The movie has a number of subplots and flashback scenes, much like The Social Network, a film of much more recent time. With this though, it was almost for me to follow. Imagine a kid in around the age of six trying to comprehend what it going on. I was really hoping this would fall under the category of "a true coming of age" film. But no, it falls under "an overly silly, cartoon ride" pretty fast. Over time, Stanley and Zero's relationship grows very brotherly similar to the relationship of the four in Stand By Me, a fantastic teen film.
Stand By Me showed the truth, while Holes shows just a very slim realistic portion of life. It does show life isn't always good for someone, yet it shows it in a fictitious way. Here's an example if this is a bit confusing, in Stand By Me the kids had crappy parents.
In Holes, the kid's grandfather put a curse on the family. Which one sounds like it would be more realistic? I do praise LeBeouf and Thomas for a good all around performance, and Sigourney Weaver has a cutthroat warden. There is not enough here for me to recommend this to anyone, but it did try and wound up succeeded in more places than others.
But it's just another film ruined by it's silly lines, and goofball antics. There is a time and place for those type of jokes, like the comedy Tommy Boy. Not a supposedly heartfelt film like Holes. Directed by: Andrew Davis. A film full of "holes" MovieAddict 3 September But it isn't nearly as funny nor engaging.
The cast is talented - young Shia LeBeouf continues to show talent - but it is lacking humor, a vital ingrediant in a movie like this. The film chronicles the story of Stanley Yelnats IV, who is wrongly convicted of stealing a superstar's running shoes and sent away to grizzly Camp Green Lake, a camp devoid of any bodies of water, or even rain for that matter. Years ago the lake dried up and since then a juvenile delinquent society has been set up by a nasty old woman Sigourney Weaver , who runs her camp with an iron fist.
Her employer, Mr. Sir Jon Voight , has just quit smoking and is constantly edgy. Their racket is to get their delinquets to dig holes all day out in the area where the lake used to exist. We know they're looking for something, and we guess what it is long before the movie wants us to. It supplies corny flashbacks about a schoolteacher Patricia Arquette who fell in love with a black man, and we expect the story to pay more relevancy to the plot than it does.
Stanley digs each day in the grueling heat, along with a clan of other rough kids who all have catchy nicknames, such as "Armpit". Stanley is, of course, a nice guy, and so he doesn't quite fit in at first.
One day Stanley even gets blamed for stealing sunflower seeds. He just has constant bad luck. Stanley's father Henry "The Fonz" Winkler blames this all on an ancient curse put upon Stanley's great-great grandfather. He made a deal with a gypsy Eartha Kitt and went back on his word, causing generations of bad-luck losers. Stanley's father, an inventor who works with shoes, can never get his formulas to work correctly.
Stanley says he doesn't believe in the curse, but it always helps to be able to blame his misfortune on something. The movie is based on the young adults' tale by Louis Sachar, who adapted his award-winning novel for the screen.
The question is whether it should have been adapted at all. Given the story, I think it could have been done quite well, but there's something lacking in this Disney version. It goes for darkness at times but then lightens up and becomes overbearingly sweet.
Other times it is nasty mainly when it features the villains on-screen. Then it is nice. Which is it: Naughty or nice? The director is Andrew Davis, who brought us the phenomenal hit "The Fugitive" back in the early nineties, and Arnold's comeback film "Collateral Damage" in , which did quite well at the box office though not with the crowds. Davis is talented but this film is sorely lacking something that may or may not be his fault. Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight and Patricia Arquette get top billing, but this should really go to Shia LeBeouf, who I spotted on the Disney Channel's television show "Even Stevens" some three years ago and instantly noticed comedic talent.
I even told a few people about how good he was on that TV show, and what do you know, now his big break has finally come. When he is given the right material he can be really funny. In ten years he may be the next Jim Carrey. I certainly hope so. He's a funny guy, he can embody his characters much more so than a lot of other teen actors out there. He's going to give a lot of modern comedians a run for their money.
But great performances cannot always save a movie. I came close to recommending it, but reflecting on the film just now, I have realized I really don't remember any significant scenes, and if a movie can't last in your memory more than an hour, that's not a good thing.
Many people will like "Holes," I think, especially those who like wacky fantasies. But for me, there was something missing. Maybe I was expecting too much. I heard it had a splendid dark comedy side but I did not laugh a single time during the entire film, and let me tell you, I tried.
The most I could do was crack a grin at one scene. But maybe this film isn't trying to be a comedy. What can I say, I expected something smart and witty such as "The Princess Bride" that works with both kids and adults.
I expected wrong. Stanley is a good-natured kid who is wrongly convicted of stealing shoes from a homeless shelter. However, the humor is generally lowbrow and overbroad, the social commentary conventional and sentimental, and the Magic Realism so forced and heavy handed that it robs the film of any kind of real world relevance early on.
