Usually a movie can be a big disappointment over the book, so I try not to read the novel before I see the film. I don’t want to get any of that in-depth character development or symbolism to interfere with my viewing pleasure. Although, there probably wasn’t too much deviation from the original story, since the screenwriter, Louis Sachar, also wrote the novel.  My only real complaint was that I had the ending pretty much summed up a quarter of the way through the film.

Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf) has a curse on his family, well at least the men of the family. So nothing ever goes right for them despite all their good intentions. Stanley gets himself into a bit of trouble and ends up in a juvenile detention camp. While at Camp Green Lake he has to dig a five- foot wide, five -foot deep hole every day to build character, well that is what the work camp tells Social Services. What these troubled boys are really doing is looking for buried treasure for Warden Walker (Sigourney Weaver, Heartbreakers) who owns the land. Overseeing that these boys complete their assigned tasks is Mr. Sir (Jon Voight, Ali), a grumpy guard that is more laughable than scary even though Voight himself looks pretty scary without the makeup. While this story is taking place, flashbacks fill in the holes in this story and yeah, the pun was intended. The first story explains how the Yelnats curse came about when their great, great grandfather did not fulfill his promise to the fortuneteller (Eartha Kitt). Then the next story explains how their great grandfather Stanley Yelnats, lost the family fortune when he was robbed by “Kissing Kate” (Patricia Arquette, Little Nicky) and had to wandered the desert for 16 days. Then there was the story of when Green Lake was once a thriving lake and what happened to make it barren desert.

I really enjoyed all the background stories that gave you just enough information to figure out the climax, well only if you were paying attention. The characters didn’t waste time with real character development, but exaggerated versions of themselves like Stanley Yelnats III (Henry Winkler, Down to You) a bumbling inventor, Armpit/Theodore (Byron Cotton) need I say more, Magnet (Miguel Castro, Crazy/Beautiful) gee a thief in work detention and Zero (Khleo Thomas, Friday After Next). The story is simple, in that all stories come full circle just like Yelnats is Stanley spelled backwards, something the book probably explains in flashier imagery. Even though the story is predictable, it was very creative. Also appearing in this Andrew Davis director film was Tim Blake Nelson, Jake M. Smith, Brendon Jefferson, Siobhan Fallon, Max Kasch, Nathan Davis and Scott Plank. I enjoyed the film despite none of my usual delights of sexy men, explosions and a lot of action, so I give Holes a whopping nine couches on the About-Movies.com scale.

Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:46:21 AM

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