Holes

Click to Buy	Ratings Summary (Scored out of a maximum of five)
	Audio		Video
	Goodies		Interface
	Value

The Movie

Before this movie hit the theaters back in April 2003, I have to admit
that I had never heard of the Newberry award-winning book by Louis Sachar,
on which the movie is based. I am sure it has to do with the fact that
my children are not yet old enough to read the book, and it was published
well after my reading material became mostly technical journals. However,
those of you who have teenagers or preteens are probably at least somewhat
familiar with the best selling adventure of Stanley Yelnats.

This quirky yet poignant story follows Stanley (Shia LaBeouf of Even
Stevens), a typical teenager who happens to be dogged by bad luck
stemming from an ancient family curse, and presents his affirming adventures
under difficult circumstances. In the beginning, he gets caught up in
a set of unfortunate circumstances and is sentenced to spend time at Camp
Green Lake, a work camp for troubled boys.

As Stanley soon finds out, there is nothing green about this desert camp,
and there is no lake or natural water for miles. Rather, he and his tentmates,
Squid, Armpit, ZigZag, Magnet, X-Ray, and Zero are forced by the camp’s
director, known only as “The Warden” (Sigourney Weaver of Aliens,
Galaxy Quest), and her right-hand men Mr. Sir (Jon Voight of Mission:
Impossible, Midnight Cowboy) and Dr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson
of O Brother Where Art Thou), to dig holes in order to “build
character.”

Promotional image © Disney.

The whole thing strikes Stanley as a bit odd, and through a series of
carefully placed story flashbacks and clues, he and his campmates realize
that there is something more to all the hole digging. However, the boys
must stick together and outwit the Warden, Mr. Sir, and Dr. Pendanski
as they attempt to discover what is really hidden in the desert.

With the screenplay written by Sachar, the movie follows the heart of
the book fairly closely, and the cast does a wonderful job of delivering
these memorable charaters. For newcomers, the movie may seem to be a bit
disjointed, but towards the end, everything starts coming together and
making sense. Then, the end ties everything up nicely… but you need
to stick through the whole movie. Trust me. For the most part, this movie,
while it is rated PG, is pretty well suited for the whole family, but
toddlers and young children may not find this movie as appealing as a
good animated feature.

The Goodies

For what is regarded as a standard edition DVD, this disc sports almost
30 minutes of extras. First off, there are six deleted scenes, which amounts
to about six minutes of extra footage, and while it is rather clear why
they were cut, they are fun to watch. Another goodie of note is the short
but interesting nine-minute making-of featurette, called “Digging
the First Hole.” It gives a rather sweeping overview of the production,
but it helps you get an idea of how Andrew Davis and Louis Sachar worked
together with the cast to bring Sachar’s story to the screen. There are
several interesting interview snippets and behind the scenes footage,
and like most of Disney’s short documentaries, it is a nice compliment
to the other bonus material but is not quite satisfying because of the
lack of depth.

There is an additional featurette called “The Boys of D-Tent,”
which focuses on the young actors playing the troubled boys at the camp.
It reveals a lot of interesting and humorous information that only the
boys could provide. The one-and-a-half minute gag reel is a perfect match
with this featurette, and it highlights the camaraderie between the actors,
which helps make the movie work so well.

Promotional image © Disney.

Probably the most interesting goodies on this disc are the two full-length
commentaries. There is one provided by several of the young actors, including
Shia La Beouf, Khleo Thomas, Jake M. Smith, and Max Kasch. I was a bit
wary of listening to a bunch of teenagers talk about their movie, but
even with its expected teenage tendencies, it is a funny and informative
look at what the boys endured to make the movie. Young fans of the book
and the movie will definitely enjoy listening to it.

On a much more serious note, the commentary with director Andrew Davis
and author-screenwriter Louis Sachar is much more along the lines of a
traditional commentary. It does have its occasional humorous notes, but
it is generally an informative and interesting narration of how the two
realized Sachar’s literary vision on film. Compared to the boys’ commentary,
parents will probably find this one a bit more interesting than their
children will, but it does a great job of describing why certain things
in the book were massaged to work better in the film.

Both commentaries are worth listening to, and what I ended up doing was
switching between the two while watching and rewatching a particular scene.
It takes a lot of time to watch the movie all the way through that way,
but you get a very complete view of what went into making the movie.

Promotional image © Disney.

The Video, Audio, and Interface

This movie is available in both anamorphic widescreen and full-screen
versions, so be careful when you pick this one up at the store. I am sure
both have equally pristine video transfers, but because of the sweeping
desert cinematography, the anamorphic widescreen version is definitely
the one to get. As I mentioned, the THX-certified video transfer looks
great, and the colors, detail, and dark shadows are all right on target
throughout the movie, as expected.

As for the audio, it is primarily dialogue and focused in the center
channel, but it is crisp, clean, and easily understandable. For those
of you with surround systems, there are plenty of surround effects to
keep things interesting, and most of the musical cues are nicely spread
around the soundstage. This disc will definitely look and sound good on
any home theater.

Promotional image © Disney.

The icing on the cake is the user interface, which is perfectly suited
for this disc. The main and bonus features menus feature a great combination
of clips of the movie, musical accompaniment, and additional animation,
and it fits the theme of the movie perfectly. All subsequent menus feature
at least some music and animated transitions. The menus are easy to navigate,
and demonstrate Disney’s ability to create compelling DVD user interfaces.

The Final Evaluation

This disc not only features a very nice video and audio transfer of this
quirky movie but it also sports a decent set of bonus material and a great
user interface. Fans of the book and movie will find this disc worth a
close look, especially at discount store prices. Otherwise, this disc
is well worth a rental for those of you unfamiliar with the story and
looking for an entertaining and moving movie for the whole family.

Promotional image © Disney.