After being wrongfully convicted for stealing a pair of shoes, Stanley Yelnats is sent away to Camp Green Lake, a boys detention facility where inmates are forced to dig holes all day in the hot desert sun as a form of character building. But Stanley and the other boys start to unravel a mystery, linked with the camps tough-as-nails warden —and possibly Stanley’s family itself.
We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig…
Disney produce and Andrew Davis directs this wonderful adaptation of Louis Sachar’s Holes. Miscreant youths are sent to Camp Green Lake for character building, the bulk of which involves them constantly digging holes in the parched desert. New inmate Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LeBeouf) is about to set the wheels in motion that will unearth the secret of the digs.
It’s a blender is Holes, part drama (there’s plenty of edginess here), part coming of age tale, part action adventure – cum – detective mystery – cum - Western and part comedy, in short it’s a bona fide piece for all the family. The narrative, awash with whimsy and enchantment, is triple pronged, and it’s with great credit that the three story arcs are seamlessly put together to create one delightful whole. The child actors, led by LeBeouf, are excellent, really bringing life to the various characterisations, while Sigourney Weaver, John Voight and Tim Blake Nelson have a great time of things as the camp enforcers, and Patricia Arquette in a two-fold characterisation, scores very favourably with charm, grace and menace in equal measurements.
Mature and intelligent kids films are a rarity, Holes is like a little gem dug up in the desert. 8.5/10
