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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chris_sanders_the_call_of_the_wild_premiere.jpg]]

'''''[[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries TOOKIE BAH WAH BAH!]]'''''[[note]]'''''LET'S GET STARTED!''''' ([[https://liloandstitch.fandom.com/wiki/Tantalog_language also]] '''''YAHOO!''''' or '''''COWABUNGA!''''')[[/note]]

Christopher Michael Sanders (born March 12, 1962) is an American film director, writer, animator, illustrator, and voice actor from Colorado Springs, Colorado. He's noted for his distinctive art style and managing to earn massive success with two of the biggest animation companies today: Creator/{{Disney}} and Creator/DreamWorksAnimation. He worked extensively with the former during UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation, and achieved success with directing partner Creator/DeanDeBlois on his brainchild, ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'', and has also been [[DescendedCreator the voice of]] [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch every appearance of Stitch]] (except in [[Anime/{{Stitch}} East]] [[Animation/StitchAndAi Asia]]). In 2006, however, he left the company after being removed as the director of ''American Dog'' (which would later become ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'') and went to work with Disney's greatest rival--[=DreamWorks=]--teaming up once again with [=DeBlois=] to work on ''WesternAnimation/{{How to Train Your Dragon|2010}}'', his biggest financial and critical success to date. After writing and directing ''WesternAnimation/TheCroods'' with Kirk [=DeMicco=] and later having its sequel's production canceled (only to be later revived without either man as director), Sanders worked on his first solo and [[RogerRabbitEffect live-action/CGI-animated]] project, an adaptation of ''Film/{{The Call of the Wild|2020}}'', which was produced by Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios[[note]]the first film under that banner after Disney dropped "Fox" from "20th Century Fox"[[/note]] and 3 Arts Entertainment. Due to Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox on March 20, 2019, this film also marked Sanders's return to Disney (outside of voice acting as Stitch) after having left the company 13 years prior. However, his return was strictly out of circumstance; his next project is an animated film adaptation of ''Literature/TheWildRobot'' for [=DreamWorks=].

You can visit his blog [[http://www.chrissandersart.com/ here,]] his respective former and current Website/{{Twitter}} accounts [[https://twitter.com/Chris_Sanders_ here]] and [[https://twitter.com/chrissandersart here,]] Website/DeviantArt account [[https://www.deviantart.com/alohalilo here,]] Website/{{Facebook}} account [[https://www.facebook.com/chrissandersart here,]] his Website/YouTube channel [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOH77ClWOTt1SEzI9j5fC2Q here,]] and his Platform/TikTok account [[https://www.tiktok.com/@chrissandersart here.]] Or just go [[https://linktr.ee/chrissandersart here]] to see his all his personal links.

!!Productions (with TV Tropes pages) that he worked on or played a role in:
!!!Films
* ''ComicBook/GarfieldHis9Lives'' (1988): Styling -- "Diana's Piano" segment
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'' (1990): Character designer, storyboard artist, visual development
* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (1991): Visual development and story artist
* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'' (1994): Story artist, production designer
* ''WesternAnimation/RunawayBrain'' (1995): Additional storyboard artist
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' (1998): Screenwriter, voice of Little Brother
* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' (2002): Director, writer, character designer, voice of Stitch[[note]]Credited by his full name in the voice role[[/note]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StitchTheMovie'' (2003): Voice of Stitch
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf'' (2004): Voice of Stitch (cameo/archive audio)
* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch2StitchHasAGlitch'' (2005): Voice of Stitch
** ''WesternAnimation/TheOriginOfStitch'' (2005): Voice of Stitch
* ''WesternAnimation/LeroyAndStitch'' (2006): Voice of title characters
* ''WesternAnimation/{{How to Train Your Dragon|2010}}'' (2010): Director, screenwriter
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCroods'' (2013): Director, screenwriter, voice of Belt
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'' (2014): Executive producer
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonTheHiddenWorld'' (2019): Executive producer
* ''Film/{{The Call of the Wild|2020}}'' (2020): Director
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCroodsANewAge'' (2020): Story,[[note]]Sanders was also going to direct the film prior to its initial cancellation[[/note]] voice of Belt
* ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAStudio'' (2023): Voice of Stitch (archive audio)
* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Wild Robot|2024}}'' (2024): Director, screenwriter
* ''Lilo & Stitch'' ([[Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes live-action remake]]; TBA): Voice of Stitch

