I took 7 tweens to see 'Lilo & Stitch.' Tears were shed, blue snacks were eaten and fart jokes were enjoyed.

Yahoo

a day ago

Hello there, Yahoo Entertainment readers. My name is Suzy Byrne, and I've been covering entertainment in this space for over a decade — and longer elsewhere, but … details!
While I work with many A+ cinephiles here, I'm the first to tell you I'm not one of them. My dad tried hard by getting me to watch Hitchcock movies as a child, but — blame my seeing The Birds at age 5 — I've grown into the moviegoer who only goes to the big, buzzy films (bonus points for comedy) mostly, so I'm not left out of the group chat.
Since I had a child, though, I've made it a point to see as many kid-friendly movies as possible. Maybe it's because I'm a big kid ✔ and I like a cheerful resolution ✔. But also, as a busy working parent, is there greater joy than getting two hours to turn off your phone, put up your feet and eat whatever you want — while your child is fully entertained?!
So that's what this is — one entertainment reporter + her 10-year-old child + usually a group of friends (two words: silent playdate!) seeing family-friendly fare on the big screen, indulging in film-themed treats and replying all, to you, about the experience. Welcome to kids' movie club.
An adult just walked into the theater wearing a full-on Stitch costume. I must be in the right place.
On the day that megahit Lilo & Stitch opened, I gathered my ohana — or chosen family — to see Disney's live-action adaptation about an orphaned girl, Lilo (Maia Kealoha), raised in Hawaii by her under-resourced big sister, Nani (Sydney Agudong), after the death of their parents.
Lilo, who's lonely and struggling with her new reality, befriends a house-destroying but adorable genetically engineered alien fugitive, Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders, as in the original), who teaches them the meaning of family.
This was one of those movies where everyone I invited said yes — thanks to that cute and fluffy little blue guy who's a sweeter and less demonic version of the Gremlins of my youth. We were a plus-size viewing party of 11 — seven tweens (ages 9-10) and four adults (my husband and two mom friends) — at a Look Cinema dine-in theater.
The big humans were hopeful it would be good. We all knew the broad strokes of the story, based on the 2002 original animated film, and that director Dean Fleischer Camp (Marcel the Shell With Shoes On) knows how to tug at the heartstrings. Even the one Disney employee in our group was excited for the movie, not exhausted by internal company hype.
The little humans expected it to be a masterpiece — well, based on the merch they rolled into the theater with. There were big-eared Stitch plushies all around for the kids and Pez dispensers featuring Stitch or his girlfriend, Angel. One girl in our crew wore a sweatshirt with Scrump, Lilo's rag doll. Upping our swag, a mom — who did not join for the movie — sewed all the kids custom Lilo & Stitch pouches that Etsy buyers, and probably the adult wearing the Stitch costume, would go cuckoo for. One of the girls made the others bracelets.
We fit right in with our surroundings. The girl sitting next to me, who wasn't part of our group, had on a Stitch T-shirt and carried the same live-action plush as our crew. There was also a baby one row in front of us and mostly asleep (thankfully) during the movie in a Lilo & Stitch top.
With the food dye ban coming, I greenlit as a last hurrah a Galactic Popcorn (regular popcorn with blue M&Ms) and an Aloha Blue Breeze (a mix of lemonade, Sprite and nonalcoholic blue curaçao). The popcorn was as expected, but the drink was surprisingly good.
The one negative was the light-up ice cubes, which were unexpectedly bright, so the entire theater had a blue glow going. Though they were not bright enough to illuminate the QR on my tray table when I needed to reorder food in the dark, halfway through the movie. (Why is scanning those things so annoying?)
My editor alerted me that the movie would be emotional — and it was. The kids expected the dead parents — the norm for, like, every Disney movie, am I right? — having seen the original movie and the TV series. There was a suspenseful near-drowning scene, but we knew the House of Mouse wasn't going to kill off a title character. The ending — which has been somewhat controversial — was a tearjerker, however. (What I'll say is: Thank goodness for portal guns and teleportation. And: Isn't higher education something to celebrate?)
