Holes

Walt Disney Pictures (c) 2003

Screenplay by Louis Sachar, based on his book

If you haven't seen or read Holes by this time, then you have been living under a cultural rock, just like a yellow-spotted lizard. Honestly, the book should be required reading in middle school - forget all that Nightjohn and Because of Winn-Dixie stuff they force on our 'tweens, THIS is the book,

but the movie is just as good, simply because Sachar was allowed to write the screenplay, which kept intact the content of the book. Perhaps it was easy for him to translate it to the screen simply because it was such a tight story.

The book surprised me when I read it, because he kept his fanciful imagination under wraps (unlike the Wayside School stories, which I also feel should be required reading for 3rd through 5th grades) and produced a story that works on so many different levels.

The movie keeps all that - it's a great solid foundation for all families, all ages. The added plus is that the lead role is perfect for Shia LeBeouf's acting style - which is typically dazed and slightly clueless. Truly, this guy hasn't acted as well in any movie since.

Weaver, Voight, and Nelson - splendid in their roles as the baddies, playing them vividly right up to the point of comical, and some would say they never cross the line into caricature, but I think they do, but then I think that's also appropriate to the story.

If anyone can find it, there was also an interview on NPR with Sachar in Tulsa a few months ago, when he won an award from the Tulsa City-County Library (the interview was on Studio Tulsa) in which he commented on the screenplay, how different it was from writing the novel, etc. and one of the most interesting points was when he said that one actor and he spent an entire night inventing a history for the character (note: he'd already spoken about Voigt's character and so I'm assuming the actor is Tim Blake Nelson), but Sachar was impressed that this actor wanted to invent such a detailed history, something that would never come across in the movie, nor did it need to be, but that it was something for him to use to breathe more life into the lines that he was speaking. I think it gave Sachar (and subsequently, to me, the listener) a greater respect for the craft of acting.

Interesting stuff, these various art media!

VG