The Best Movie Adaptation Ever Is On Disney+ And It’s Weirder Than You Remember

The Holes movie follows a child named Stanley Yelnats who ends up wrongfully accused of stealing and is sent to a camp called Camp Green Lake instead of jail time. The camp is much worse than it sounds, with every child there forced to dig holes in the hot sun. 

None of those spending time at Camp Green Lake knows why they have to dig the holes, but that doesn’t stop them from forming groups and a hierarchy. Stanley is bullied at first, and his only friend is a kid nicknamed Zero, but he ends up becoming a part of the crowd after he provides them with a much-needed day off. 

The story is full of some interesting aspects, including romance, hints of an old-west outlaw tale, and even some magic. Zero and Stanley realize they’re tied up in a feud that’s gone on for generations. 

The reason Holes is such a wonderfully done movie adaptation is that it follows the story almost perfectly. There are some changes, it’s impossible for there not to be, but the changes are minimal and help the story flow better as a movie instead of as a book. The changes that are done are rather minimal, such as providing information sooner, or not covering certain details.

There’s really only one change between the book and the movie and that’s the main character. In the book, he’s a heavier kid who ends up losing weight quickly while digging holes every day. However, Shia LeBeouf was skinny and gangly at the time of filming, and no one bothered to change that. 

Part of the reason was because the film was shot out of order. It would be hard to show weight loss without asking the actor to gain and lose a lot of weight several times during filming.

Since Shia was a child, and losing weight is hard on the body, the team decided that they would just let him stay as he was naturally, especially since his weight wasn’t important to the story. 

Director Andrew Davis is the main reason why the Holes movie did so well in adapting the story. He was given the rights to make the film and the author, Louis Sachar, wasn’t sure the movie would be done well. However, Andrew wanted to ensure the movie was the best it could be.

To make sure this happened, he asked Louis to be the one to adapt it from book to movie. Louis was given the freedom to make changes to the story as needed to make Holes something even the author would be happy with. 

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There was great care taken with the movie adaptation of Holes to a movie, including the cast. Stanley is played by Shia LaBeouf (Peanut Butter Falcon) and Zero is played by Khleo Thomas (Roll Bounce). Other notable faces in the movie include Sigourney Weaver (Alien), Tim Blake Nelson (Hoot), Henry Winkler (The Waterboy), Patricia Arquette (Medium), and Dule Hill (Psych). 

Holes has a rating of 78 percent by critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Audience members gave the movie a score of 76 percent. Holes is available to watch on Disney+ if you want to see this interesting coming-of-age film yourself.