The story is an introduction to Dr. Jumba Jookiba's 625 experiments (made prior to Stitch) that he created with the financing of Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel.

Meanwhile, ex-captain Gantu is hired by Jumba's former partner, a diminutive creature resembling a cross between a hamster, gerbil, and rabbit named Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel to retrieve the other 625 experiments.

They manage to track down 221 at a nearby hotel and successfully catch him with a glass vase; Stitch soon befriends him, realizing he's finally found a "cousin" of his own.

They set Sparky free and break Jumba from his bonds, just as Cobra signals the Grand Councilwoman's ship to rise out of the nearby ocean to blast Hämsterviel.

Inside the ship, Lilo and Stitch manage to swipe the container and in the ensuing struggle, it ends up releasing the dehydrated pods, which rain down and scatter all throughout Hawaii.

Having captured the two, Hämsterviel reveals his plans to clone Stitch a thousand times over, as he's strapped to a weight just heavier he can lift, while Gantu puts Lilo in a teleportation pod to send her to an intergalactic zoo.

Landing Hämsterviel's ship back at the rendezvous point, they give Sparky a new home powering the Kīlauea Lighthouse, which hasn't been running in years.

At that moment, Experiments 202, 529, 455, 489, and 390[c] are activated by various means, and Lilo and Stitch drive off in Jumba's dune buggy, beginning the events of the series.

[5] In a 2019 list of direct-to-video sequels, prequels, and "mid-quels" to Disney animated films, Petrana Radulovic of Polygon ranked Stitch!

"[7] However, she nonetheless claimed that "everything in the Lilo & Stitch world has an irresistible charm that propels it up many ranks considering what its plot and animation quality would be able to achieve without a bunch of cute little monsters.