I recently re-watched Lilo and Stitch, and was actually shocked at how forward thinking and groundbreaking it was.
Like,
The main characters are hearty female roles, with huge story and very few of the typical female character pitfalls. Lilo's big sister is like 17 and trying her absolute hardest to raise her 8 year old sister after their parents
died, and the whole plot of the movie is her trying to impress a social worker so they don't put Lilo in foster care.
Damn, and they actually have that one scene in the hammock where she explains to Lilo why she is going to be taken away, and singers her a song about the possibility that she could never see her again (After Lilo gets put in foster care). Such an accurate representation of real human struggles and real human grief.
Could you imagine how much impact that must of had on kids dealing with similar situations? Or validating for adults who dealt with it when they were children? That is extremely left field for Disney.
Also, the main love interest is just that, an interest. He is just a nice boy, there for support. He does not come between Lilo or her sister, or even between them and Stitch.
Also they are realistically proportioned people, almost all of them are of color and not a single apology is made.
There are also no real bad guys, just people doing their job, with conflicting personal agendas (a lot like life...). The social worker is not evil, he is just trying to do whats best for Lilo, as well as his job.
