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Holes (2003)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 132
Fresh: 102 | Rotten: 30

Faithful to its literary source, this is imaginative, intelligent family entertainment.

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 9

Faithful to its literary source, this is imaginative, intelligent family entertainment.

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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 188,904

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Movie Info

A boy being punished for a crime he didn't commit learns there's more going on at a juvenile correctional facility than meets the eye in this comedy drama. Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf) is a teenager who has been told all his life that the men in the Yelnats family are cursed, thanks to a false promise his great, great grandfather made to a fortune teller. Given his frequent bad luck, and that which follows his father (Henry Winkler), Stanley has no trouble believing this. Stanley's bad luck

PG, 1 hr. 58 min.

Action & Adventure, Kids & Family, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

Directed By: Andrew Davis

Written By: Louis Sachar

In Theaters: Apr 18, 2003 Wide

On DVD: Sep 23, 2003

Box Office:$67.3M

Buena Vista Pictures

Brims with storytelling flourishes and gently deployed life lessons that even accompanying adults may dig.

April 22, 2003 Full Review Source: Village Voice

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Ed Park

Village Voice

Top Critic

[T]here's too much going on, and none of it is executed well enough to recommend.

April 21, 2003 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper

| Comments (3)

Richard Roeper

Ebert & Roeper

Top Critic

It's smart, strange, unpredictable, and defies the formulas that typically define this sort of motion picture.

April 20, 2003 Full Review Source: ReelViews

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James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

A wonderfully dark fairy tale.

April 18, 2003 Comment

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

Top Critic

One can't help but feel thankful that the movie doesn't always go the expected route, that the characters have a little more depth to them than average, and that the complexity, which is the movie's basic weakness, is also its fundamental virtue.

April 18, 2003 Comment

Philip Kennicott

Washington Post

Top Critic

Crazy as it is, Holes could be the Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory of 2003.

April 18, 2003 Full Review Source: Toronto Star

| Comment

Susan Walker

Toronto Star

Top Critic

Great movie respects its audience's intelligence.

May 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Young viewers and old alike will be given powerful metaphors of servanthood and selflessness, humility and honor, courage and Christ-like kindness.

December 6, 2004 Comment

Jeffrey Overstreet

Looking Closer

O roteiro leve e bem constru�do, aliado �s performances de um elenco carism�tico, deu origem ao tipo de filme que certamente divertir� toda a fam�lia.

October 25, 2004 Comment

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

Engaging, generous, and well-paced. Holes is inventively plotted and its coincidences and crazy mysticism pull you in the way the best children's fiction does.

July 6, 2004 Full Review Source: F5 (Wichita, KS)

| Comment

Jake Euker

F5 (Wichita, KS) Source: F5 (Wichita, KS)

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Holes

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HOLES was actually a pretty good movie. That's not at all to say that it was a faithful adaptation of the award-winning children's novel, but I liked it, and for a modern Disney movie (and a Shia LaBeouf movie), it was possible to sit through.

August 18, 2011

Alexander Diminiano

Super Reviewer

This movie was actually pretty awesome, it keeps well to the book, it never got boring, and even with a huge hange of the main haracter from the book I really enjoy tis movie, it was cool and good, I watch it whenever its on tv, and a cool theme song.

August 15, 2011

Brad Wright

Super Reviewer

Holes Quotes

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1. Mr. Sir: You take a bad boy and make him dig holes all day long in the hot sun, it makes him a good boy. That's our philisophy here at Camp Green Lake.
– Submitted by Habeeb B (30 days ago)
1. Stanley Yelnats: [last line] I guess you'll have to fill in the rest of the holes yourself.
– Submitted by Alyssa B (4 months ago)
1. Stanley's Mother: I don't smell anything!
– Submitted by Alyssa B (4 months ago)
1. Mr. Sir: Once upon a time there was a magical place where it never rained. The End.
– Submitted by Louisa B (8 months ago)
1. The Warden: I'm tired of this, Grandpa.
2. Trout Walker: Well, that's too damn bad!
– Submitted by Danielle D (8 months ago)