The Lilo & Stitch book (stories of the creators) and soundtrack arrived today. The book about the development of the movie is interesting. It's good, but it doesn't explore the design decisions as much as capturing the experiences of the people and the design process. It's still very good.
I added the lilo & stitch soundtrack to my mp3 volume so I can listen to it throughout the house. Some good tunes in there and very thoughtfully chosen for the movie. I hadn't thought through the choices of the Elvis songs they used -- they're wonderful. 'Stuck on you' is a wonderful play on Stitch having to stay close to Lilo to avoid the bounty hunters. 'Devil in Disguise' is another interesting choice, especially with the interplay of Lilo's hope that Stitch is the 'angel' that she asked for and Stitch's ultimate redemption. Great symbolism.
One thing I had observed recently was how rare it is to find products in the mainstream media that aren't 'focus-grouped' to death. I first really started to notice this when I read the original Mary Poppin's stories. They are much more idiosyncractic than the movie, which smoothed and glossed over all the rough edges. It is much clearer and transmits a more consistent message, but something is lost too. Lilo & Stitch goes against this trend and the book makes it clear that it was an intentional design goal, to keep the team small and to take more risks.