Grade: C

Verdict: Well, it's prettier than “Scooby-Doo,” but it's not what you'd call a classic.

Details: Starring the voices of Tia Carrere and Ving Rhames. Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois. Rated PG for cartoon violence. One hour, 25 minutes.

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Review: The thing I liked best about the animated feature, “Lilo & Stitch,” is that one of the main characters is the first Disney heroine to have big (i.e., normal) thighs.

That and the film's old-fashioned, hand-drawn look, which renders animation in a far more luxurious, painterly way than when it's done by computers.

Otherwise, “Lilo & Stitch” is a kiddie movie in need of some Ritalin — and a decent script. Lilo (voice by Daveigh Chase) is a feisty, lonely, often unruly (read, bratty) little Hawaiian girl who lives with her 19-year-old normal-thighed sister/guardian, Nani (Tia Carrere).

Stitch (Christopher Michael Sanders) is a space alien who suggests a cross between Astro Boy and the The Tasmanian Devil. Officially known as Experiment 626, he was invented on the planet Turo by an addled four-eyed mad scientist named Jumba (David Ogden Stiers). His function? To destroy everything in sight.

Naturally, the Turo-ians don't want him around, so they condemn him to a faraway prison planet. Instead, he escapes and lands on Earth, which is regarded by his home planet as “a protective wildlife preserve whose major function is to save the endangered species the mosquito.”

Somehow, Stitch makes it to a local animal shelter, where he's adopted by Lilo, who thinks he's some kind of very odd dog. (She also gives him his Earth name.) The pair bond over Elvis, surfing, mayhem, the usual. But Lilo is being watched by a social worker (Ving Rhames) who dresses like a Blues Brother and isn't sure Nani can provide her sister with the best care. And Stitch is being pursued by two envoys from Turo — Jumba and an Earth enthusiast (Kevin McDonald) with more enthusiasm than skill.

The movie strives for the loosey-goosey, anything-goes, inspired chaos of the old Looney Tunes cartoons. All it manages is the chaos without the inspiration. When Lilo isn't wreaking havoc, Stitch is, and when Stitch isn't wreaking havoc, his pursuers are.

Kids will probably like it; after all, they liked “Scooby-Doo.” Average adult moviegoers will probably like it for its surface hip gloss (the Elvis stuff). Average teen moviegoers will probably like it for its retro-cool cars and hang-10 strutting (the film's most beautiful sequences). And artsy moviegoers will probably like it for its original look — not Warner Bros., not animé, and certainly not traditional Disney. (Our first tipoff: The the Cinderella Castle turns into a spaceship and takes off.)

After “Shrek” made mincemeat of “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” last summer, Disney's animation units must have been shaking in their shoes. Let's be irreverent. Let's be ironic. Let's be socially aware. Let's make snot jokes. What the Disney powers failed to notice is that “Atlantis” was a stiff from the drawing board. If they'd released something as good as “The Lion King,” they would've given “Shrek” a run for its considerable money ($267 million and counting).

“Lilo & Stitch” isn't especially obnoxious, but it's not especially entertaining, either. OK, it's summer and it's hot and you need someplace to park the kids. I can't think of a better reason to send them to “Lilo & Stitch.”

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service