Monday, June 11, 2018

Mystery Movie Night | Blue Hawaii (1961), Lilo & Stitch (2002), and Train to Busan (2016)


Evan takes the hosting chair and picks his first set of movies. Can you figure out what a trainload of zombies has to do with Hawaii and Elvis before Dave, David, special guest Paxton Holley, and I do?

3 comments:

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Lilo and Stitch would have been a good one to rewatch since so many of the kids I work with grew up with it and love it unconditionally it was sobering to listen to this episode and be reminded just how weird it is. It's probably the most "cult following" of all of Disney's animated features for that very reason.

The "attitude" of Stitch especially in those commercials you mentioned was likely a response to Shrek and its edgy presentation that Disney had to say "we can be hip too". Yet it's unlike a lot of the "epic" Disney movies like Lion King or Mulan. Despite the lush and exotic landscape of Hawaii and outer space both are presented as small and intimate, especially with those gorgeous watercolor backgrounds that would have been rare in 2002 and now are completely non existent!

My favorite scene is easily when Nani, LILO and Stitch are surfing because it's just giving them some breathing room and I realize how I would like to watch these characters when they aren't being pulled around by "the plot". It has an uneven presentation but has so many unique aspects that I can't help but be intrigued.

I've put Train to Buschan on my Netflix queue. Someone else had mentioned it too so I hope I can have the chance to see what it's all about soon.

Great work guys, keep it up. I am very curious to see how next months features are connected.

Michael May said...

You're very much missed, Erik! Great thoughts on Lilo & Stitch. Nice observation on where that marketing likely came from. That level of irreverence isn't really in the movie, so your explanation makes a lot of sense.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

It's a classic case of marketing making a completely different movie from the director.

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