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Features: DVD, Widescreen
The award-winning best-seller comes to life in this phenomenally fun, adventure-filled movie starring Emmy Award-winner Shia LaBeouf (Outstanding Performer In A Children's Series, Disney Channel's Even Stevens, 2000). Dogged by bad luck stemming from an ancient family curse, young Stanley Yelnats (LaBeouf) is sent to Camp Green Lake, a very weird place that's not green and doesn't have a lake. Once there, he's thrown headlong into the adventure of his life when he and his colorful campmates -- Squid, Armpit, Zigzag, Magnet, X-Ray, and Zero -- must dig a hole a day to keep the warden at bay. But why? Through it all, Stanley and company must forge fast friendships as they try to unearth the mystery of what's really going on in the middle of nowhere. Filled with humor and heartwarming messages of friendship and teamwork, Holes is a treasure everyone will dig.
"...brims with storytelling flourishes and gently deployed life lessons that even accompanying adults may dig." Ed Park, Village Voice
"...smart, strange, unpredictable, and defies the formulas that typically define this sort of motion picture" James Berardinelli's ReelViews
"...as kids' films go, it's a thoughtful, superior piece of work..." Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Editor's Note
Louis Sachar's acclaimed teen adventure novel comes to dazzling life with this wildly entertaining adaptation. Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf) is an unassuming adolescent whose family has been cursed for generations. One day, after Stanley is falsely accused of stealing a pair of sneakers, he is sentenced to 18 months at Camp Green Lake. But when he gets there, he discovers that this camp is really more like a prison. Under the supervision of the fiery Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) and goofy Dr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson), Stanley and his cohorts must spend each day digging holes in the desert, in order "to build character." Or at least that's what The Warden (Sigourney Weaver) says. When Stanley finally gathers up the courage to escape the camp, he and fellow escapee Zero (Khleo Thomas) stumble across a secret that will expose Camp Green Lake for the evil place that it is, and erase the Yelnats family curse forever. Director-producer Andrew Davis (THE FUGITIVE) performs a miraculous feat with HOLES, crafting a family film that is smart, funny, and engaging. Sachar's story teaches enormously valuable lessons about respect, teamwork, and honesty, making HOLES a must-see for individuals everywhere.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, DTS | | Cast Commentaries From Shia Labeouf, Khleo Thomas, Jake M. Smith, And Max Kasch | | "Dig It" Music Video Performed By The Cast | | Widescreen Presentation | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Dts, Dolby Surround Sound | | Gag Reel | | Six Deleted Scenes | | "The Making Of Holes" Featurette | | Filmmakers' Commentary With Director Andrew Davis And Author/Screenwriter Louis Sachar | | Subtitles: Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Buena Vista (Disney) |
| Release Date: 6/6/2006 |
| Running Time: 117 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2003 | | Catalog ID: 31662 | | UPC: 00786936224290 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed, Spanish Dubbed | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...The tough, prickly camaraderie among the boys and their solidarity in the face of adult cruelty give the picture its heart and also its pedigree....The younger actors are appropriately boisterous and appealing..." 04/18/2003 p.E14USA Today
"...Faithful and highly entertaining....It's great to see an action-adventure family film with heart as well as humor, whimsy alongside wisdom, and a compelling narrative..." 04/18/2003 p.13D Entertainment Weekly
"...The young actors play their roles with the relaxed focus of regular boys....Honoring the literary ground beneath it, spotted yellow lizards and all, the movie HOLES is easy to dig..." 04/25/2003 p.128 Variety
"...HOLES will no doubt speak clearly and appealingly to its intended teen audience..." 04/21/2003 p.22-30 Chicago Sun-Times
"...The whole movie generates a surprising conviction....It doesn't condescend, and it founds its story on recognizable human nature....Davis has always been a director with a strong visual sense, and the look of HOLES has a noble, dusty loneliness..." 04/18/2003 p.27 Box Office
"...It's a wonderfully inventive story....The performances are all fine, especially Jon Voight..." 06/01/2003 p.58 Los Angeles Times
"...Comic as well as edgy....HOLES is successful finally for the most old-fashioned of reasons: It's got an involving, adventurous story to tell and the wherewithal to tell it correctly..." 04/18/2003 p.C1 Total Film
"...There's undeniable sweetness to HOLES..." 11/01/2003 p.103 Sight and Sound
"[T]here are well-judged performances from Sigourney Weaver, Tim Blake Nelson and Jon Voight..." 12/31/2003 p.46-7 Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
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. - Roger Ebert
L.A. Times 8 of 10
Holes departs somewhat from the book in having its adults walk a line, being comic as well as edgy. Voight, Weaver and Nelson manage that nicely, though enlarging Stanley's father and grandfather into strictly comic relief characters is an unnecessary and less successful change. Holes is successful finally for the most old-fashioned of reasons: It's got an involving, adventurous story to tell and the wherewithal to tell it correctly. And while young adults may think this is intended only for them, in truth it's their elders who are especially starved for this kind of entertainment. - Kenneth Turan
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