So I just need to get this off my chest:
For me David Kawena from Lilo and Stitch is the ultimate Disney prince because he is there for Nani AND Lilo and even Stitch despite everything that’s going on in their lives. They’re going through some tough stuff. Their parents die and all of the sudden Nani has to be a mom to her sister who is socially awkward and depressed and that’s hard enough as it is and then she gets her this ‘dog’ and everything gets harder and even though she can’t return David’s feelings he’s still there for them through everything. Even aliens. He’s amazing. I was watching Lilo and Stitch with my niece the other day and I cried watching David go through it all. He is the perfect guy. Like I just get emotional thinking about him.
Imagine if you had someone like David in your life - male or female. You would feel like a prince/princess even if you were living with next to nothing.
David is the ultimate Disney prince - even though he isn’t a Disney prince. He should be considered one.
Disney rant - over.
Also, this is an example of a dude who, yes, has a crush on his female friend but ISN’T a ‘Nice Guy’.
Here’s why I personally love David:
Right after the four of them go surfing and Lilo almost drowns, there’s a heartbreaking scene where Bubbles informs Nani that he’ll be taking Lilo into foster care in the morning. With Stitch at his feet, David watches Nani walk off with Lilo, knowing that she’s going off to tell her sister the reality of their situation. He mutters something to the effect of, “everything was fine until you came along”.
The context of the scene is such that Stitch believes David is talking to him (Stitch is one of our two POV characters, and the camera angle is from Stitch’s POV). But David doesn’t know that Stitch isn’t a dog, and he’s never shown any inclination to talk to Stitch before this moment. He doesn’t even look at Stitch when he says those words, either.
Meaning it’s most likely that David is talking to himself at this moment. That David believes Nani was managing just fine in taking care of her sister until he came into the picture, and distracted her from what she should’ve been focusing on (which, if you recall, was the reason Nani told him she couldn’t go out with him in the first place). He blames himself for Lilo being taken by the state, for Nani losing what little she had left, when she’d already lost so much. In David’s mind, because he loved her, Nani lost everything.
So what does that beautiful little unicorn do?
He goes out and finds her a job. The one thing he knows Nani needs to keep Lilo, the one thing she couldn’t do on her own, the one thing she’d given up as impossible. And he does it because he feels that he has done her wrong, that this is something he needs to set right, and because she demonstrably can’t do it for herself, but also because he needs to prove to himself just as much as her that his love doesn’t break families, but make them.
David’s young. Maybe he’s kinda dumb. Maybe he coasts by on his good looks and charm. Maybe he runs from responsibility, and maybe he blames himself for all the wrong things. And maybe he’s broken, just as much as Nani and Lilo and Stitch are. But he’s also kind and patient, and generous with what few possessions he has; and he’s warm and devoted and hopelessly yet realistically in love with Nani in a way that few Disney princes ever are. And when he and Nani get together in the end, it doesn’t feel like some sweeping fairytale romance but like a family reunion; like two ducklings crying out, I’m lost, and finding each other at last.
I have a lot of Lilo and Stitch feels ok
Perfect film.