!!!Television
* ''[[WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984 Muppet Babies]]'' (1984--1991): Model designer
* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' (2003--2006): Voice of Stitch and [[OneShotCharacter 627]]

!!!Video games (all as the voice of Stitch)
* ''[[VideoGame/LiloAndStitchGameBoyAdvance Lilo & Stitch]]'' for Game Boy Advance (2002)[[note]]Only a few sound clips.[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/LiloAndStitchTroubleInParadise'' (2002)
* ''VideoGame/StitchExperiment626'' (2002)
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' (2005)
* ''VideoGame/DisneyFriends'' (2007)
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' (2010)
* ''VideoGame/KinectDisneylandAdventures'' (2011)
* ''VideoGame/DisneyMagicalWorld'' (2014)
* ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity 2.0'' (2014; dialogue reused in 2015's ''3.0'')
* ''VideoGame/CookieRunKingdom'' (2022)[[note]]as a cookie version of Stitch[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/DisneyDreamlightValley'' (2023)[[note]]released as an early access title in 2022; Stitch was added a December 2022 update[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/DisneySpeedstorm'' (2023)[[note]]Stitch was added in the Season 3 update released August 2023, during early access[[/note]]

!!Theme park attractions
* ''Ride/StitchsGreatEscape'' (2004): Voice of Experiment 626/Stitch

