Lilo and Stitch

[ReneeQ]

Don't know if this is the right board, but it is a "family" question.

I am going to visit my sister and nephew next week and was hoping to take him to see Lilo and Stitch. He is 4. My sister informs me this movie is rated PG and she isn't sure if he should go. If they say "bad" words or there is a lot of hitting, etc., he seems to pick those things up and try them out on his friends at school! I think it's just a phase, but she's being careful with what he watches these days and it seems to help.

Has anyone seen this movie yet? What did you think? Why, exactly, is it rated PG and not G?

Thanks!

[ragamuffin]

I took my 2 and 3 year old to see it via a DC preview screening. My son is big into spaceships so he loved those parts, but was a little bored with the "down to earth" parts.

There are no "bad" words, I believe the worst that really stuck out to me was Lilo's sister calling the driver of a car "stupidhead" and kicking the front fender. Lilo also punches and bites a fellow child at the beginning.

There is a lot of sci-fi action at the beginning and the end, which may scare some children, and Stitch can be kind of gross at times (he spits). Those combinations may be why it earned a PG rating.

It is really not your "classic" Disney movie, there are no computer-generated effects (all simple animation), and Elvis IS the soundtrack, with the exception of some Hawaian-themed music.

I would classify the movie as "cute" and maybe 3 out of 5 stars. It has its funny moments, a good message about family/fitting in, and is good for kids and adults alike.

[padams]

I was wondering the same thing. I generally don't allow DSs 4 and 6 to see PG rated movies but make exceptions when I think it is appropriate. Has anyone seen the movie? Any other opinions? Thanks!

[Minnie's Pal]

For it to be rated PG instead of G there has to be a little something in it. I know Shrek is PG and it has several cuss words, so I would assume that is what Lilo & Stitch has. But I am not sure, I haven't seen it. My kids want to see Scooby Doo also, but I have heard it has nudity or something vulgar in it. Anyone seen either movie? What do you think?

[jldriscoll]

A review I read said it was "PG for mild sci-fi action".

[Jordan's MOM]

We saw Scooby Doo last week-end and found it quite scary and a little crude. It is quite different form the simple cartoon scary hummor. My ten year old thought it was cool but it scared my friends 5&7 year olds. The plot is kinda hard to follow. Not at all what we expected. Going to try and catch Lolo and Stitch this next week.

[waltandjulie]

We took our 3 1/2 year old to see Lilo and Stitch. The only thing that I would add to the comments above is that there is some shooting of plasma guns at Stitch, and at others. There also are some more complex themes at the center of the movie (concerning death of the parents and possible break-up of the family). Its all handled delicately in typical Disney fashion. We all enjoyed the movie, and didn't see anything that concerned us too much (but we tend to be fairly liberal in this regard).

;)

[DiznEeyore]

We've now seen L&S two times. I just wanted to reassure everyone there are indeed no bad words, just the sci-fi action and crude behavior previously mentioned. And Stitch *does* reform, getting sweeter as the movie progresses. I'm very conservative (was furious with mil for taking ds to Shrek), but have no problem with ds (9) seeing this (again and again! LOL).

[tmli]

I took my son and his entire class for his 6th birthday. They all loved the movie, however one mom chose not to send her child because of the pg rating. Quite honestly until she mentioned it I didn't even think to check the rating assuming a dis flick would be G. Afterwards I told her about the previously mentioned scenes and she agreed they were mild and is going to take him herself.
I do believe each parent has to make their own choices, I know people who were outraged by Lion King, and the whole dad dying storyline. To each their own!

[Minnie's Pal]

Thanks for the tips. I try to watch out what I let my kids watch b/c I don't want them to pick up on ugly words. I did, however, let them watch Shrek. I had just heard there were ALOT of inappropriate scenes in Scooby Doo, so until it comes out on video and I can preview it before my kids do, we will probably pass on it. We will probably go ahead and see Lilo & Stitch now that I have heard alittle more about it.

[ReneeQ]

Thanks everyone for your help! Still not sure if we're going, as he's only 4. But this helps!

