Movie Monday: Holes

Holes

When opportunity arises, I feature Movie Monday. I recognize few people have the time or desire to read the amount I do, especially when it comes to the 100 Best Novels list. Luckily, Hollywood loves adapting a classic and I love a good story in any form.

Film Title: Holes

Book Title: Holes

Release Year: 2003

Summary: Same as the book. Innocent boy gets sent to juvenile work camp. He makes friends, makes enemies, dig holes, and unwittingly counters the curse on his family.

What I Thought: I saw this ages ago when it came out, so it was fun to rewatch it. In case you forget, I read the book for one of my grad school courses; I actually did the same for the movie. I had to write a paper comparing and contrasting the two.

I had plenty of boring, academic thoughts, but as I watched, I wrote down some more fun observations as well. Stuff I knew you'd enjoy and wouldn't work in my paper.

You may remember my Movie Monday review of Carrie. I did a Top 10 list of observations. That was fun and easy, so I'm repeating it here.

Top 10 Things I Thought While Watching Holes:

1. What? This is a Disney movie? How did I forget that?
2. Shia LaBeauf is delightfully nerdy and Even Stevens like in this movie. I miss this Shia. Bring him back, please.
3. Stanley isn't nearly fat enough....but I guess you don't worry about that important character detail when you already have someone lined up for the part.
4. I would have quit this camp the minute I saw one of those crazy eyed lizards.
5. The movie does a better job portraying how completely Zero is left out of the group dynamic. 
6. Mr. Pendanski comes across a lot meaner in the movie. He seems much more black and white, bipolar almost. His hypocrisy is more subtle in the book.
7. I wish they hadn't cast Patricia Arquette.
8. The welcoming cheers of the other campers at the end seem pretty disingenuous after they were so mean to Zero and Stanley before.
9. Hahahahaha....the credits say "Introducing Shia LaBeouf." Gosh, I'm old. 
10. I wonder what happened to all the rest of the boys from this movie. 

Rating: ★★★★☆

Will I Re-Watch: At some point, yes, I'm sure I will.

A Reduced Review: A fun, light-hearted adaptation of a classic novel. That's all there is to know.