Throughout the film there's a looming social services caseworker (Tia Carrere, who played Nani in the original) reminding that Lilo could be taken from Nani at any minute. That came more into focus at the end — amid a pile of medical bills — so did the prospect of Lilo and Stitch potentially being separated, despite the 'family means nobody gets left behind' mantra.
The end led to a household milestone when my daughter — who reached out to hold my hand, in front of friends, but spared of embarrassment by darkness — shed a tear for the first time watching a movie. That was nothing compared to my sweet adult friend, who was still crying after the credits (which are worth staying for) rolled and we walked to the lobby. She said it was a good cry though, a cathartic release.
During the movie I had to accompany a child to the bathroom. During a slow handwashing, she informed me that she didn't need to rush because she was going to see the movie again that weekend. The interlude led to me missing the Angel cameo, among the many fun easter eggs. If I learned anything from this day, it's that the kids really like Stitch's little pink girlfriend and would have liked more of her.
What got the most laughs from the kids was — no surprise — anything fart, burp or diarrhea related. I saw one of the kids we took to the movie four days later and the first thing she did was recite the Lilo line, 'The only superpower that I have is that sometimes when I run too fast, I fart.'
The kids also loved mischievous Stitch's quest for cake and thirst for lava lamp juice, seeing the 'Ice Cream Man,' all animal sightings (goat, frogs), multi-eyed Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) being called a 'hairy potato' and one-eyed alien Pleakley (Billy Magnussen) becoming part of the family.
This adult loved the music — Elvis, Elvis, Elvis. The soundtrack features almost all of the songs from the original movie. I learned that the young love of 'Uptown Funk' still runs deep in elementary schools, 10 years after its release.
I was also a superfan of the use of the original voice actors, which shows the attention to detail and nod to nostalgia while still moving the franchise forward. Also, seeing Hawaii on the big screen was like a mini mental vacation. As one adult told me, every beach scene swept them a million miles away — if only temporarily, being snapped back to reality with near-drowning scenes and underwater goodbyes. Though another said: It also showed that it's not necessarily easy to live in paradise.
My husband pointed out that this is the first film he's seen in which jumper cables saved a life — well, alien 626's life — and neither of us remembered breath spray being in a movie since the '90s. The folks who make Binaca must be delighted.
While the kids couldn't stop laughing at the fart joke, my favorite line was more sentimental about how 'sometimes family isn't perfect' and that it's OK. I mean — that's pretty much the motto at our house.
On the ride home, I tried to listen in on the kid convo in the back. They burst into laughter talking about all the dead moms in Disney movies ('I'm starting to think that all the people who made those movies were too lazy to add moms,' said one girl) and how so many of the early Disney princesses look alike. ('There are so many blonde ladies who wear pink, blue or purple,' said another.)
My daughter talked about crying in the movie, comparing Lilo saying goodbye to Stitch recently losing a family pet. A friend supportively replied, 'I didn't shed a tear, but I was about to.' Another said, 'It's OK — we all cry from time to time.'
Spoken like a kid in touch with their feelings — probably from seeing Inside Out 2.
Both the big and small members of our group seemed most excited by the Zootopia 2 and Bad Guys 2 trailers. Makes sense — everyone in our group had seen the originals. Zootopia originally came out in 2016, so the anticipation for a sequel has been building. Bad Guys is also such a popular book series that the kids want more.
No. 3 was Elio, about the boy who wants to be abducted by aliens because he feels like he doesn't fit in on Earth, which is relatable for all ages.
There wasn't as big of a reaction to Superman (maybe if there were more boys?) or Karate Kid: Legends from the kids. Mom here was a different story about the latter, as Ralph Macchio's face covered the walls of my childhood bedroom. It's next on my viewing schedule.
The theater didn't show the How to Train Your Dragon live-action trailer, unless I missed it while ordering seven popcorns, pretzel bites, mini pizzas and those blinding drinks my eyes are still adjusting from, but the kids talked about it nonstop on the ride there. Dragon love remains strong among tweens, so Universal must know: If they build it — in this case, the land of Berk — the kids will come.
These ones will, for sure.