Lilo Pelekai

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Lilo Pelekai
Age	5 (in 2002) 11 (as of 2008)
Gender	Female
Appears in	all episodes, all movies
Performer	Daveigh Chase, Dakota Fanning

Lilo Pelekai (first name pronounced /ˈliːloʊ]/ LEE-lo, last name Pay-lay-kai) is the star of the Disney animated film Lilo & Stitch and its subsequent sequels and animated series. Lilo (literally, "lost" in Hawaiian^[1]) is a young Hawaiian girl who lives on the island of Kauaʻi with her older sister Nani and her extended family of alien visitors marooned on Earth.

Her spirited and highly eccentric personality — especially in light of her parents' death — has somewhat alienated her from her fellow children, yet Lilo makes the perfect best friend for Stitch, an alien experiment whom she adopts as her dog. Lilo attends Hula school and her hobbies include the photography of obese people, talking about creatures from horror/sci-fi movies, and capturing and rehabilitating Jumba's evil genetic experiments. She idolizes Elvis Presley. She appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts for meet and greets.

[edit] Description

Lilo is a young Hawaiian girl with long, straight black hair and brown eyes. She's most often seen wearing a muʻumuʻu and sandals, but also wears other warm-weather clothing as well as traditional hula costumes. In Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, her reflection in a mirror is compared to a picture of her young mother, suggesting that they look similar. In the episode "Skip" where an experiment is used to skip time 10 then another 10 years, it's mentioned that older Lilo looks a lot like her sister Nani.

Lilo ages throughout the series, which takes place over a time span of four years. In the first film she's five. In Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch she's 7. A Disney Adventures comic and "Amnesio" are both set during birthday parties. By Leroy & Stitch, she is 9. Her last name, Pelekai, is a little contradictory, seeing as 'Pele' is the Hawaiian volcano goddess, and 'kai' is the Hawaiian (and Japanese) word for ocean. To this effect, the family name means "Volcano of the Sea." In "Spooky", it is revealed Lilo is afraid of broccoli, clowns, and the scary house on the hill nearby where she lives. It is also revealed in this episode that Lilo, like her father, plays the ukulele.

[edit] Lilo's Family

Lilo's parents died in a car accident some time before Lilo & Stitch, and they have not appeared in the series apart from three photographs: one of Lilo, Nani, and their parents having a picnic on the beach, a photograph of Lilo's mother winning the Hula school's May Day celebration, and a photo of Nani with her parents when she graduated to intermediate Hula.

Lilo's mother is depicted as kind and loving (and perhaps eccentric like her younger daughter), as well as an excellent hula dancer. She would placate her children by holding a family night, singing lullabies, and making up funny constellations. Lilo's father played the ʻukulele and was the one who coined the phrase ʻOhana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten. The phrase becomes a sort of family motto for his daughters and their intergalactic adopted clan.

Lilo loves and misses her parents very much. She keeps a picture of them under her pillow and initially would not allow Stitch to touch it (rejecting him when his fight with Jumba caused her house and the picture to become damaged). In the episode "Remmy", which takes place on the anniversary of the accident, Lilo is depressed and takes a nap to help deal with her sadness. The picture is used to turn Lilo's nightmares into a dream of the day the photograph was taken, which manages to make her happy again.

Lilo writes a thank-you note to an "Uncle Joe" in "Glitch/Woops". Otherwise, Lilo and Nani are the only known living members of the Pelekai family.

The development of Lilo's ʻohana (extended family) begins with the adoption of Stitch in Lilo & Stitch. She keeps 10 experiments(Angel, Spike, Tickle-Tummy, Wishy-Washy, Nosy, Belle, Ace, Fibber, Glitch and Swapper) for Stitch. Though Lilo technically owns Stitch by Hawaiian state law, the relationship between the two is more like siblings and best friends. By the end of the series, Lilo's ʻ ohana includes "Uncle" Jumba and "Aunt" Pleakley, David, Cobra Bubbles, the Grand Councilwoman, all 626 (627 is dehydrated, although it could be argued that he still counts) of Stitch's "Cousins", Victoria, Mrs. Hasagawa, Gantu and finally, Mertle.

[edit] Character Perception

Some fans of the Lilo and Stitch franchise have expressed worry that Lilo is often less appreciated or made use of as a character than her show partner Stitch. Reasons given for this include:

• In the original film, Lilo and Stitch shared an equal amount of importance as the title characters. In the following features, however, Lilo is often more seen as Stitch's sidekick, as she has no superpowers of her own and wields a weapon only once, in the episode "Slushy."
• Two of the films, Stitch!The Movie and Leroy and Stitch, do not contain her name in the title, while Stitch's name appears in all of the titles. In addition, the series was originally going to be called The Adventures of Stitch, but there were sufficient requests to place Lilo's name in the title. Furthermore, the upcoming series Stitch!, a Japanese anime re-imagining of Lilo & Stitch, has a new Japanese girl in Lilo's place, although fans have criticised this.
• In the series, there is less character development of Lilo. Stitch obtains a love life with experiment Angel and learns to become more civilized, but while the pair learn the same lessons, the focus is often on Stitch.
• Subplots involving Lilo that were prominent in the first film, such as her parents' death, are often overlooked in the series, even though someone who has experienced such loss should be aware of it more often.

Many viewers regard Stitch as a more appealing character than Lilo, for the understandable reasons that he is not human, unpredictable and therefore "fascinating" and that he has superpowers. Another problem is that in the film, Lilo had a North USA accent, but in the series, she has a Hawaiian accent that many people felt was hard to follow.

On the other hand, some fans have noted in Lilo's favour that:

• She was the catalyst that gave Stitch his redemption and still acts as a (mostly) positive influence on him.
• While Stitch is smart, it is often Lilo that comes up with the plans to prevail against their enemies (though she herself can usually only participate in a passive manner). In the episode "Yin and Yang", Lilo described herself as the brain and Stitch as the muscles.
• It is always Lilo that finds the morals to the events that she and her companions go through.
• Despite the slight character development, Lilo's personal life often sets up a base for the events that happen throughout the series and films.
• Lilo delivers many of the shows witticisms, including the famous "Ohana means family, and family means that nobody gets left behind... or forgotten."
• Lilo is unwavering in her positive beliefs, and many of Stitch's own beliefs stem from her.

At UltimateDisney.com, Lilo is ranked the 15th best Disney heroine, just above Stitch's position as the 16th best hero.