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Holes
(Reviewed April 7, 2003)
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"Magic realism" from Disney--whoda thunkit?
I knew absolutely nothing about "Holes" before attending a screening of the movie. Going by the title, I expected it to be a cheapo horror movie, something along the lines of "Tremors." Wrong!
Apparently, "Holes" is a fabulously popular book with the teenage set. The screenplay was written by the book's author, Louis Sachar, but I have no idea how faithful it is to the novel. (What, you expect me to do research?) Going strictly by what is onscreen, however, "Holes" is an interesting, offbeat and charming modern-American fairy tale, full of distinctive characters, engaging flashbacks and wild coincidences.
A teenage boy is sentenced to serve 18 months in a relentlessly barren, middle-of-nowhere work farm after being accused of stealing. For "character building," each boy there has to dig a hole every day that is as deep and wide as a shovel. But what you think is going to be a grim, Dickensian tale of a blameless kid overcoming cruel adversity takes so many weird left turns that it ends up having more in common with Gabriel Garcia Marquez than "Nicholas Nickleby." And it's funny, to boot!
Jon Voight is flat-out wonderful as the bullying, sadistic, but strangely amusing "Mr. Sir." (No exaggeration, I busted out laughing when he related the story about the "magical place where it never rained.") Voight is the right-hand man of tough-as-nails (literally) camp warden Sigourney Weaver. Shia LaBeouf (what a name!) is great, in a "non-Hollywood-kid" way, as the hapless narrator Stanley Yelnats; in fact, all of the boys at the camp are good. And Patricia Arquette is just plain great as a frontier-days schoolmarm with her own role to play in the history of Camp Green Lake. (My only minor quibble with the casting concerns Henry Winkler as Stanley's father. Winkler still gives off too much of a TV-actor, "Fonzie" vibe for this reviewer's tastes.)
Look, I know it's tough to get motivated to see what looks like a Disney "kid" film if you happen to be over 16, but trust me: This one is a real gem.
Back Row Grade: B+
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