The adults in the film are all overdrawn caricatures while the boys are, for the most part, bland and utterly indistinguishable from one another. The film is padded out with a series of interminable flashbacks involving a curse supposedly placed on Stanley's family as a result of the actions of his great grandfather. Having never read the popular novel on which the film is based, I will be the first to concede that perhaps I just didn't get what was supposed to be going on here.
It is based on a best selling novel but not only that there is a trend growing in Hollywood of making films for teens that are actually more like the reality of teenagers then thinking that Finding Nemo will be for teens. Holes is one of those films that doesn't just make it self "kiddy" but instead treats it's demographic more like adults and gives them an interesting fun story with great characters and actors.
Holes is the story of Stanley Yelnats IV. His eccentric family believes that because of a mistake made by their great great grandfather there is a curse on the family. Stanley believes this even more when he is arrested for stealing a pair of shoes that he did not steal. Stanley is sentenced to Camp Green Lake which sounds a lot better than it turns out to be.
Camp Green Lake is nothing but miles and miles of desert run by a tough as nails warden, and her two rather eccentric yes men. The warden requires the boys at the camp every day in the blistering sun to dig enormous holes in the desert supposedly to "build character. If the boys find something that Warden believes is important she gives the day off to the finder of the item.
Stanley's fellow cabin mates don't take to him right away and make his life rather difficult especially when he uncovers something very interesting. The self imposed leader of the boys X-Ray takes the item as his own and gets the day off. Stanley begins to think about the item he found and what significance it has.
As he begins to unfold the history of Camp Green Lake he realizes that his own family history is closely tied to everything that the Warden is looking for at this camp. Throughout this we are shown the history of Green Lake and everything comes together in the end. The best part of Holes is the intersecting story lines of the old west with the modern day.
Love story meets action for the old west segments and Kissin Kate Barlow and her history is interesting enough on it's own. The cast of Holes wins over the film at every turn. On top of that you have three amazing senior actors who play great roles Jon Voight, who is just hilarious and very good in his role as Mr. The extremely talented Tim Blake Nelson is equally as good as Dr. Pendanski who seems to have the children's' best interest at heart. And then you have Sigorney Weaver who is just excellent as the over bearing warden with ulterior motives to her camp.
This is a great adventure film for kids in the same style as The Goonies but actually a lot better. There is a link between these two back-stories, supplied by Zero Khleo Thomas , who becomes Stanley's best friend and shares a harrowing adventure with him. Zero runs away, despite Mr.
Sir's warning that there is no water for miles around, and when Stanley joins him, they stumble upon ancient clues and modern astonishments. As they wander in the desert and discover the keys to their past and present destinies, they develop a partnership, which, despite the fantastical material, seems like the real thing.
The whole movie generates a surprising conviction. No wonder young readers have embraced it so eagerly: It doesn't condescend, and it founds its story on recognizable human nature. There are all sorts of undercurrents, such as the edgy tension between the Warden and Mr. Sir, that add depth and intrigue; Voight and Weaver don't simply play caricatures.
Davis has always been a director with a strong visual sense, and the look of "Holes" has a noble, dusty loneliness. We feel we are actually in a limitless desert. The cinematographer, Stephen St.
John, thinks big, and frames his shots for an epic feel that adds weight to the story. I walked in expecting a movie for thirteensomethings, and walked out feeling challenged and satisfied. Curious, how much more grown up and sophisticated "Holes" is than " Anger Management. The adult actors are excellent, especially Arquette and Dule Hill , but the kids are the center of the story, and they handle it beautifully. Khleo Thomas is wonderfully engaging as Zero.
In sharp contrast to most movies directed at to year-olds come to think of it, to most movies of any kind , Holes respects the intelligence of its audience. It is even willing to challenge them, and that makes it a movie for everyone in the family to treasure. Families can talk about its themes of fate and choice. What actions in Holes seem to have been decided by fate or a curse and what were decided by the characters? There are even more connections between the three stories than you see at first.
How many can you find? If you pay close attention, there is something significant about when the boys use their real names and when they use their tough nicknames. What does that tell you? Why doesn't Stanley tell the truth in his letter to his mother? How is Stanley different at the end of the movie? Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate. Streaming options powered by JustWatch. Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization, earns a small affiliate fee from Amazon or iTunes when you use our links to make a purchase. Thank you for your support. Our ratings are based on child development best practices. We display the minimum age for which content is developmentally appropriate.
The star rating reflects overall quality. Learn how we rate. Parents' Ultimate Guide to Support our work! Corona Column 3 Use these free activities to help kids explore our planet, learn about global challenges, think of solutions, and take action. Parents recommend Popular with kids. Great movie respects its audience's intelligence. PG minutes. Rate movie. Watch or buy. Everyone was just trying to make a good movie.
Scroll through and to find some inspiration for your beach reading. This buzzy Netflix teen drama is based on Jay Asher's novel of the same name, which came out in The show drew out the story and added backstory to more characters, but otherwise stayed pretty true to the book.
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