Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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Holes
(Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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September
23, 2003
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Length:
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117 mins.
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| Rated:
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PG
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| Format:
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Widescreen (1.85:1) Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions
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Audio:
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English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, French, Spanish
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| Subtitles:
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Spanish Subtitles, English Closed-Captioned
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| Extras:
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Audio
Commentary with Director Andrew Davis and Author/Screenwriter
Louis Sachar, Audio Commentary with Actors Shia LeBeouf, Khleo
Thomas, Jake M. Smith and Max Kasch, Six Deleted Scenes, Gag
Reel, "The Boys of D-Tent" Featurette, "Digging
the First Hole" Featurette, Music Video, Sneak Peeks, THX
Optimizer
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Holes is based on the award-winning
best-seller from author Louis Sachar. It's the story of Stanley
Yelnats IV (Shia LeBeouf) who, like his father, and his father before
him has the worst luck. The luck (or lack of luck really) can be
traced back to his no-good dirty rotten pig stealing great great
grandfather who was cursed by a fortune teller. So, when a pair of
shoes mysteriously falls out of the sky and into the hands of poor
Stanley, he is arrested. They're no ordinary shoes - they were donated
to a homeless shelter by a star athlete. His story doesn't really
stand up in a court of law, so Stanley is sentenced to 18 months at
Camp Green Lake - a place where troubled youth go to build character.
At camp, Stanley meets his campmates, colorfully named Squid, Armpit,
Zigzag, Magnet, X-Ray, and Zero. There, they are forced to dig holes
as a character building exercise. Little do they know the history of
Camp Green Lake. So, that's the movie in a nutshell. There's lots
more, but I won't go into here for fear of spoiling the story.
Needless to say, we learn all about the family curse and the history
of Camp Green Lake, all of which are told in a series of flashbacks
which nicely tie everything together. All I'll say is that it's worth
investing your time to find out. I've never read the book, so I can't
really commentate on how true it is to the story, but if the book is
anything like the movie, I can see why it's a best-seller. It's an
engaging story, filled with great characters. What more could you
want?
There's a lot of great features included with this DVD. There are two
commentary tracks - one from director Andrew Davis and screenwriter
Louis Sachar. It helps a lot that Sachar also wrote the novel the
movie is based on. Nothing great in the commentary. There were a few
good notes about the differences between the book and the movie which
would be of interest to fans of the book. I can't really say, but it
sounded good. There were a lot of gaps in the conversation which
sometimes made it drag a bit, but still, a worthwhile listen. The
second commentary was from the cast of the film, including Shia
LaBeaouf, Khleo Thomas, Jake M. Smith and Max Kasch. This commentary
was fun, but not very informative. What else can you expect from a
group of teenagers? There were a few interesting anecdotes, but for
the most part, it's a group of teenage boys being teenage boys. If
you're a fan of any of these actors, it might be a fun listen. I
almost wish all of the actors had participated. From the rest of the
features, they seemed like a good group of guys. Byron Cotton stood
out and would have been a nice addition to the commentary.
Also included are two featurettes. The first is a making-of feature
titled "The Boys of D-Tent". It's a fun featurette. We get
to hear from the boys about their experiences. We also hear from the
filmmakers about casting the roles and their experiences working with
the kids. Listening to the filmmakers about the casting, it seems they
really hit the jackpot in terms of getting actors that matched up well
with the characters in the book. Another great part of the feature is
their audition tapes. We also learn about how the boys went to boot
camp to prepare for their roles and the rigors of working in the
desert, digging holes and stuff like that. While it's titled "The
Boys of D-Tent" it's a bit misleading because it's more about the
making of the movie than about the boys themselves. The second
featurette is called "Digging the First Hole" which is about
the book and author Louis Sachar. Again, I haven't read the book, but
it's good to hear more from the author. He seems really passionate
about the story, and it comes across when he talks about it. It's also
nice that he's not really a Hollywood-type guy. He even admits to
never having been on a movie set. So, it's nice to hear the
perspective of an outsider looking in.
Of the remaining features there are six deleted scenes that didn't add
a whole lot to the movie and it's easy to see why they weren't
included in the final cut. Still, it would have been nice to have a
commentary or introduction by the director as to why they weren't
included. Also, there's a gag reel that was okay. It's just a few fun
behind-the-scenes things. Interestingly enough, they weren't all from
the movie - some were from the making of the DVD which was different.
Finally, there's a D-Tent Boys music video for "Dig It".
It's short - running only about 1 minute and not really worthwhile.
Disney seems to always include a music video of some type on their
DVDs, so why should this movie be any different?
The movie is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of
1.85:1 (enhanced for 16x9 televisions) with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound.
So, this was a pretty well-rounded DVD - a good movie that looks and
sounds good with some decent features. I know people who were weary of
seeing Holes thinking it would be more of a kids movie, but who came
away liking it a lot more than they thought they would. So, whether
you're a fan of the book or not, check it out if you have the chance.
You probably won't be disappointed.
| The Movie: |
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7.5/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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7.5/10 |
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Holes
Liam Cullin -
Editor
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