Holes film review

certificate_PG

HOLES

Based on Louis Sachar's popular novel, Holes is one of those rare kids films that treats its audience with intelligence and, by not deliberately dumbing itself down, provides plenty for grown ups to enjoy. Its cleverly interwoven plot is chock full of all the essential ingredients to be found in a good story including weird characters, murder, mystery and hidden treasure.

An indication that this is not your typical teen trash was the employment of A-list director Andrew Davis, best known for slick action fare like The Fugitive, and the strong cast. Combined with an artful blend of fantasy and reality, they produce a work of haunting intrigue rife with gentle humour and a big heart.

At the centre of Holes is Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf), who is not only cursed with a peculiar name - the familial Stanley was originally adopted because it's Yelnats spelled backwards - but also the bad fortune that has plagued his family for generations. Told with the use of flashbacks, the story traces the root of their ill luck from its beginning to the moment when Stanley IV is accused of stealing a celebrated pair of shoes and sent to the remote juvenile detention center Camp Green Lake.

To correct his wayward tendencies, he and the rest of the boys, who boast such vivid nicknames as Squid, X-Ray and Armpit, are set to dig holes in the scorching Texas desert. When questioning the purpose of such an apparently pointless task, Stanley is told by the gruff and gnarly Mr Sir (a delightfully wicked Jon Voight), "You take a bad boy, make him dig holes all day long in the hot sun, it makes him a god boy." It soon becomes evident that the hole digging is less to do with character building than the search for something, though exactly what is only known by the camp's sadistic warden (Sigourney Weaver).

By weaving the threads of the past - each episode of which would have made its own fascinating tale - into the present, Holes builds up a rich tapestry of characters and motifs. There's Stanley IV's eccentric father (Henry Winkler) who has devoted his life to a cure for smelly feet, a schoolmistress turned outlaw (Patricia Arquette) and a mystical fortune-teller (Eartha Kitt). For Stanley, the spell at Camp Green Lake is not only one of self-discovery, but of historical discovery as he and his new-found friend Zero (Khleo Thomas) uncover the links that connect them.