Disney’s Lilo & Scratch reuses original Lilo & Stitch watercolors for about 25 percent of its backgrounds. The theatrical short opens before Disney’s Hexed for Thanksgiving.
Production designer Kevin Yang and the creative team studied the original paintings at the Disney Animation Research Library. Artists including Tia Kratter and Larry Wu created more than a dozen new background paintings. Other backgrounds combine digital painting, watercolor techniques, and set extensions.
The team developed a new hand-drawn and CG pipeline to preserve the original film’s look. Artists could choose their preferred medium, including painting on paper or digitally in Photoshop.
In one scene, a CG Scratch pulls a hand-drawn truck driver out of a truck.
Returning voices and animation talent
Stitch cares for a mischievous cat named Scratch in Lilo & Scratch. Lilo leaves to run errands.
Maia Kealoha voices Lilo, reprising the role from the 2025 live-action film. Chris Sanders returns as Stitch from the original animated feature.
Alex Kupershmidt, Stitch’s supervising animator on the original film, returns as character animation lead. Original character designer Byron Howard helped sharpen the comedy.
Writers and directors Fawn Veerasunthorn and Malcon Pierce developed the premise after considering about 18 ideas. They narrowed those down to two pitches for Disney Animation chief creative officer Jared Bush. Bush chose the cat premise as soon as they mentioned it.
A nearly continuous musical score
Composers Haim Mazar and Grace Fisher worked with a nine-piece Hawaiian ensemble and a 70-piece orchestra in Los Angeles. They built on the sound of Alan Silvestri’s original score while developing their own music for the short.
The score uses six or seven cues that transition directly into one another. Mazar said they designed it as wall-to-wall music, apart from a few spots featuring source music.
Source: D23
Discover more from Theme Park Shark
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
