Without a glitch

"Lilo & Stitch's" ohana
returns largely intact for a
direct-to-DVD sequel

Thank the concept of ohana for helping provide the 3-year-old "Lilo & Stitch" franchise with plausibility, realism, longevity and "heart," one of the film's creators said yesterday.

But there is such a thing as too nice, and the creators of the film didn't want too much sweetness in the DVD sequel, "Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch."

Chris Sanders, the voice of the blue alien creature Stitch and one of the founders of the Walt Disney Pictures' "Lilo" franchise, said he was concerned that a new set of directors would be "too precious with the characters."

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Gathered at the Turtle Bay Resort to celebrate the launching of "Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch" are, back row, director/writers Anthony Leondis, left, and Michael LaBash, producer Chris Chase and David Ogden Stiers, the voice of Jumba. In the front are Jason Scott Lee, voice of David, left; Chris Sanders, voice of Stitch; and Kevin McDonald, voice of Pleakley.

DISNEY ENTERPRISES You can match some of these characters with their voice actors doing the shaka above. In the back row are Jumba, left, David, Lani and Pleakley. In front are Stitch and Lilo. They compete in a hula competition in "Stitch Has a Glitch."

If anything, Stitch in "Glitch" might even be more mean-spirited, though for a shorter time.

Disney gave the DVD a glitzy launch last night, with a red-carpet celebration and a private outdoor screening at the Turtle Bay Resort. Earlier in the day, several of the voice actors and filmmakers met with 75 reporters brought in from all over the country to help publicize the DVD.

Sanders recounted the way the original film found its heart.

DISNEY ENTERPRISES The new "Lilo & Stitch" DVD will be released Aug. 30.

"We were stuck on finding a way to transform Stitch from this often malevolent, alien creature to something nice, until we learned about ohana," he said.

Sanders and some Disney animators visited Kauai, where Stitch's spacecraft crashes. Before then, Stitch was supposed to crash-land in rural Kansas. (In the new DVD, Kauai is finally identified by name.)

"Two things came together in oddly separate ways," said Sanders. "We were visiting Hawaii to capture its color on paper and film, and all the time I was trying to figure out how to link the family -- big sister Nani and little sister Lilo -- with this creature.

"Stitch was a villain who would get to be a hero. But after our first screening we knew there had to be a reason why this creature makes that change. There had to be something about Lilo that captures Stitch's imagination."

Near the end of the Kauai visit, the plot solution "just flashed," he said.

"Stitch is the ultimate orphan, and Lilo is the ultimate family person," he said.

Sanders directed the first "Lilo & Stitch," a major theatrical release. The DVD was directed by Tony Leondis and Michael LaBash, who visited Kauai three years ago, just before production began. The new project also has a new Lilo, Dakota Fanning ("War of the Worlds" and "Hide & Seek"), replacing Daveigh Chase.

Fanning's voice work began three years ago, LaBash said: "It was wonderful to see her grow from 8 to 11, but it also included some surprises."

When the directors traveled to New York for a recording session, they discovered that Fanning had lost two front teeth, causing a lisp on some sounds.

"We had a retainer of two teeth made for her so she could sound like her earlier recordings," LaBash said.

After the release of the film in 2002, Disney found itself with a new animated property that spiraled into characters at the company's theme parks, videos and a cartoon series.

A second cartoon series, "Leroy & Stitch," is in development, but Disney won't talk about details, not even to explain who Leroy will be. But the story will always be set in Hawaii, the filmmakers said.

Reporters at yesterday's question-and-answer session asked Jason Scott Lee, the voice of Nani's boyfriend, David, how well the movie reflected Hawaii.

Lee, who lives on the Big Island, said the authenticity brought him back for the DVD, although he did not participate in the television series.

"I felt the movie had a lot of quality and certainly didn't caricature the local culture," he said. "The cartoon was not as rich, and there would have been a lot of time commitment I didn't want to make."

Lee also said he appreciated that all three directors were open to how pidgin should "really sound."

Among the cultural points that the filmmakers were careful to depict was the hula.

Sanders said the first time he saw hula, "I knew it was something very serious and not to mess around with it."

The animators used videos of halaus to duplicate the dance in animation and were told there was no room for interpretation, he said.

The hula featured in the new DVD was choreographed by kumu Kunewa Mook of Hula Halau O Kamuela.

"We knew the Hawaiian culture is very specific, especially when it comes to the dance," said producer Christopher Chase. "We made it a priority to get it right."

Actor David Ogden Stiers, who plays Jumba and has done more than a half-dozen voice-overs for Disney animated characters, said that after doing the first film, video, cartoon series and now the DVD, "I'm grasping ohana."

"I understand it in the concept of the story, but also, interestingly, as I get older I am growing into having a less instant knee-jerk, judgmental reaction to a variety of people," Stiers said.

It is a testament to the project that so many of those connected to the first film are back for the sequel, Stiers said. "In this business that's remarkable.

"Thank you, Stitch."

STAR BULLETIN / 2002 Tia Carrere and co-star Jason Scott Lee were together when the original "Lilo & Stitch" premiered in Florida.

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Life brings many changes
for little Lilo’s big sister

A lot's changed for Tia Carrere since 2002, when she gave voice to the character of Nani Pelekai in Disney's "Lilo & Stitch."

Carrere, 38, divorced her husband of seven years, appeared nude in a Playboy layout, married photojournalist Simon Wakelin and is expecting her first child -- a girl -- Sept. 22.

"My baby girl is my biggest production ever," jokes Carrere, who wasn't able to attend yesterday's launch celebration for the DVD release of "Lilo & Stitch: Stitch Has a Glitch." Her due date is so close she can't travel.

"I wanted to be there so much, but I wasn't taking a chance of having this child over the Pacific," Carrere said.

Carrere continued her "Stitch" legacy with the 2003 "Lilo & Stitch" television cartoon series. She and her friend Jason Scott Lee, who plays David, Nani's boyfriend, were the only ones in the original "Lilo" cast who didn't have to audition.

"We're the only people they knew who could speak pidgin," says Carrere, who describes Nani as "very cool. ... She's strong, tough, loving, a tita, even. She doesn't take guff from anyone.

"Nani's taken up the role of both parents, but she has her flaws because she's a young woman."

Does Carrere's art imitate her personality?

"Am I bossy? Yeah!" she says, laughing. "Do I yell? No. Am I a tita? Well, only when I bus' out the pidgin ..."

This time around, Carrere plays Nani "more over the top ... manic and crazy." The directors gave her a lot of freedom, she says, because she knows the character so well.

Carrere says "Lilo" is "a very modern tale."

"A single woman raising a child, even with crazy housemates. A lot of women relate to it."