National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Walt Disney Animation Studios released Lilo & Stitch in June 2002 to widespread acclaim, its hand-drawn warmth and unconventional humor marking a quiet return to form for the studio. The film's promotional campaign included a clever series of trailers inserting Stitch into scenes from beloved Disney classics, making these materials a distinct artifact of early 2000s Disney marketing history.

This cell, titled Ariel, captures the iconic Little Mermaid perched on a rock beneath an open blue sky with drifting clouds — a setting immediately recognizable to Disney audiences. Drawn from the Lilo & Stitch promotional trailer released in 2002, the frame presents Ariel in a moment of calm, her gaze directed toward the viewer across three successive frames of 35mm film.