Disney's 'Best Animated Movie Of The 2000s' Has Just Turned 20

Lilo & Stitch turned 20 this month and fans are remembering the Disney hit on Twitter, calling it ‘the best animated movie of the 2000s’.

Released in June 2002, Lilo & Stitch follows a young girl named Lilo who lives in Hawaii and adopts a peculiar-looking pet that she presumes is a dog. Lilo names the creature – who is actually an alien – Stitch.

In true Disney fashion, a cheerful and heartwarming tale about the importance of family ensues, cementing the animation as a fan favourite. 

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Taking to Twitter to mark the flick’s milestone birthday, one person wrote: “Lilo And Stitch is genuinely the best movie of all time.”

Another penned: “Happy 20th anniversary to Lilo and Stitch, which will forever be one of the best Disney movies I’ve ever seen,” while a third added: “Lilo and Stitch came out 20 years ago. I remember my best friend’s mom taking us to see it in theaters when we were in middle school. It instantly became my favourite Disney movie, and still is.”

Someone else tweeted: “LILO AND STITCH BEST DISNEY ANIMATION FIGHT ME!” One said: “Lilo and Stitch I think is perhaps the best Disney movie of this millennia.”

Another social media user wrote: “Lilo and Stitch is twenty years old now, and still one of the greatest animated features ever.”

To mark the film’s 20th anniversary, Lilo & Stitch co-director Chris Sanders recently spoke to the New York Times and shared his ‘frustration’ over the fact that Disney film Frozen – which is about two estranged sisters – has been hailed as a celebration of sisterhood over romance, something Sanders said Lilo & Stitch did first.

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“To be clear, I think Frozen’s great, but it was a little bit frustrating for me because people were like, ‘Finally, a nonromantic relationship with these two girls’, and I thought, ‘We did that! That has absolutely been done before’,” Sanders explained.

In Lilo & Stitch, Lilo is being cared for by her older sister Nani after their parents died in a car crash.

Stitch’s crash-landing on earth puts Lilo and Nani’s relationship to the test, but eventually, the pair are reunited and her sister keeps guardianship of Lilo.

Many Lilo & Stitch fans have praised the characters’ depth, for example, the fact that Lilo is portrayed as feeling misunderstood while Nani’s determination is never shaken, despite things not always going her way.

Producer Clark Spencer explained: “When the film came out, that’s what a lot of critics talked about. Those moments that were based in reality in a way that people could see themselves in, and it didn’t feel like they were cartoon characters.”

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