"Holes" was made by adults who know the best kids' movies are the ones that don't talk down to kids. They assume children
are smart, which they are, and that they can follow fairly complicated plots, which they can. Kids' movies, on the whole, should make fewer flatulence jokes and focus more on treating children like real people, the way "Holes" does. The film was adapted from the Newbery Medal-winning book by its author, Louis Sachar, and directed by grown-up-film maker Andrew Davis ("The Fugitive," "Under Siege"), whose philosophy is not to let serious themes get in the way of having a good time, and vice versa. "Holes" has a little death, some perilous situations, and some mature themes like racism, but it trusts that kids can handle it. It is a curious little story about a juvenile detention facility in the Texas desert, 150 miles from the nearest water or civilization. Here is where perpetually unlucky Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf) is sent after being falsely accused of stealing a famous baseball player's shoes, the latest in a string of unfortunate circumstances he has found himself in.
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