Holes Movie Review 2003

Poor Stanley Yelnats VI. As a result of a family curse, he's just been convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to a juvenile facility in the middle of the Texas desert. While there, he's met with a nasty overseer, Mr. Sir (Voight, at his best), a proverb-spouting counselor (Nelson), and scariest of all, the Warden (Weaver) an intimidating figure who makes the kids dig holes in the desert to "build character." She's really looking for an Old West outlaw's treasure, and her ancestors' past may be connected to Stanley's family. Faithfully adapted by Sachar, from his own award-winning children's book, the movie keeps all the elements that make the book so popular with the early adolescent crowd: it doesn't talk down to the audience, it has an involving, complex plot, the characters are not caricatures, and it handles real issues with honesty. You won't find that in many movies aimed at any age nowadays.

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 111 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Childhood Visions, Juvenile Delinquents, Deserts, Treasure Hunt, Flashback

Screenplay

Louis Sachar

Cast

Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette, Shia LaBeouf, Tim Blake Nelson, Dule Hill, Henry Winkler, Nathan Davis, Khleo Thomas, Jake M. Smith, Byron Cotton, Brendan Jefferson, Miguel Castro, Max Kasch, Noah Poletiek, Rick Fox, Scott Plank, Roma Maffia, Eartha Kitt, Siobhan Fallon

Cinematography

Stephen St. John

Director

Andrew Davis

Music

Joel McNeely

Other

Steve Nelson, Karyn Rachtman, Tom Nordberg, Jeffrey Wolf, Andrew Max Cahn, Aggie Guerard Rodgers, Maher Ahmad

Producer

Mike Medavoy, Andrew Davis, Teresa Tucker-Davies, Lowell Blank, Chicago Pacific Entertainment, Phoenix Pictures, Walden Media, Walt Disney Pictures