Holes

Theatrical Release Date: 2003 04 18 (USA)

UPC: 786936224290

Studio: Walt Disney Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Mild Violence, Excellent For Children]

Summary: A boy being punished for a crime he didn't commit learns there's more going on at a juvenile correctional facility than meets the eye in this comedy drama. Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf) is a teenager who has been told all his life that the men in the Yelnats family are cursed, thanks to a false promise his great, great grandfather made to a fortune teller. Given his frequent bad luck, and that which follows his father (Henry Winkler), Stanley has no trouble believing this. Stanley's bad luck hits a new low when a pair of sneakers literally falls out of the sky on him -- and turn out to be stolen. A judge sentences Stanley to a stay at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile correctional facility stuck in the middle of the desert, where he finds himself sharing a tent with a gang of misfits, including ringleader X-Ray (Brenden Jefferson), pushy Squid (Jake M. Smith), small but wiry Zero (Khleo Thomas), tough and stinky Armpit (Byron Cotton), paranoid ZigZag (Max Kasch), and thief-in-training Magnet (Miguel Castro). The Warden of Camp Green Lake (Sigourney Weaver) has her own ideas about rehabilitation, which consist of having the boys spend their days digging holes five feet deep under the desert sun. While well-mannered counselor Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) tries to help the boys however he can, Mr. Sir (Jon Voight), The Warden's right hand man, is a heartless creep who enjoys making Stanley and his friends suffer. Before long, Stanley wonders if there's a good reason why the Warden seems so curious about what (if anything) the boys find during their digging, and in time he suspects there's something they haven't been told which might be connected to the Yelnats family curse. Holes was based on the award-winning book for young people by Louis Sachar, who also wrote the film's screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Children's/Family

Features: Gag reel
Six deleted scenes
Cast commentary with Shia LaBeouf, Khleo Thomas, Jake M. Smith and Max Kasch
"Dig It" music video performed by the cast
"On the set with Louis Sachar"
"The Making of Holes" featurette
Filmmakers' commentary with director Andrew Davis and author/screenwriter Louis Sachar

Holes

Format: DVD

Release Date: 09/23/2003

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, THX THX-Certified Mastering

Runtime: 117 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Opening Credits/The Family Curse
2. Welcome to Camp Green Lake
3. Boys of D-Tent
4. The Legend of Kissin' Kate Barlow
5. Digging the First Hole
6. Stanley Yelnats the First
7. Yellow Spotted Lizards
8. A Letter to Mom
9. Onion Sam and Miss Katherine
10. Don't Mess With Caveman
11. Finding Something Special
12. The Deal
13. Miss Katherine's Revenge
14. Mr. Sir's Sunflower Seeds
15. The Warden's Recipe
16. Stanley Teaches Zero to Read
17. Zero Runs Away
18. Stanley Goes After Zero
19. Stanley and Zero Climb "God's Thumb"
20. A Cure for Stinky Feet
21. Zero Confesses
22. Kissin' Kate's Last Stand
23. One More Hole
24. Opening the Chest/End Credits

Tracie Cooper

An intricate balancing act of subplots and flashbacks, author Louis Sachar's Newberry Award-winning novel Holes translates fairly well onscreen, despite occasionally falling off-kilter. Unerringly faithful to the book, Holes takes on issues ranging from racial discrimination to what constitutes true character rehabilitation without a trace of heavy-handedness. Sachar, who also wrote the screenplay for Holes, has a clear and touching respect for the ability of children to grasp a message without the aide of an adult-wielded hammer. Newcomer Shia LaBeouf communicates the palindrome-named Stanley Yelnats' quiet bravery surprisingly well, and the supporting cast -- particularly Jon Voight as Texas tough-guy Mr. Sir, and Eartha Kitt's mysterious Madame Zeroni -- adds a non-saccharine richness to this already deeply interwoven story. Without the help of chapters or narration, however, the multi-leveled plots of Holes are sometimes hard to follow, if beautifully shot, particularly for anyone who hasn't read the book beforehand. The roots of the Yelnats family curse and the future involvement of schoolteacher-turned-outlaw Kissin' Kate Barlow (Patricia Arquette) are explained in flashbacks which often appear frenzied and occur with a frequency that deters from the development of the present-day characters. Still, though some of the subtleties of Holes are lost in translation, the symbolism that connects Stanley to Madame Zeroni's descendant, Kissin' Kate's buried loot, and the camp warden's (Sigourney Weaver) mysterious goal (not to mention cure-all onions, spiced peaches, stinky feet, and deadly yellow-spotted lizards) comes together in an excellent coming-of-age story that both children and adults would do well with viewing. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Allison Smith  Actor 
Damien Luvara  Actor 
Lowell D. Blank  Producer 
Andrew Davis  Director 
Andrew Davis  Producer 
Louise Phillips  Executive Producer 
Marty P. Ewing  Executive Producer 
Mike Medavoy  Producer 
Joel McNeely  Composer (Music Score) 
Teresa Tucker-Davies  Producer 
Louis Sachar  Screenwriter 
Sigourney Weaver  Actor 
Jon Voight  Actor 
Patricia Arquette  Actor 
Tim Blake Nelson  Actor 
Dulé Hill  Actor 
Shia LaBeouf  Actor 
Henry Winkler  Actor 
Nate Davis  Actor 
Rick Fox  Actor 
Scott Plank  Actor 
Roma Maffia  Actor 
Eartha Kitt  Actor 
Siobhan Fallon-Hogan  Actor 
Khleo Thomas  Actor 
Brenden Jefferson  Actor 
Jake M. Smith  Actor 
Byron Cotton  Actor 
Miguel Castro  Actor 
Max Kasch  Actor 
Noah Poletiek  Actor 

Country: USA