Chris Sanders

Christopher Michael "Chris" Sanders (born March 12, 1962) is an American animation director and illustrator best known for creating the Disney animated feature Lilo & Stitch (2002) and DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon (2010), and providing the voice of Experiment 626 from the former. After leaving Walt Disney Animation Studios, Sanders went on to work for DreamWorks Animation, directing the highly acclaimed animated feature film How to Train Your Dragon. His recent work is serving as co-director and co-writer on The Croods, along with Kirk DeMicco. Now, Sanders and DeMicco are both working on The Croods 2, a sequel to the film.

Films

 * The Croods 2 (2019) - writer, director
 * How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) - producer
 * The Croods (2013) - direcotr, writer (screenplay/story), soundtrack department (aDR gruop), writer (soundtrack "Shine Your Way"), Actor (voice of Belt)
 * How to Train Your Dragon (2010) - director, writer (screenplay)
 * Lilo & Stitch (2002) - director, writer (idea/written by), character designer, Actor (voice of Stitch - Christopher Michael Sanders)
 * Fantasia/2000 (1999) - original concept: Pines of Rome - as Christopher Sanders
 * Mulan (1998) - writer (screenplay - as Christopher Sanders), Actor (voice of "Little Brother" - uncredited), story supervisor - as Christopher Sanders
 * The Lion King (1994) - writer (story), production designer
 * Aladdin (1992) - writer (story)
 * Beauty and the Beast (1991) - writer (story), visual development artist - as Christopher Sanders)
 * The Rescuers Down Under (1990) - storyboard artist/visual development artist, character designer - as Christopher Sanders

TV Series

 * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2013) - writer (soundtrack) for 1 episode
 * Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003-2006) - writer for 70 episodes, Actor (voice of Stitch / Experiment 627 for 67 episodes.)
 * The Glo Friends (1986) - model designer
 * Muppets Babies (1984-1988) - model designer for 60 episodes

TV Movie

 * Garfield: His 9 Lives (1988) - animation stylist - segment "Diana's Piano"

Videos

 * Leroy & Stitch (2006) - writer, characters - uncredited, writer (soundtrack - performer: "Aloha Oe"), actor (voice of Stitch / Leroy),
 * Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005) - Actor (voice of Stitch)
 * Mulan 2 (2004) - writer, characters - uncredited
 * The Lion King 1 1/2 (2004) - Actor (voice of Experiment 626: Stitch)

Video Short

 * The Origin of Stitch (2005) - Actor (voice of Stitch)
 * Sing Along Songs: Brother Bear - On My Way (2003) - writer (soundtrack "Aloha, E Komo Mai")

Shorts

 * Stitch's Great Escape (2004) - Actor (voice of Stitch)
 * Stitch! The Movie (2003) - Actor (voice of Stitch).
 * Runaway Brain (1995) - additional storyboard artist

Video Games

 * Kinect Disneyland Adventures (2011) - Actor (voice of Stitch)
 * Kungdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (2010) - Actor (voice of Experimet 626 - Stitch)
 * Disney TH!NK Fast (2008) - Actor (voice of Stitch)
 * Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ (2007) - Actor (voice of Stitch - English version).
 * Kingdom Hearts II (2005) - Actor (voice of Stitch - English version).
 * Stitch Experiment 626 (2002) - Actor (voice of Experiment 626 (aka Stitch))

Guy and Eep's Date
"In every version of the film Guy is waylaid by the Croods. Guy is human 2.0. Unlike the Croods, he can use tools and make fire. He is also physically weaker than a Crood, even a Crood child. Hence, if a Crood wants to keep Guy around, Guy will be staying. In this scene Guy is being forced to accompany Eep on a prehistoric date. Her idea of a good time is watching things sink in tar pits. The date is not going well.

But the real point of these two boards is that they both contain an early version of Guy, who used to be a bit of a hippie. Thankfully, we changed that.”.

Water
"This bit is in the movie, but we reversed the stacking of Eep and Guy. Now Eep is on Guy’s shoulders. This board is much, much later in the production, and I’m a lot more accurate with what everyone is wearing. I cannot seem to pass up the chance to draw belly buttons on characters, weather they are people or animals. It’s usually the  last thing I do before moving on to the next panel."

Jackrobats
The vampire rabbits (Jackrobats) appear briefly in the final film, but appear only briefly.

Hunters and Gatherers (Part 1)
In this sequence, Grug, the caveman father is getting ready for an early morning hunt with his son, Thunk. On the outskirts of their hunting grounds there used to be a massive menu. After picking what they'll be trying to find, Grug leads Thunk over to another rock. This one depicts all the things that they need to steer clear of -- all the things that can kill them.

Then Grug and Thunk move on to choosing their hunting tools, which consist of either a stick or a rock. Grug and Thunk do a round of Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine who gets what, but since there is still no Paper or Scissors, they each choose Rock and their match ends in a draw. So in the end, Grug flips Thunk like a coin.

The only bit of this that survived was the coin toss, which is still in the film. Only instead of flipping his son, Grug flips his mother-in-law.

Hunters and Gathers (Part 2)
In early development, the men were the hunters, whereas the the women were gathers. This didn't mean that the women had things any easier than the men. This was a little sequence where Eep is picking berries, and doing battle with an extremely aggressive flytrap-ish botanical. Eep likes this sort of stuff, being the most aggressive and certainly the most fearless of the Crood family.

Eep however was fairly frustrated having to watch her brother, Thunk taken out to the hunting grounds while she had to spend her days in the trees. Making things worse was the fact that Thunk was a complete failure when it came to hunting, and Eep was a natural. After Eep beats a carnivorous plant to a pulp to pluck a strawberry out of it, she gazes out to the hunting grounds. Thunk is about two miles away, trying to knock a little bird off the back of a mammoth. Thunk has been missing the bird all day, and Eep is tempted to finish the job. Eep stores the strawberry away in her dress, then pulls a throwing rock out of her hair, where she keeps one handy. Before she can throw it, her mother drops in to remind her not to get involved in her brother's hunt, but Eep is going to throw it anyway.

Hunters and Gathers (Part 3)
This is part of the original hunting sequence, where Eep wasn't allowed to join in, Thunk is being pressured to follow in his father's footsteps. Eep knows the truth, that Thunk doesn't want to be a hunter, and is urging him to come clean with their dad. But every time Thunk turns to Grug he maintains his glowing façade of enthusiasm for hunting. Grug in turn, is ignoring some big clues that his son isn't exactly "hunting material."

Frustrated by these two lunk-headed men, Eep steps off the mammoth and digs her heels into the ground, bringing the dysfunctional episode to a spectacular finish as the mammoth crashes into a field of exploding cactuses.

Liote
In this sequence, Grug is about to be trampled by a pack of Liotes -- a creature that is a combination of Lizards and Coyotes. Grug is chasing the Liotes, who are in turn chasing a huge flightless bird, who is carrying the egg that Grug wants. In the midst of the pack, Grug slips. After being trampled, one of the Liotes lingers for a little payback, then moves on. Moments later Eep streaks past, easily passing the Liotes and reaching the huge bird.

Rag Doll


In this series of drawings, pulled from a much larger sequence, Eep climbs up in a tree to vent her frustration from an argument she just had with her father -- she wants to keep Guy, but of course her father wants to let him go. The Croods are quite a bit more dense than Guy, mentally and physically, so they treat him like a rag doll or stray kitten.