[KathyK]

I took my nephews (8 and 10) to see Lilo and Stitch on Friday. My 7 mo. DD stayed with my MIL. There was no bad language and very little violence. As others have said, it has sci-fi elements which may be scary. My nephews loved the movie, and so did I. The backgrounds were absolute works of art.

--Kathy

[POOH&PIGLET]

My wife and her sister took our 2 1/2 year-old DD to see it. My SIL was surprised at how many times she heard "stupid." All three thought the movie was great.

[Jelly]

You are all so luckly I,m from England, and we have to wait till October to see it.:smooth:

[MosMom]

I'm fairly liberal when it comes to viewing movies (up to PG) but I just wanted to comment on both movies as we have seen them.

Scooby Doo - Didn't have any nudity at all. I really didn't find it to be bad at all but if you have doubts it probably is better to just watch it on video first. I will say that I really enjoyed the fact that nobody died in it. So many kids movies have a death or death scene in them. In typical Scooby Doo fashion the bad guy gets hauled away by the police. No serious violence and violence is generally my biggest concern. I don't recall any foul language either.

Lilo & Stitch - Mild mild violence but nothing worse than watching the Buzz Lightyear cartoon on TV. Stupidhead is said a few times but that is about as close to a bad word as it gets. By the end of the movie *everybody* is a better person and nobody gets impaled (Little Mermaid), blown up (Mulan), thrown into a fiery pit (Lion King), falls off a castle (Beauty & The Beast)...and those are G movies. So when you put things in perspective, the PG rating actually baffles me. It's a really good movie.

But of course, this is all just my humble opinion. :)

[Jelly]

Can,t wait till I see it.:Pinkbounc

[Melissa]

Saw it today with my 4 year old it was fine except for Lilo biting and punching her friend in the face. So if your nephew is very likely to try that out you might want to avoid it. We both teally liked it.

[BounceyOne]

DD (3) has seen L&S and monsters inc. Thats it as far as movies go. She doesn't like the scary characters in disney movies, we read the books.
We did buy the L&S book and read it first. The 'bad' people aren't really scary looking, more funny looking than anything.

I also didn't realize it had a PG rating. I thim=nk all movies should be parental guidance.

Anyway, I recommend this movie. The so called violence is more funny then violent.

[Jelly]

What are the songs like? I might go and see Lilo and Stitch when I come over to America sometime this year.:)

[DiznEeyore]

Originally posted by Jelly
What are the songs like? I might go and see Lilo and Stitch when I come over to America sometime this year.:)
Our family thought the songs were wonderful. We bought the soundtrack and have listened to it over and over. There are several Elvis tunes, two new songs with Hawaiian themes & lyrics (those are my favorite) and then the movie-ending version of "Burning Love" by Wynonna. We loved the music!! :D

[denecarter]

Well, there is one little bit of "foul" language... BUT IT'S IN AN ALIEN LANGUAGE... so you never really now what he's saying. :p

It's at the beginning, at the trial when he is given a chance to speak for himself... the only way you know he said something shocking is because, well, the other characters are shocked. :D

I was giving my nephew 6 a hard time, he just had a birthday and got the Stitch PS2 game... he's been saying that something something Christa phrase from the movie/game because it just sounds neat. I told him he was cussing in alien, but then we laughed about it (just trying to give him a hard time, not ideas).

Anyway, I liked L&S much better than Scooby Doo.

Speaking of Scooby Doo... the Park/Island they went to had attractions called "It's a Dead World" and the "Splatterhorn"... my brother and I also noticed a few drug use gags (like the smoke pouring out of the Mystery Machine and what you hear Scooby and Shaggy saying) and Velma does get drunk I believe (but the Scooby Poo line isn't in the movie).

[BethC]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts on this movie. We haven't gotten around to seeing it yet, but I was also wondering why it was rated PG.

Hopefully we'll get out to see it within the next couple of weeks. :)

[Jelly]

Can Strich talk in a human voice or an alien voice,even though he comes from another planet.

[MosMom]

It's an alien voice but he learns to speak English throughout the movie.

[minivanmomof2]

DH and I just took our boys (ages 4 1/2 and 8) to see Lilo & Stitch today as a matter of fact. CUTE! No cpmplaints!
This was actually our 4 1/2 yr old's first time going to the movies. He's seen live shows at a local theater (Blue's Clues, Scooby Doo,etc).

