Anyone remember the Lilo & Stitch movie? Disney used background scenes reminiscent of Kauai. In case anyone here wants to see the resemblance to my island, an article was just posted in the SFGATE Travel Section today.

There are more photos and comparisons to scenes from the movie, in the article linked below. I remember watching it when it first came out! Hard to believe it was 20 years ago.

Here is the text of the article, minus the photos and ads:

'It’s been more than 20 years since Disney released "Lilo & Stitch" to both critical acclaim and commercial success, taking families everywhere on an animated trip to Hawaii via the big screen. Two decades ago, Elvis was reintroduced to a whole new generation, and ohana was defined as "family" — and "Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."

The original 2002 film centers on a young Hawaiian girl, Lilo Pelekai, her older sister and guardian, Nani, and an extraterrestrial creature. Blue and koala-like, but also dog-ish, the creature was originally labeled Experiment 626. After adopting the creature, however, Lilo named her new friend Stitch.

Co-directors and co-writers Chris Sanders (also the voice of Stitch) and Dean DeBlois, along with their team, understood that to tell a story of a Native Hawaiian family living in the archipelago, they would need to immerse themselves in the place and the culture. It was on the island of Kauai, in the southwestern town of Hanapepe, that Sanders and DeBlois felt they’d found Lilo, Nani and Stitch’s home.

Beyond the resort-riddled towns of Princeville and Poipu, Hanapepe lies along the Kaumualii Highway (Highway 50), connecting the rest of the island to the road to Waimea Canyon. Dubbed "Kauai’s Biggest Little Town," with a current population of about 2,700, Hanapepe maintains a largely pre-WWII look, with wooden sidewalks, aging storefronts, a shuttered theater and chickens crossing the street just to get to the other side.

Nowadays, it also has a bookstore, artists’ galleries, a shave ice shop and a bakery.
Despite the newer businesses, it's more than quiet; in some places, at some times, it's mute. An unheeding visitor may drive straight through the town without realizing it. It's a place where a young girl like Lilo just might embrace as family an extraterrestrial creature who has crash-landed on Earth.

The town in no way capitalized on its animated fame, which has inadvertently allowed it to maintain the look of Lilo’s hometown in the film, even 20 years later. There's only one nod to "Lilo & Stitch" in the whole town, perhaps on the whole island: a mural on the side of the former Aloha Theater that reads, "Welcome to Historic Old Town Hanapepe 'Home of Lilo & Stitch.'" It’s situated between Talk Story Bookstore and JJ Ohana, very close to Hanapepe’s historic swinging bridge. Steps away from the bridge, Aloha Spice Company’s plantation-style building appears acutely similar to the animation of Lilo and Nani’s house.

In the movie, Stitch crash-lands on or near what appears to be the Napali Coast. There's a visual of what looks like Kalalau Valley from the lookout accessed via Waimea Canyon Road. By following the Kaumualii Highway farther west past Hanapepe, to the end of the road at mile marker 18, you’ll find Stitch’s touchdown site — or, at the very least, one of the most beautiful views in Hawaii.

The main area of Hanapepe Town is inland — relatively speaking, of course, on an island 25 miles long by 33 miles wide — but to re-create scenes from Lilo and Nani’s sunset beach sessions, Salt Pond Beach Park is just a Stitch roll away. The beach park has numerous shallow, protected pools, ideal for wading with children, as well as a lifeguard tower, bathrooms, showers and pavilions for shade. Don’t expect any "Hawaiian roller coaster rides" on surfboards, but unless you can party-wave like Nani, Lilo and Stitch, it’s probably for the best.

In the 2002 film, Lilo introduces Stitch to the King of Rock and Roll. "Want to listen to the King?" she asks. "You look like an Elvis fan." Immediately, he's enamored. The movie features five Elvis songs, the first time ever that this was permitted in a movie that the King himself was not in.

It’s likely Elvis would have loved being featured so prominently in "Lilo & Stitch," as he had a strong affinity for Hawaii. Some of his most iconic movies and performances took place on the islands. "Blue Hawaii" was filmed in and around the Coco Palms Resort in Kapaa on Kauai, where Elvis also vacationed with his wife and young daughter. Driving back to the east side of the island on the main road, you unfortunately won’t get the opportunity to peek at the room he usually stayed in (bungalow 56), as Hurricane Iniki completely destroyed the luxury hotel in 1992. But the Coco Palms still stands as an oceanfront, rusted-out husk of itself — a bit eerie but holding a lot of Elvis history.

The Kaumualii Highway turns into Kuhio Highway (Highway 56), on Kauai’s east side, naturally bending toward the North Shore. "Lilo & Stitch" super fans might recall a scene where, right after crash-landing on what appears to be the Napali Coast, Stitch steals a bike to get around faster. In the background, the Kilauea lighthouse is in view. The lighthouse also appears again and again in both "Stitch: The Movie" and "Lilo & Stitch: The Series." The 52-foot lighthouse rests on a rocky point 180 feet above the ocean and has acted as a beacon for watercraft since 1913. Reservations are required to formally visit the lighthouse property, but you can also casually view it from a distance in the free parking lot.

While Lilo’s hometown — the fictional Kokaua Town — was inspired primarily by Hanapepe Town, Hanalei on the North Shore was surely also an influence. Kauai’s North Shore mountains appear in the background throughout the film, and street scenes harken to the quaint town. More often visited by travelers than Hanapepe, Hanalei now features plenty of gift and surf shops, restaurants, and food trucks while still maintaining its small-town feel. While there, take the time to appreciate the epic scene of the almost 200-year-old Waioli Huiia Church and Hanalei School, with the North Shore mountains towering behind.

Sure, "Lilo & Stitch" is fictional, but had the story been real, Experiment 626 would have been the wisest extraterrestrial creature around to land on Earth on the island of Kauai. It's an exceptional place, experienced by only the luckiest few and one small blue alien."

[sfgate.com]hawaii/article/lilo-stitch-tour-kauai-hawaii-17574368.php