Just yesterday I decided to continue with my Disney+ subscription after a few months away from the platform. I had actually really missed the library it offers and had been painfully surviving with Prime Video for the most part during this duration. With Disney+ I find I roam through its library and watch a much larger variety of content, bevause I feel it is actually good, easier to find, and really does vary for those times where you have a specific mood and known precisely what you're looking for. Well, today I knew I wanted to watch something from my childhood, sometbing familiar that I hadn't seen in a very long time, curious as to how it may hold up now I'm older. I opened up Disney+, browsed for about two minutes and came across Holes. I can't remember the last time I saw this film; so much so that I couldn't even remember what is was about, remembering absolutely nothing other than its main cast and the theme of digging holes.
I was surprised to see that the film had a two hour runtime, a lot longer than most films from that era that are mostly family films. Most typically confirming to usual 90 minute runtime, getting the story over and done with and nothing overly ambitious. Though I assume with the cast this film has, it wanted to do a bit more, stretching out the story to the point where it tells two narratives of both past and present. I did feel that the film could've been a bit shorter, and I can't imagine how I managed to sit still and watch this as a more energetic youth with an attention span barely reaching into a fraction of a minute.
I think everyone has seen this film at least once in the past, so let's just not care for spoilers. But if you are one to really care for them, then I'll keep things relatively tame as to avoid major ones being mentioned.
Holes
One of my main issues with Holes came from its constant jumping between past and present to establish its main narrative. The story following a group of troubled youth placed into a scheme that makes them dig holes day in and day out under the apparent reasoning that it will strengthen their character, putting them on the path to being better, more behaved people. This side of things is fine, and probably more interesting with the lack of answers as the film has the characters questioning what they're actually digging for, especially as the higher ups seem to be restless over something, as if to imply that they are indeed searching for something. This is added to through the characters having to tell them if they do find anything, and then being rewarded for it. There's a lot of mystery to begin with thst makes the whole idea seem more fun, as you yourself start to question what it might be for. Though soon enough the film takes you out of this and pulls you into the past, where it establishes its context and essentially ruins the story.
Much of the film hops between past and present as it provides more context over the events that led to a buried treasure ending up where it is. A complicated story of romance and rivalry in the wild west, and a series of family names that are caught up in it all, even generations later as their offspring continue to hunt for the remains of the treasure left behind. While the performances in these parts of the film aren't bad, the constant hopping into the past seems a bit distracting, and it definitely bloats out the film's runtime to an unnecessary length. These ideas could have been established through other, shorter means instead. This also makes it a bit harder to follow and care for the characters of the present. And this is a pretty bad thing given the film sometimes tries to explore the fun side of this camp as the children begin their group friendship. But the film refuses to waste time on most of the characters that could've actually been more interesting. There's very little context to them, having them only exist to just fill a gap in the film's events.
Much of the film's strengths are in the present, this idea of a corrective labour colony having children digging holes for an unknown reason, with the children growing more curious as to why. This is where the tension in the film sits too, as the children begin to clash with the higher ups and push their limits. Of course this is just a family film, but it could've handled things a bit better. That said, I still felt some nostalgia while watching it. The younger Shia LaBeouf is the main appeal here, having acted around the same time as Even Stevens. Around the time in which he was still a lead actor. But the film surprisingly has a few bigger names floating around: Sigourney Weaver is the film's villain, and having her around was a bit strange to see, but she manages to pull off the scary, malicious type quite well. Though my favourite appearance in the film was by far Tim Blake Nelson. Fitting the gritty, prospecting and western aesthetic perfectly with his appearance and performance. Almost typecast for it.
Sadly the film does just lose its magic as it continues, and the film goes through extra lengths to lose all mystery to it. This is done by having our protagonist seemingly be there due to fate. Actually having a tie to the treasure in his family history. It all gets a bit farfetched here (as if it wasn't already) by again going the extra mile to seem like it has a big grand conclusion that leads to a happy ending. All alongside a sudden rise in special effects generated lizards which suddenly play a big role in that climax. It definitely started to lose me around the final quarter, but this was again due to the runtime and sudden rush to have things all tied up and ready to end. To which it sort of just does, things work out suddenly. It doesn't really seem like there has been any sort of accomplishment, and the whole discovery sort of just happens as if the fate aspect of things really did have a play in it all.
Ultimately, I felt that the whole nostalgia magic just wasn't enough for me this time. The film had some interesting ideas but were unfortunately overshadowed by too many weaknesses. This is probably why I couldn't really remember much from the film over the years. That said, it's still much better than what modern Disney is constantly throwing out. And this is a family film from an era in which family films had Hollywood's interest. I think it is safe to call it an attempt at a family film blockbuster. Giving it a big story, lots of characters and actors, and a lengthy runtime to justify the cinema ticket and rental prices at the time.
