Holes (film)

Holes is a 2003 American adventure comedy film directed by Andrew Davis and written by Louis Sachar, based on his novel of the same name, which was originally published in August 1998. The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson and Shia LaBeouf. 
The film was co produced by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures, and distributed in many markets by the distribution company by Disney, Buena Vista.
"Holes" was released in the United States on April 18, 2003, and earned $71.4 million worldwide. It was later released on DVD and VHS on September 23, 2003, by Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Walt Disney Home Entertainment. The film is dedicated to Scott Plank, who played Trout Walker, who died in a car accident six months before the film's release, in October 2002.
Plot.
In Texas, the Yelnats family are cursed with bad luck that prevents the father inventing a shoe spray to completely eliminate foot odor. They blame this on their ancestor Elya's failure to keep a promise to fortune teller Madame Zeroni years ago in Latvia. One day, the son Stanley Yelnats IV is wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers that were donated to charity by baseball player Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston, and is sentenced to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp, in lieu of jail time. 
He arrives to find that the camp is a dried up lake run by the warden, Louise Walker, her assistant Mr. Sir, and camp counselor Dr. Kiowa Pendanski. Prisoners, who are known by their nicknames – including Zero, Zig-Zag, Armpit, Squid, X-Ray, and Magnet – spend each day digging holes in the desert; they may earn a day off if they find anything that intrigues Walker. During the night, Mr. Sir rescues Stanley from a yellow-spotted lizard, which he warns Stanley are aggressive and lethally venomous. After finding a golden lipstick tube initialed K.B. Stanley is accepted into the group and is given the nickname Caveman. 
After taking the blame for Magnet stealing Mr. Sir's sunflower seeds, Stanley is taken to the warden's house where old wanted posters and newspapers lead him to realize that "KB" stands for Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow, a school teacher turned outlaw from the early 20th century. Walker asks Stanley to grab her box of nail polish and mentions that it contains rattlesnake venom. After he and Mr. Sir explain what happened with the sunflower seeds, Walker scratches Mr. Sir's face with her nail polish for wasting her time and allows Stanley to return to his hole.
Camp Green Lake's history is revealed in a series of flashbacks: a century earlier, Green Lake is a flourishing lakeside community. Katherine Barlow, a school teacher, is romantically pursued by the wealthy Charles "Trout" Walker whom she rejects as she is in love with an African-American onion seller named Sam. After catching the two kissing one evening, the jealous Walker incites the town's citizens to burn down the schoolhouse and kill Sam. In retaliation, Barlow kills the local sheriff who ignored her pleas for help and becomes an outlaw hunting down Walker's men, leaving a kiss on their cheeks with her lipstick. At one point, she steals a chest of gold from Elya's son Stanley Yelnats Sr. Twenty years later, after a years-long drought causes the lake to dry up, the now-bankrupt Walkers track down Barlow and demand she hand over her treasure. Barlow refuses and tells them to dig for the treasure, after which Barlow dies from a self-inflicted lizard bite and the Walkers set about digging for the treasure.
In the present, when Pendanski mocks Zero, whose name is actually Hector Zeroni, the latter hits Pendanski with a shovel and escapes into the desert. After some deliberation, Stanley searches for Hector. The pair have difficulty surviving in the desert without water. Eventually, Stanley carries the now-ill Hector up a thumb-shaped mountain peak called “God’s Thumb”, where they find a wild field of onions and a source of water, helping them regain strength; at the same time, Stanley unknowingly fulfills his ancestor's promise to the fortune teller, who happens to be Hector's ancestor, and breaks the curse. Hector tells Stanley that he stole Livingston's sneakers and threw them over the bridge to evade police, only for them to inadvertently hit Stanley, who was then mistaken for the thief.
Returning to the camp, Stanley and Hector investigate the hole where Stanley found the lipstick and discover a chest before they are discovered by Walker, Mr. Sir, and Pendanski. They soon realize that Walker, who is a descendant of Charles Walker, is using the inmates to search for the treasure. The adults are unable to steal the chest from the boys, as the hole has swarmed with lizards, passive to Stanley and Hector due to the onions they ate earlier. The adults decide to wait for the morning, when the lizards will retreat to the shade.
