HOLES (FILM)

'''Holes''' is a 2003 film based on the novel of the same title by Louis Sachar. The film was produced by Walden Media and released by Walt Disney Pictures.

Contents

Reception

Musical score

Differences from the book

Cast

Trivia

External links

Reception

The movie made a modest US$67 million at the box office. However, it was consistently lauded as an excellent movie, because of its strong plot, deep characters, and family friendliness. Its Rotten Tomatoes rating is 77%, well above the 60% needed to be considered "fresh". Many reviewers gave a thumbs-up because of how the movie stayed true to the spirit of the novel.

Musical score

One of the most appealing facets to the movie (particularly to the kid audiences) was 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 was exceptionally popular with child viewers and 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.

Differences from the book

Although the movie is very like the book, there are some differences. It should be noted that Louis Sachar, who wrote the novel, also wrote the screenplay.

★ In the book, Stanley is overweight and loses weight during the course of the book. However, in the film he is of average weight throughout the entire film. Many of the issues in the book stemmed from Stanley looking down on himself for being overweight. However, in the bonus features on the DVD, it is explained that continuity issues forced this change.

★ The movie much more dramatically depicts the excavation efforts by the boys after the finding of Kate Barlow's lipstick tube. In the book, it is basically described as three holes being widened until they meet. In the movie, we see an entire network of huge trenches and dug walkways perhaps over six feet deep.

★ Some early scenes showing Stanley at school are not in the movie; however, they are seen as ''deleted scenes'' on the DVD.

★ In the book, Stanley's father was experimenting on how to recycle old sneakers, and the creation of the foot-odor cure was an accident. It is also unclear what was used to make the concoction. In the film, he only experiments on how to eliminate foot odor which he accomplishes using peaches and onions.

★ In the book, the motorboat collides with Sam's rowboat, whereupon Sam is shot in the water. Katherine is with him in the boat. In the movie, Katherine watches helplessly from land while Sam is alone in the boat, and he is shot by those in the motorboat, rather than their colliding with it. A final scene in this segment shows his boat floating alone in the water; he is presumably collapsed within it.

★ In the book, Squid/Alan asks Stanley to tell his mom he's sorry; in the film, Armpit/Theodore asks the favor.

★ In the book, there is a different counselor for every tent; in the movie Mr. Pendanski seems to be a counselor for every tent.

★ In the book, Kate Barlow returns to Green Lake and lives in a house alone for three months before being found by Trout Walker. They break into her house and search the house for the loot. They also subject her to torture to try to make her reveal the location of the money. There is a long time before she is bitten by the lizard. In the movie, she is simply seen lying against Sam's overturned boat (having a vision of him) when Trout and Linda Walker approach her demanding the money. She plays dumb, knowing that they won't be able to find the treasure on their own ("Go ahead, kill me; the lake goes on for miles.") Only a minute or so after encountering Trout, Kate grabs a yellow-spotted lizard and uses its fatal bite to commit suicide.

★ In the film, the second line of the pig verse is "the bark on the tree was as soft as the skies." In the book, originally, the second line was "the bark on the tree was just a little bit softer," but when Elya Yelnats came to America, his wife Sarah (who is not in the film, in which the backstory ends while he was on his ship to America), changes the line to "the bark in the tree was as soft as the skies" because the second verse only rhymed in Latvian, and not in English. Also, on the last page of the book, there is a second verse which was not mentioned in the movie.

★ The book segment about Stanley, Hector, and Stanley's lawyer in the car driving back to civilization does not appear in the film. Instead we cut directly from Camp Green Lake right to Stanley's family opening the trunk.

★ In the book, Elya Yelnats is 15 when he falls in love with Myra Menke. In the film his age is unknown, but he appears about 25–30.

★ In the book, Madame Zeroni is friends with Elya Yelnats, but this is not revealed in the movie.

★ In the book, when Stanley and Zero decide to return to Camp Green Lake and search for the treasure, the book describes them hiding in their respective holes for hours waiting for the camp to empty. In the movie, they arrive at the hole at night and get directly to work.

★ In the book, Sam and Kate Barlow kiss while outside on a rainy day, and Hattie Parker (one of the townsfolk) sees them kiss while walking out of the General Store. In the film, they kiss in Katherine's schoolhouse and Trout Walker sees them kiss while riding on a horse by the schoolhouse.

★ In the film, Stanley and Zero become neighbors, which is not stated in the book although it is possible.

★ In the book, Louis Sachar clearly downplays the value of the contents of the trunk. He states that each family got a bit less than a million dollars after taxes - "though not much [less than a million]." In the movie, the value of the trunk is portrayed as being much higher. The individual bonds are valued at "millions" and we see at least four of them being handled (not counting the jewels and other items found in the trunk).

★ In the deleted scenes on the DVD, Magnet is stabbed by the Warden with a pitchfork after leaving the site to go to the bathroom; in the book, it was Armpit who was.

★ In the book, it says that Stanley Yelnats I was left in the desert with no water or food for 17 days, but in the movie, Stanley Yelnats III tells his son that it was 16 days.

★ In the book, Sam says he will fix Ms. Catherine's schoolhouse roof in exchange for 6 jars of her spiced peaches. In the film, he fixes the roof for three.

★ In the film, when the attorneys arrive, they find out Mr. Sir is actually a paroled criminal named Marion Sevillo. He apparently committed a crime in El Paso and his possession of a gun is violating his parole.

Cast

'Camp Green Lake'

★ Sigourney Weaver ... The Warden

★ Jon Voight ... Mr. Sir

★ Tim Blake Nelson ... Dr. Pendanski

★ Shia LaBeouf ... Stanley "Caveman" Yelnats

★ Khleo Thomas ... Hector "Zero" Zeroni

★ Jake M. Smith ... Alan "Squid"

★ Byron Cotton ... Theodore "Armpit" Johnson

★ Brenden Jefferson ... Rex "X-Ray" Washburn

★ Miguel Castro ... Jose "Magnet"

★ Max Kasch ... Ricky "Zigzag"

★ Noah Poletiek ... Twitch

★ Zane Holtz ... Lewis "Barfbag"

★ Steve Koslowski ... Lump
'Yelnats' Home'

★ Siobhan Fallon Hogan ... Stanley's mother

★ Henry Winkler ... Stanley's father

★ Nathan Davis ... Grandfather

★ Rick Fox ... Clyde "Sweetfeet" Livingston
'Latvia'

★ Eartha Kitt ... Madame Zeroni

★ Damien Luvara ... Elya Yelnats

★ Sanja Mateyas ... Myra Menke

★ Ravil Isyanov ... Morris Menke

★ Ken Davitian ... Igor Barkov
'Old Green Lake'

★ Patricia Arquette ... Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow

★ Scott Plank ... Charles "Trout" Walker

★ Dulé Hill ... Sam

★ Allan Kolman ... Stanley Yelnats I

★ Louis Sachar ... Mr. Collingwood

Trivia

Jon Voight and Shia LaBeouf worked together again in the 2007 action film Transformers

External links

★

★ ''Holes'' official site