Holes (Full Screen Edition)

Magical!
For the myriads of fans of the book, Good News! Author Louis Sacher did the screen adaptation, and Director Andrew Davis did an excellent job in creating the mood, leading his fine cast of young actors, and being faithful to the spirit and actuality of the book.

Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBouf), is a hard-luck boy, not surprising seeing his great-great grandpa had a curse laid on him for eternity by Madam Zeroni (Eartha Kitt). The Yelnats have had a habit of failure ever since. Stanley's Dad, (Henry Winkler) is working (unsuccessfully, of course) on inventing a perfect shoe-deodorizer. Ironically, Stanley is falsely arrested for stealing a great athlete's shoes. He is given a choice of jail or Camp Green Lake. Stanley innocently notes he's never been to camp before so---you just know This Was Not A Good Choice. Camp Green Lake is on a parched and barren desert. The lake disappeared a century before. Stanley is indoctrinated by down-and-dirty bad Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) who...

Remains remarkably faithful to the book!
I read "Holes" several years back for a children's literature course I took in college. I highly enjoyed it! It was one of the best books I read in that class.

So when they introduced the movie, I was quite interested. Part of me was hopeful it would turn out well, the other part of me was skeptical that it would be anywhere near as good as the book. However, my fears were dashed. This movie was FABULOUS!

The story jumps back and forth a little between three different tales -- the story of Elya Yelnats, the main character's "no good, dirty-rotten, pig-stealing great-great-grandfather"; the story of Stanley Yelnats IV himself; and the story of a legendary outlaw, Kissing Kate Barlow. The three stories are interwoven quite ingeniously. In some cases, you aren't completely sure what the connection will be, but then when you find out, it fits perfectly.

The story IS slightly altered, of course, as most books-brought-to-movies tend to be. But it very much...

What's not to like?
Popular children's author Louis Sachar converts his most intricate book into a screenplay, and director Andrew Davis, in collaboration, brings it gloriously to the big screen! Although I'm surrounded by a sea of terrific young 11 and 12 year old reviewers, "Holes" is for everyone!

A young cast of actors, all talented, couples with Jon Voight as the over-the-top Camp Greenlake superintendent, "Mr. Sir".
Greenlake is a juvenile detention camp in the desert, and while conditions there are pretty oppressive, they are downplayed enough to make the movie safe for 9 and 10 year old viewers, as well.

The charm of the book, and also the movie, is to tell the tale of the Yelnats clan, revolving it around young Stanley Yelnats IV's incarceration for something he didn't do. Flashback is used to revisit the era that both Stanley's great-grandfather and grandfather lived in. These flashback scenes, amazingly, focus not on the Yelnats, but more on the women who inflicted the family...

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