The next morning, the attorney general and Stanley's lawyer arrive, accompanied by police officers; the chest Stanley found is discovered to have belonged to his namesake great-grandfather so Stanley is allowed to keep it. Walker; Mr. Sir, who is revealed to be a paroled criminal named Marion Sevillo; and Pendanski, who is a criminal impersonating a doctor, are arrested. Stanley and Zero are released and it rains in Green Lake for the first time in over 100 years. The Yelnats family claims ownership of the chest which contains jewels, deeds, and promissory notes, which they share with Hector, who uses it to hire private investigators to locate his missing mother. Stanley's father succeeds in inventing his shoe spray with their family curse lifted, and both families live a life of financial ease as neighbors.
Production.
"Holes" was filmed in California in the summer of 2002, and produced with a budget of $20 million. When looking for a child actor to play the role of Stanley Yelnats, director Andrew Davis asked for a boy, who was like "a young Tom Hanks". Shia LaBeouf, who ended up receiving the role for Stanley, got his sense of the character from reading the film's script, going on to read the original novel after getting the role. 
LaBeouf was simultaneously doing work for the show on Disney Channel, "Even Stevens", and would work on his role in the film after doing his filming on "Even Stevens". In the original book, Stanley is depicted as being obese, shedding considerable amounts of weight as the book progresses; however, the filmmakers chose to drop this aspect from the movie, as it would have been difficult to convincingly portray the loss of weight in a live action film.
The film was shot in several locations, including in Ridgecrest, California. Due to the heat inside of the holes reaching over 150 °F, and strong climate in Ridgecrest, the actors went through physical training with a stunt guide, in order to keep in shape for long periods of filming. Filming was a new experience for many of the child actors, particularly for LaBeouf, who had never done filming in such an unpredictable climate before.
To show the seven kids' holes being dug gradually throughout the day, different "phases" were used, for each of which the seven holes were given different levels of deepness. For the yellow spotted lizards, fourteen bearded dragons were used, four of which were used for the main parts, and the rest of which were used as "background atmosphere lizards".
Release.
The film was released theatrically on April 18, 2003, by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution and was released on DVD and VHS on September 23, 2003, by Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
Music.
The film's music which included the Grammy winning single "Just Like You" by Keb Mo', and "Dig It" by The D Tent Boys (the actors portraying the D Tent group inmates), which had a music video which played regularly on Disney Channel. The soundtrack also included contributions by Eels, Devin Thompson, Dr. John, Eagle Eye Cherry, Fiction Plane, Little Axe, Moby, North Mississippi Allstars, Pepe Deluxé, Shaggy, Stephanie Bentley, and Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps. 
The score was composed, and conducted, by Joel McNeely.
Reception.
Box office.
"Holes" grossed $16.3 million in its opening weekend, finishing #2 at the box office behind "Anger Management"s second weekend. The film would go on to gross a domestic total of $67.4 million and an additional $4 million in international revenue, totaling $71.4 million at the box office, against a $20 million budget, making the film a moderate financial success. The film was released in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2003, and opened on #9.
Critical response.
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 78%, based on 139 reviews, with the site's consensus reading: "Faithful to its literary source, this is imaginative, intelligent family entertainment." On Metacritic, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film has a 71 out of 100 rating, based on reviews from twenty eight critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Roger Ebert, of the "Chicago Sun-Times" rated the film 3.5 of four stars and wrote "Davis has always been a director with a strong visual sense, and the look of "Holes" has a noble, dusty loneliness. We feel we are actually in a limitless desert. The cinematographer, Stephen St. John, thinks big and frames his shots for an epic feel that adds weight to the story. I walked in expecting a movie for thirteen somethings, and walked out feeling challenged and satisfied. Curious, how much more grown up and sophisticated "Holes" is than "Anger Management"."