DISNEY From left, Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders), Nani (Tia Carrere) and Lilo (Daveigh Chase) catch a wave in "Lilo and Stitch," set for release in June.

Voices from
the Islands

"Lilo and Stitch" features
a couple of familiar voices
from Kauai, sort of

---

By Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.com

"Lilo and Stitch," Walt Disney Pictures' full-length animated film about a young Hawaiian girl's adventures on Kauai, will be one of the studio's major summer releases.

The film, tentatively scheduled to open June 21, uses the voices of Daveigh Chase (Lilo), Jason Scott Lee (David, a muscular surfboard salesman), Tia Carrere (Lilo's sister Nani), Kevin McDonald (Pleakley, a bounty hunter), David Ogden Stiers (Jumba, a bounty hunter), Ving Rhames (Cobra Bubbles) and Laurie Metcalf-Mell (a maid in Lilo's home).

The other title character, Stitch, is also called Project 626, a space creature with six legs -- that otherwise could pass for a dog -- that resulted from a genetic experiment. Lilo takes Stitch home, where the alien develops a love for ohana.

DISNEY In the animated tale set on Kauai, Lilo adopts Stitch, an "ugly dog" that would be the perfect pet if he were not an alien genetic experiment. The film marks a return to Disney's old-fashioned watercolor style of the '30s and'40s.

The film, which was shown last month to a select audience at the Dole Cannery theaters, is directed by Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois with the story by Sanders. There has been no mention of a premiere or special showings in Hawaii.

According to Deblois, the animated characters are "very cute and very roundish," similar to Disney's classic '30s and early '40s style, enhanced by watercolor backgrounds, which Disney abandoned after "Dumbo."

Hawaii won out over Kansas as the story's location after the Disney production team spent a week here scouting, meeting with locals including Kamehameha Schools personnel for historical accuracy and surfers Kelly Slater and Malia Jones for the surfing sequences, and painting the scenes in both oil and watercolor, sources said. The team decided they wanted the film to have a bright color palette and the feeling of light that Hawaii provides.

Watercolor was selected to create the softness, without hard edges or straight lines.

A year was spent teaching the background artists the watercolor style to keep the feeling of light and color they saw here, sources said. The production team also interviewed Maurice Noble, one of the original watercolor painters on "Snow White," then studied Disney animated films from the 1930s including "Hawaiian Holiday" and "Through the Mirror."

Hawaii also is honored in the movie's only original song, "Aloha Spirit."

Carerre spent about two years working on the film, dubbing her voice from locations like Los Angeles, Paris and Toronto. She told Prevue Magazine that "Lilo & stitch" is a "much heavier film than you've ever seen from Disney" because the girl's parents are missing.

"You just sort of infer that it's the older sister taking care of the younger sister," she said. "My character is working hard, trying to get jobs, and there is a social services worker checking on the welfare of the child.

"I'm constantly trying to keep my head above water so that Social Services doesn't take my sister away."

Carerre, as Nani, sings Queen Lili'uokalani's "Aloha 'Oe" to Lilo in the film.

While she was working on "Relic Hunter" some 90 minutes outside of Toronto, the Disney folks stopped by the set to have her record a few lines for the film.

"I was working at a rock quarry ... and there was huge machinery passing by," she said. "We had this whole recording setup in the trailer, and we were waiting for the rock quarry trucks to pass so we (could) get one clean line."

Likewise, Disney traveled to London, where Jason Scott Lee was performing, to record him.

Although Carrere's character doesn't look like her, Disney videotaped her speaking so they could see how her face and mouth moved. The actor said she provided her character with a lot of "Hawaiianisms."

"I asked them if they wanted pidgin, since this was supposed to be Hawaiian, and they said, 'Sure, as long as we can understand it,'" she said. "So, I started improvising some dialogue. I gave them some local Hawaiianisms that would still hold up to the general public but that (would give) local Hawaiians a chuckle."

One sequence may be eliminated from the film because of the Sept. 11 terrorist bombing. The original climax of the film apparently was built around the notion that a cute alien would sneak on board a 747, then take the jumbo jet for a joy ride through the towers of downtown Honolulu.

As for the film's music, Wynonna Judd's version of the Elvis Presley hit "Burning Love" will be featured in the last moments of the film as well as over the end title, sources said. The recording will also be included on the film's soundtrack with several other Presley originals, including "Hound Dog" and "Heartbreak Hotel."

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