Holes (PG, 2003)

Adapted by Louis Sachar from his Newbery award-winning book, this is the story of Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf). Stanley is wrongfully accused of stealing a very valuable pair of sneakers and sentenced to a juvenile facility in the desert. Each boy there is required to dig a five-foot-deep hole every day. They are told it is to help them develop character, but could it be that the Warden (Sigourney Weaver) is looking for something that just might be buried in the endless stretch of sand that once was Green Lake?

Author Louis Sacher (who appears briefly as a man who is going bald) adapted his own story, and it retains all of the complexity and understated, offbeat charm of the book. The adult actors are excellent, especially Arquette and Dule Hill, but the kids are the center of the story, and they handle it beautifully. Khleo Thomas is wonderfully engaging as Zero. In sharp contrast to most movies directed at 10- to 15-year-olds (come to think of it, to most movies of any kind), HOLES respects the intelligence of its audience. It is even willing to challenge them, and that makes it a movie for everyone in the family to treasure.