!!His work provides examples of:
%%As with all Creator/ pages, trivia tropes about the creator specifically are to be posted here, not a Trivia/ page, as they technically are InUniverse in the case of the person's career.
%%However: As with all Creator/ pages, items that could go on a specific work's trivia page go there, not here.
* AuthorAppeal: Curved lines, Hawaiian themes, long-legged and busty women, adequately attractive men, huge alien spaceships, cute animals (whom he more often or not voices), long, flowing hair, and coffee, to name a few things that he really likes, and often appear in his works. He is also a fan of Music/ElvisPresley, which is reflected in Lilo Pelekai's fanatic behavior towards the singer.
* ArtEvolution:
** Compare ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' to his more recent works, or even Kiskaloo. His proportions have become a lot more cartoony, and it's somehow become [[PuniPlush easier to count the straight lines in his work]]. His general skill has also improved greatly, and he has posted a very long tutorial on [=DeviantArt=] about how he made one drawing.
** He used to have problems with [[OnlySixFaces making most females and general background characters unique]]. The practice of drawing different faces really shows almost immediately, and now, all of his works are more or less [[CastOfSnowflakes cast full of snowflakes-territory]].
* DescendedCreator: Outside of the Japanese and Chinese spin-off shows and the non-American [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney Parks]] attractions, he voiced Stitch from ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' in almost every project the character appeared in, even ones that came out after he left Disney for [=DreamWorks=].
* {{Fanservice}}:
** Half of his [=DeviantArt=] gallery has a "mature content" block over it. The other half is composed of his slightly more SFW drawings of women.
** Often manages to make its way into his works. [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch Nani and David]], [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast the bimbettes]], [[WesternAnimation/TheCroods Eep and Guy]] [[AuthorAppeal are all examples]].
* GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld:
** He created, wrote, and directed ''Lilo & Stitch'', but the franchise that his 2002 film spawned had no creative input from him aside from his voice acting as Stitch, [[OneShotCharacter 627, and Leroy]], and the franchise itself moved on without him after he left Disney. He even had to make it clear that he did ''not'' make his film to start a TV series, that it was the guys behind ''Lilo & Stitch: The Series''--not himself--who turned Stitch's alien gibberish into the Tantalog language (the experiments' native language) we know today, and that Stitch's infamous "[[PardonMyKlingon Meega, nala kweesta!]]" was ''not'' a vulgar way of saying, "I want to destroy."[[note]]He did say that the ''actual'' meaning is far worse but considering that he didn't provide said meaning, it's more than likely that the "[I] cannot ever say [the real meaning]" thing was a really meant to be nothing more than a joke and that the phrase is meant to be [[{{Applicability}} whatever offensive phrase the viewer wants it to be]]. That being said, "meega" was firmly established to be a first-person pronoun thanks to several different uses with the word in ''The Series'', and Sanders did confirm (more or less) in a reply to a fan's comment that stated that it means "I" followed by a bunch of asterisks representing "censored" words, so at the very least "I" is part of the phrase's actual meaning regardless. Plus, the fact that he also ''acknowledges'' the name of the language, and mentioned (in a comment for an unrelated video) Experiment 375 possessing Scrump during one episode in ''The Series'', ''could'' imply that he does see the show as canonical, nonetheless; he just wants to make it clear to the fans that ''The Series'' was not his idea and he did no more than voice acting for it.[[/note]] Creator/JessWinfield of the TV shows was the closest person the franchise has to a curator and even he does not have a full say on things.
** The first ''How to Train Your Dragon'' was also co-written and co-directed by Sanders, but the whole film trilogy was handled by Dean [=DeBlois=] (although Sanders was an executive producer for the sequels). Sanders also had no input in that franchise's TV shows either.
* GodNeverSaidThat: It is widely believed in the Western ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' fandom that Sanders said in an interview that the ''Anime/{{Stitch}}'' anime, which he did not participate in, is non-canonical to the franchise. But nobody has come forward with any evidence that shows that Sanders has ever said ''anything'' about ''Stitch!'', ''Animation/StitchAndAi'', or any other spin-off made after he left Disney in 2007, let alone even being aware of them. It's just that the Western fanbase (who [[AmericansHateTingle usually hate the anime]]) have been falsely spreading such things.[[note]]It's also entirely likely that he ''has'' heard of them, but he doesn't want to publicly acknowledge them so that he wouldn't get pestered by the franchise's fans about them.[[/note]]
* HartmanHips: A lot of his drawings have women with curvy, sexy legs. Their upper bodies are more akin to stick bugs. They also tend to dip into [[ImpossibleHourglassFigure bustiness being thrown into the mix]].
* OrphanedSeries: His webcomic ''Kiskaloo'' hasn't been updated since 2008.
* PuniPlush: His primary art style. Over the years, it's gathered some traits of [[{{Animesque}} anime-influences]], likely because of his occasional trips to Japan. Stitch is basically Japan's Mickey Mouse.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Stitch is but one example. His favorite things to draw are; cartoons, voluptuous women, and adorable creatures, really defining the term "pwescious".
* RousseauWasRight: There is a lack of an actual villain in his movies. His movies are usually about very human, real people going through a believable situation.
* RunningGag: Every one of his main animalistic characters--[[Franchise/LiloAndStitch Stitch]], [[Franchise/HowToTrainYourDragon Toothless]], and [[WesternAnimation/TheCroods Belt]]--have all gotten DistaffCounterpart {{Love Interest}}s designed by other people in their franchises' sequel material--Angel (Experiment 624) in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' (and ''Anime/{{Stitch}}''), the Light Fury in ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonTheHiddenWorld'', and Sash in ''WesternAnimation/TheCroodsANewAge''.
* ShowDontTell: Unlike most Western animated fare for children, his films include some remarkably subtle scenes where characters just act without talking more than a handful of lines, if at all. Used to great effect in ''WesternAnimation/{{How to Train Your Dragon|2010}}''.
* TsurimeEyes: Post-''Lilo & Stitch'', where 90% of the characters were of Polynesian descent, he's kept that particular feature in all of his drawings.
* {{Typecasting}}: He usually plays a cute, fuzzy animal. (He doesn't do that much voice acting; he's a filmmaker first and foremost.)
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** He posts many of these things on his blog. For example, in a cut scene from ''WesternAnimation/TheCroods'', the storyboards depicted Eep and Guy on a date. They just watched things sinking in the tar; it was not going well. Or a scrapped--and second variation--of a sequence from ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' composed of several hundred drawings; enough to sit on, and cover an entire room with. And this was cut... and it was the second attempt. In other words, there's a storyboard of another few thousand drawings out there.
** There's also ''American Dog'' and ''The Croods 2'', both of which had supposedly {{Troubled Production}}s; the former film he got removed as director after he refused to listen to Creator/JohnLasseter's suggestions (and thus it got retooled as ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}''), which prompted him to leave Disney, and the latter film got canceled after several delays, although it got back in production as ''The Croods: A New Age'' and released 2020, though without Sanders involved as director this time.
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