Holes is based on a best selling children's book, Louis Sachar's Newbery-winning book "Holes", one that I have myself never read or even heard about before this film. According to some reviewers that is a plus. However all I can say is that the movie was such a delight that if the book is better I cannot wait to dive in.
Our story takes place over several generations and is seen mainly from the young Stanley Leynats the 3rd. As you can see his last name is "Stanley" spelled backwards so that became a tradition in his family. Poor Stanley's family seems to have been "cursed" since every male finds himself constantly with bad luck. He lives with his father, an inventor whose current attempt to solve sneaker odor almost has them thrown out of the apartment they live in. His grandfather also Stanley Yelnats, is old and grumpy with nothing to show for his entire life.
Young Stanley thinks he has finally gained some luck one morning while walking when a pair of shoes seems to appear from nowhere. These shoes are in fact a pair from a famous Baseball player that are worth a ton of money. Unfortunately for Stanley they were stolen and the Police catch him with them. During his trial the Judge offers Stanley an out of sorts, he can attend for 6 months a special camp, Camp Green Lake, which sounds not too bad.
However Stanley's life is never so lucky and the camp turns out to be a hard task as each teen has to dig a large hole in the hot desert each day. While these "holes" are supposed to teach dedication and discipline, the camp warden, played wonderfully by Sigourney Weaver, has an ulterior motive.
What I really love about the film is that several loose ends are tied together and revealed as being loose through flashbacks to past histories. We learn about how Stanley's Great Grandfather came to the US and was cursed by a gypsy for forgetting to take her up a mountain. We learn in another time period who Sigourney's character is related to and why she wants these holes dug up in a region that hasn't had rain in over 100 years. The writing is so precise and the action is mixed perfectly with comedy that it reminds me of the great Disney live action films of the 1960's. This is a wonderful film that will appeal to audiences of all ages and has a feel good story with a resounding ending.
The Disc:
Taking place mostly in a desert, the film has a really nice look. Presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic ratio, the film looks like every other Disney live action release these days. This is another superb transfer with no dirty, scratches or film
artifacts. It's crystal sharp and well defined with colors that are rich and solid.
Sounds in the film come in with a really action pumping 5.1 Dolby Digital track. Sure this film is no Lethal Weapon or Predator but boy did Disney make a good use of surrounds. The voice acting is also well done with crisp clear center channel audio.
Extras on the disc begin with Two Feature Length Audio Commentaries. The first is the tried and ture Cast Commentary: featuring Shia Labeouf, Khleo Thomas, Jake M
Smith, and Max Karsh. Since ach of the stars is young and working on their first major film, this track is the most fun of the two and definitely worth a listen. Second is a track featuring the Crew Commentary with Andrew Davis (Director) and
Author/Screenwriter Louis Sachar.
Next up is a feature called The Boys of D-Tent (10min 40sec). This is your basic making of feature with Andrew Davis (Director) and Cast talk about the making of,
the auditions, and some anecdotes in making the film. I found this to be mostly fluff though some neat things, such as how the holes were made are included.
Next up is really more of the same with the feature Digging the Holes (9min 07 secs). Yet more in-depth look at behind the scenes, this feature has Jon Voight and Sigourney Weaver talking about novel and
how they came in contact with it. Then we get some
words from Shia Labeouf (Stanley the 3rd), Andrew Davis and
Author/Screenwriter Louis Sachar all taking about
early stages of production.
Next are some smaller extras including Six Deleted Scenes, A Gag Reel, and a D-Tent Boys Music Video "Dig it" (1min 8sec). Each of these are self-explanatory with the Gag Reel really not being all the funny. I do admit I enjoyed the music and the video that accompanied the song. The deleted scenes are not really that big a deal but are enjoyable anyways.
bottom line:
One film that I will look forward to watching over and over again, especially when my children get to be a little older. This one isn't for the real young, but for those 6 and up its the perfect family film. Way to go Disney for adapting the book so well.
5 out of 5
By - Brian Gray
