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| Holes |
| Genre |
Comedy |
| Starring |
Jon Voight |
| Studio |
Disney |
| Director |
Andrew Davis |
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“Holes” is easily the best family film of the year as well as being one of Disney’s strongest movies in recent memory.
Disney’s animated films have faltered in recent years after the incredible run they had in the early 90’s with “Aladdin”, “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast”. However their live action creations have continued to flourish in the tradition of “The Rookie” and “Remember The Titans”.
Like "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," “James and the Giant Peach” or “The Indian and the Cupboard”, the story of "Holes” is so deep and rich that it escapes entirely from the family genre and moves into intriguing fantasy. The adaptation of Louis Sachar’s novel was given the first class treatment by Disney. Co-writing the screenplay is Brent Hanley who wrote the excellent “Fraility”. The cast includes Jon Voight, Sigourney Weaver, Tim Blake Nelson and Patricia Arquette. Director Andrew Davis was responsible for the action classics “The Fugitive” and “Under Siege”.
Most of our attention is focused on Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf), a good kid who is in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets charged with stealing a pair of shoes. He is shipped off to Camp Green Lake, which is little more than a desert bunkhouse surrounded by holes. There he meets his fellow prisoners and the supervisory staff made up of: Mr. Sir (Jon Voight), Mr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) and the intimidating Warden (Sigourney Weaver).
The staff at Camp Green Lake require the boys to dig one hole a day, each 5 feet deep and 5 feet everyday in order to “build character”. As complications arise the boys discover the staff’s motivations lay far deeper.
Sachar adds depth and complexity to the film by weaving a number of threads into the plot: family fortunes, family curses, a European fortune teller, a turn-of-the-century interracial romance, train robbers, buried treasure, ghosts, peaches, sneakers and deadly Spotted Lizards, then manages to tie them all into the resolution.
In the two main flashbacks, we learn from his father (Henry Winkler) and grandfather (Nathan Davis), of an ancient family curse, traced back many generations to an angry fortune teller (Eartha Kitt). The other flashback details the legendary bandit queen named Kissin' Kate Barlow (Arquette) who turned bad after an interracial love affair with a handyman (Dule Hill) ended in a lynching.
There is a link between these two back-stories, supplied by the quiet Zero (Khleo Thomas), who becomes Stanley's best friend. When Zero runs away from the camp, he is soon joined by Stanley and they stumble upon ancient clues and modern astonishments.
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. Many of the shots have an epic feel that adds weight to the story.
The whole movie generates a surprising conviction. It manages to seem genuine, despite the fantastic plot, by basing it’s story on recognizable characters and familiar behavior. It has themes about the power everyone has to make his or her own destiny and the importance of friendship, family, loyalty and justice. It blends three stories that take place in Europe and America in this century and the last and everything manages to come together in a satisfying ending. It's one of the few children's movies that kids and parents can discuss and find value beneath its surface.
“Holes” is a first class family film that is a triumph of creativity and solid film making. I would recommend this film to anyone. A |
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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