where Lilo, feeling excluded by other children, plays with a "Practical Voodoo" book in a moment played for laughs but slightly unsettling underneath the comedy. These are light touches in an otherwise strong film, not the film's center of gravity, but parents should know they're there.

What lingers longest is the ache at the heart of the story: a lonely child longing for a home that won't fall apart. Scripture speaks straight into that longing — "God settles the solitary in a home" (Psalm 68:6). Lilo's prayer, and the strange family that answers it, is a small, funny echo of that promise.

LILO & STITCH earns its place as one of Disney's warmest, funniest family films — a story about two outcasts who save each other and find "Ohana" along the way. A handful of light jokes about evolution and voodoo, plus some cartoon action, are worth a quick word with your kids, but they don't outweigh a movie this well-made and this good-hearted. Our answer: worth the trip — ages 8 and up.