SYNOPSIS: Dogged by bad luck stemming from an ancient family curse, young Stanley Yelnats 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.

EDITORIAL REVIEW: Leave it to the master filmmakers at Disney to turn a book about child labor camps (like a criminal chain gang) and slave murder into a best selling and popular family movie.  Holes stars a young Shia LaBeouf (Transformers, Indiana Jones, I, Robot) as Stanley Yelnats, a teen who's convinced he is cursed like his father, grandfather and great grandfather before him.  Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Stanley is accused of stealing a pair of shoes that were initially intended to go to charity.  To make matters worse, and to endorse suspicions, a search of Stanley's house finds thousands of shoes.  As it turns out, Stanley's father (played by "The Fonz" himself - Henry Winkler) is trying to find a cure for smelly feet, but it's too little too late and a judge orders Stanley to spend the next 18 months at Camp Green Lake.  "Well, I've never been to camp before", says a positive Stanley.

Run by the sinister Mr. Sir (beautifully played by Jon Voight), and the evil Warden Walker (Sigourney Weaver), Camp Green Lake boasts no traditional camping elements or lake whatsoever!  It's a vast desert wasteland inhabited by delinquent boys, corrupt guards, and dangerous creatures.  Stanley's first night at Camp Green Lake is as expected...for a prison.  As we meet the sorted cast of characters peppering this camp, we learn the history and origin of the Yelnats Curse that dates back more than 100 years.  Stanley, it seems, is destined to end this curse and it starts with doing what the Warden and Mr. Sir want - to dig holes, and a lot of them.

Produced with a modest budget (by Disney standards), Holes is a well produced, well acted movie that can be enjoyed by the entire family.  In typical live-action Disney fashion, Holes is fast paced - cutting quickly between shots even in dialogue heavy scenes and utilizing a musical score with a beat popular in its day (circa 2003).  And in true Disney form there's not too much cussing - in fact, if I remember correctly, "damn" may be the worst thing that is said.

Director Andrew Thomas is known for his intense action movies with A-listers (Collateral Damage, Chain Reaction, The Fugitive), so Jon Voight and Sigourney Weaver are not out of place in Holes.  As impressive as Thomas' resume is, strangely, after Holes, Andrew Thomas only made one other movie (The Guardian with Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher) and then kind of disappeared.  Perhaps, the Yelnats Curse found its way from Stanley to Andrew? ;-)

To round out this great movie, the special features:

° Gag Reel
° 6 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."
° "Making of Holes" Featurette.
° Filmmakers' Commentary with Director Andrew Davis and Author/Screenwriter Louis Sachar.

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* This DVD will play in North America only.  This DVD should play in most players outside of North America as well, but it's not guaranteed. This DVD will play in any computer DVD-Rom.  This is NOT a DVD-R.

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STARRING: Shia LeBeouf, Max Kasch, Jon Voight, Sigourney Weaver.
DIRECTOR: Andrew Davis.
AVAILABILITY: In stock! Ships within one business day.
LENGTH: 117 minutes.
LANGUAGE: English / French / Spanish, with OPTIONAL SPANISH SUBTITLES.
SPECIAL FEATURES: 1.85:1 (16:9 Widescreen); Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 audio; Loads more special features (see above); 1 disc; Uncut.
VIEWER DISCRETION: Coarse language, violence.
PICTURE QUALITY: Excellent picture quality. (what's this mean?)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA (2003).
ALSO KNOWN AS:
DATE ADDED TO OUR LIBRARY:  June 19, 2009.
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