The Big Picture
There are few films that offer as much nostalgic serotonin as Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois’ Lilo & Stitch which, released in 2002, had to make some very urgent revisions to its climactic chase scene as a result of the September 11 attack of 2001. Now, I know what you’re thinking… Lilo & Stitch and 9/11? What on Earth could they possibly have in common? Well, that would have been significantly clearer had they stuck to their original ending, where instead of chasing down Captain Gantu (Kevin Michael Richardson) and a kidnapped Lilo (Daveigh Chase) in Jumba’s (David Ogden) spaceship through the gorgeous Kaua’i mountains, he chased them down in a hijacked Boeing 747 through the vibrant cityscape of Honolulu.
Looking at the scene now, there’s nothing too problematic about it. After all, just last year, the Minions themselves hijacked a plane to hilarious effect. And Stitch (voiced by Sanders himself) was born an absolute menace, so thievery on such a grand scale is totally within his character. The issue was simply proximity, landing too close to comfort for current events. Before we get into it, here’s a recap of Lilo & Stitch for the uninitiated (and boy are you missing out…):
An alien council in deep space dubbed the United Galactic Federation have just been made aware of Experiment 626, a monstrous (but adorably fluffy) creature that’s near-indestructible with a supercomputer for a mind. Ordered to be destroyed, Experiment 626 hijacks a spacecraft (this little guy really loves his hijacking) and crash lands on Earth. Miraculously, he doesn’t hit the water (his one weakness), but beautiful Hawaii, where he disguises himself as a dog (Stitch!) adopted by Lilo (who is grieving over the loss of her parents) in order to evade recapture by his creator Jumba.
What Was the Alternate Ending to ‘Lilo & Stitch’?
For those who don’t remember the plot in detail, Lilo & Stitch bears some similarity to It’s a Wonderful Life in the sense that everyone remembers the feel-good nature of their endings but until you get there, it’s depressing as hell! There are some elements that just hit differently as an adult, and one of those is the soul-crushing weight of Lilo and Nani’s (Tia Carrere) grief in the wake of their parent’s deaths. Watching the film as a child, you’d assume Lilo was just quirky. As an adult, you recognize her anger issues and the loneliness stemming from her trauma. Unfortunately, as an adult, had the original ending remained you would have also recognized a wildly insensitive action climax in the wake of then-recent events…
You can, however, watch both the extended hijacking sequence on YouTube and a handy side-by-side comparison from Vox of both the original and final theatrical version of the sequence. In the original, you can see Stitch jumping aboard a moving plane through its landing wheels and frightening the pilots with an “Aloha!” before it cuts to a flurry of fleeing passengers screaming for their very lives as they descend the inflatable emergency ramp. It gets slightly worse later on when Stitch finds Pleakley (Kevin McDonald) in a passenger seat strapped to an oxygen mask and life jacket, preparing to crash.
The sequence finally ends after the plane itself enters the city of Honolulu and actually grazes several buildings with its landing wheels, causing severe amounts of damage to both the city and the hearts of sensitive viewers just nine months after such a publicized tragedy. As Lilo & Stitch premiered on June 16th, 2002, the animators would have been incredibly close to picture lock around the time of the event, and while we can imagine that they were scrambling with the amount of work they would need to redo, it’s safe to assume that it was swiftly agreed to be for the best.
‘Lilo & Stitch’s Theatrical Ending Is the Best Ending for the Film
The comparison by Vox shows how the team behind Lilo & Stitch recycled its animation (a practice that the company is no stranger to) in order to better service the scene, simply transferring the movements of characters from the realistic recreation of the Boeing 747 to Jumba’s much more alien (and quite frankly, much cooler) spaceship. The final theatrical version actually benefits the film in the long run because it emphasizes the two most unique selling points that Lilo & Stitch has to offer, those being the introduction of aliens comically attempting to fit in on Earth and the tropical Hawaiian setting. Honolulu is a beautiful city, don’t get me wrong, but those Kaua’i mountains are something else!
Seeing a Boeing 747 crash into a city, the skyscrapers of which are far less idiosyncratic than the beachy environment we’d seen in the film thus far, just don’t scream the juxtaposing combination of village-like rurality and galaxy-spanning sci-fi that made Lilo & Stitch such a hit. There’s a moment towards the end of the film’s second act when Nani, understandably depressed as all hell after having been rejected from several jobs with just days before Cobra Bubbles (Ving Rhames, baby!) arrives to take Lilo away, David (Jason Scott Lee) turns up with some surfboards. “Hey, I might not be a doctor,” he says, “but I know that there’s no better cure for a sour face than a couple of boards and some choice waves.” Right on, my guy! What follows is one of the most gleeful surfing montages ever put to film, set to the banger that is “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride.” The point is that for all of their hardships, they still live in coastal Hawaii, and that’s the Hawaii that we audience members want to see.
‘Lilo & Stitch’ Is One of Many Movies To Be Affected by 9/11
Lilo & Stitch is far from the only film that had to be altered as a result of 9/11. Just think of how many films are set in New York City and how the Twin Towers were among its most iconic landmarks. Take the original promo trailer for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, removed from circulation after the attack as it ended with Spider-Man stopping a helicopter piloted by bank robbers with a web spun between the towers themselves. But certain changes are more subtle than that. Take the subtext in the scene where average New York citizens fight the Green Goblin, illustrating a sense of camaraderie and solidarity between everyday civilians reflected in the wake of the terror attack. Even Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, released towards the end of 2002, sports a critique against military intervention through its reveal that they only function to perpetuate the violence of the original attacker.
Pretty much every superhero film or blockbuster in need of some large scale of action spectacle would reference 9/11 and the war on terror in one way or another (just wait until The Authority hits the screens) but few had to rework their entire ending like Lilo & Stitch did. With the live-action adaptation on the horizon (with Sanders reprising his role as Stitch), it’s doubtful that they’ll be experiencing similar last-minute woes. Regardless, one has to admire Sanders and his team for quickly making the right, but difficult decision to rework so much of their film and finally realize his decades-old passion project and bring it to life.
