A Good Family Film: Holes (2003)
Looking for a good family film?
A film without silly crude jokes, without zombies and black humour – a kind movie that both adults and kids will enjoy. A film about friendship, about good guys and how you can become one :-)
If so, you will like Holes, a 2003 Disney film.
What it is about
Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf) is unlucky – like everyone in his family, which, according to family legend, carries a curse from his great-great-grandfather. Stanley is wrongly convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers that famous baseball player Clyde “Sweet Feet” Livingston donated to charity, and instead of jail he is sent for 18 months to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp in Texas.
There is no lake there any more – just a dry lake bed where it never rains and venomous yellow-spotted lizards live. Every day the boys dig holes, and an interesting find earns a day off from the warden. Stanley soon realises the holes have nothing to do with building character: she is looking for something.
Two more stories run alongside – about Stanley’s great-great-grandfather in Latvia and about the town on Green Lake back when it was still a lake. In the end all the threads come together, and that is one of the film’s greatest pleasures.
Cast
- Shia LaBeouf – Stanley Yelnats
- Khleo Thomas – Zero (Hector Zeroni)
- Sigourney Weaver – the Warden
- Jon Voight – Mr. Sir
- Tim Blake Nelson – Dr. Pendanski
- Patricia Arquette – Kate Barlow
- Henry Winkler – Stanley’s father
- Eartha Kitt – Madame Zeroni
Directed by Andrew Davis. The screenplay was written by Louis Sachar himself, based on his 1998 novel, which won the National Book Award and the Newbery Medal. The film was made by Walt Disney Pictures with Walden Media and runs 117 minutes.
Is it worth watching?
Holes has 77% positive reviews from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and on KinoPoisk, the biggest Russian-language movie site, it is rated 7.27. That says the film is good.
You can skip the trailer to avoid spoilers and enjoy the whole story as it unfolds! But if you really want to see it, here it is: