HOLES (DISNEY) (DVD/WS) DVD

Holes
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, All Movie Guide

Cast Sigourney Weaver as The Warden Jon Voight as Mr. Sir Patricia Arquette as Kissin' Kate Barlow Tim Blake Nelson as Dr. Pendanski Dule Hill as Sam Shia LaBeouf as Stanley Yelnats Henry Winkler as Stanley's Father Nate Davis as Stanley's Grandfather Rick Fox as Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston Scott Plank as Trout Walker Roma Maffia as Carla Morengo Eartha Kitt as Madame Zeroni Siobhan Fallon-Hogan as Stanley's Mother Khleo Thomas as Zero Brenden Jefferson as X-Ray Jake M. Smith as Squid Byron Cotton as Armpit Miguel Castro as Magnet Max Kasch as ZigZag Noah Poletiek as Twitch

Crew Andrew Cahn - Art Director Clark Henderson - Associate Producer Amanda Mackey-Johnson - Casting Cathy Sandrich Gelfond - Casting Aggie Guerard Rodgers - Costume Designer Vincent Lascoumes - First Assistant Director Andrew Davis - Director Thomas J. Nordberg - Editor Jeffery Wolf - Editor Louise Phillips - Executive Producer Marty P. Ewing - Executive Producer Joel McNeely - Composer (Music Score) Karyn Rachtman - Musical Direction/Supervision Maher Ahmad - Production Designer Stephen St. John - Cinematographer Mike Medavoy - Producer Lowell D. Blank - Producer Andrew Davis - Producer Teresa Tucker-Davies - Producer Gene Serdena - Set Designer Bruce Stambler - Sound/Sound Designer Steve Nelson - Sound/Sound Designer Bruce Stambler - Supervisor/Manager Louis Sachar - Screenwriter William Mesa - Visual Effects Supervisor Louis Sachar - Book Author Howard A. Anderson Company - Title Design

Holes
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, All Movie Guide
 

(no awards)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French, Spanish Subtitle Options: Spanish Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel THX: THX-Certified Mastering Additional 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 DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1: Theatre Wide-Screen MPAA Rating: PG DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 117 min   DVD 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