[lodgelady]

My DD (5) cried during the movie. She felt sad A LOT during this film.
She was not scared, she was overwhelmed with all of the sad emotions arising from various tense situations in the film. There is very little happiness for any of the characters until the end. Other Disney flicks at least had some musical numbers to break up the tension and let you just enjoy the beautiful animation. If your kids are very sensitive, I would think twice about submitting them to LILO and Stitch. BTW, my DS (10) loved this film, so I am not knocking it , just trying to give a heads up.

[2minnies]

Lodgelady, you are right on the money. We loved the movie (DD's 4 1/2 and 8) but we did quietly discuss the issues w/Lilo and the infamous Mr. Bubbles. There were many young children crying and upset during the movie (most 3-5 yrs old). We can't wait to visit WDW in October and see Lilo in person!

[RHarnish]

Just wanted to let everyone know of a great website that I found awhile back that answers those nagging questions like "Why is this movie PG?"and "Is this movie really OK for my child?". The site is http://www.kidsinmind.com . I'm in no way connected with the site, it just has great info on every aspect of every movie that is released, along with those on video so that parents can make informed decisions. Give it a try--bet you'll bookmark it as we did!

Berta

[padams]

Thanks Berta for the link.

Also, Lodgelady, you are correct. After reading what other parents thought about L & S, I let DS 6.5yo see it with a friend's family. DS liked the movie but said that it was sad. He is my sensitive one.

[WildGrits]

Maybe I'm alone but I LOVED Lilo & Stitch. Like Bambi, I was crying within the first 10 minutes of the movie. That's how I can tell it's a good movie;) . I think it was rated PG because there is some nose pickin and guns.

Scooby on the other hand I thought was tottally inappropiate. On top of the fact it just wasnt that good. The only thing that saved it is the fact that all lude scenes happened rather quickly.

Back to Lilo. Did anyone else see the picture of Mulan in her room?

[Jelly]

With out giving the ending away, I guess it all ends happly ever after?.Also is there a cartoon with the film, I ask these questions, as I,m off to America in September/October, so I might get to see Lilo and Strich.

[denecarter]

Nope, afraid there's no cartoon short with L&S.

There is one with Men In Black II. We weren't expecting it and there it was.

Let's see... Disney... happy endings... naw, never happen ;)

[Jelly]

I think you are wrong.What about the happy ending in Beauty and the Beast,and the ending in little Mermaid,so Disney films do have happy endings after all.

[WildGrits]

Let's see... Disney... happy endings... naw, never happen

I believe this is what is called sarcasm. With a little wink;)

[RUDisney]

We took our kids, 6 and 7 on July 4th. They especially loved it because of the stress on family. My kids came from Russia to find their forever family and they were very moved that Stitch came from another planet to find his.

I admit, I was on the verge of tears through some of it, but that was me internalizing the movie and how it is to be alone and separated from your family... thinking about what my kids went through.

I had no idea the movie was PG. IMHO, I think some of the Batman and Spiderman cartoons that I watched when I was growing up were as bad or worse.

[vald1977]

We went and saw both Lilo and Stitch and Scooby Doo at the Drive-in with our 2 year old ds on the 4th of July. We liked Lilo and Stitch (the soundtrack is great :D ) . There was a lot of sadness in it like others have posted that I'm sure would upset a very sensitive child but overall it was a cute movie. Scooby Doo, on the other hand, was possibly the WORST movie I have ever seen in my life. Most of the drug "in-jokes" will go right over a young one's head (Example: When Shaggy meets a girl on the plane he exclaims "Mary Jane, that's my FAVORITE name!") but the movie is just bad. There are a lot of creatures that would scare a child -- not my ds who for some reason loves all things scary but he is only 2 so that may change when he gets older. I was actually thinking he would watch Lilo and Stitch and then fall asleep before Scooby because I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate but he stayed up through both and even cried when we tried to leave early. The only good thing about the movie was that Scooby himself is very cute but I was very disappointed overall. I would reccomend Lilo and Stitch but not Scooby. JMHO :D !