Editing Lilo & Stitch (section)

===Writing===
{{Quote box|width=30em|quote="Animation has been set so much in ancient, medieval Europe&nbsp;— so many [[fairy tale]]s find their roots there, that to place it in Hawaii was kind of a big leap. But that choice went to color the entire movie, and rewrite the story for us."|source=—Chris Sanders, reflecting on the location change to Hawaii<ref name="DavisHanaHou"/>}}
[[Dean DeBlois]], who had served as "story co-head" for ''[[Mulan (1998 film)|Mulan]]'', was brought on to co-write and co-direct ''Lilo & Stitch'' after Thomas Schumacher allowed him to leave production on ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]'' (2001).<ref name="polygon"/> Meanwhile, Disney executive Clark Spencer was assigned as the film's producer. Unlike several previous and concurrent Disney Feature Animation productions, the film's pre-production team remained relatively small and isolated from upper management until the film went into full production.<ref name="RM">{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Roger |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2002-06-16-0206150049-story.html |title=For Disney's Orlando Animators, It's Show Time! |work=Orlando Sentinel |date=June 16, 2002 |access-date=March 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918200219/https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2002-06-16-0206150049-story.html |archive-date=September 18, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Originally, Stitch was the leader of an intergalactic gang, and Jumba was one of his former cronies summoned by the Intergalactic Council to capture Stitch.<ref name="BTS" /> Test audience response to early versions of the film led to changing Stitch and Jumba into creation and creator.<ref name="BTS" />

While the animation team visited [[Kauai|Kaua{{okina}}i]] to research the locale, their tour guide explained the meaning of ''[[ohana|{{okina}}ohana]]'' as it applies to [[Extended family|extended families]]. This concept of {{okina}}ohana became an important part of the movie. DeBlois recalls:

{{blockquote|No matter where we went, our tour guide seemed to know somebody. He was really the one who explained to us the Hawaiian concept of {{okina}}ohana, a sense of family that extends far beyond your immediate relatives. That idea so influenced the story that it became the foundation theme, the thing that causes Stitch to evolve despite what he was created to do, which is destroy.}}

The island of Kaua{{okina}}i had also been featured in such films as ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' (1981) and the [[Jurassic Park (franchise)|''Jurassic Park'' trilogy]] (1993–2001). Disney's animators faced the daunting task of meshing the film's plot, which showed the impoverished and dysfunctional life that many Hawaiians lived during the then-recent [[Early 2000s recession|economic downturn]], with the island's serene beauty. The actors voicing the film's young adults, Nani and David, were [[Tia Carrere]], a local of [[Honolulu]], and [[Jason Scott Lee]], who is of Hawaiian descent and grew up in Hawaii. Both Carrere and Lee assisted with rewriting their characters' dialogue in proper [[Colloquialism|colloquial dialect]], and with adding Hawaiian slang terms.<ref name="Carrere interview 2022">{{cite web|last=El-Mahmoud|first=Sarah|title=Lilo & Stitch 20 Years Later: How The Disney Film Authentically Captured Hawaiian Culture With Tia Carrere's Help|url=https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/lilo-and-stitch-20-years-later-how-the-disney-film-authentically-captured-hawaiian-culture-with-tia-carreres-help|website=[[CinemaBlend]]|access-date=2022-05-02|date=2022-04-21|df=mdy-all|archive-date=May 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502204513/https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/lilo-and-stitch-20-years-later-how-the-disney-film-authentically-captured-hawaiian-culture-with-tia-carreres-help|url-status=live}}</ref>

One innovative and unique aspect of the film is its strong focus on the relationship between two sisters. At the time, a central relationship between sisters as a major plot element was rare in [[American animation|American animated films]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Solomon|first=Charles|title=The Art of Frozen|year=2013|publisher=Chronicle Books|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-1-4521-1716-4|page=13}}</ref>