30 Second Bottom Line: It may be a corny cliche¢ -- that " triumph of the human spirit" exclamatory—but it rings true in this delightful Disney family story about a curse, a kid and a hellish boot camp.

Story Line: Stanley Yelnats IV is a young man who has been brought up to believe that his fate is sealed. I guess I would think the same thing if every man who I was named after had as many pratfalls and shortcomings as Stanley’s father and grandfather. His father spends his time trying to find a cure for shoe odor and his grandfather sits around all day talking about the doomed Yelnats name. Apparently the original Stanley Yelnats broke a promise to an old fortune teller generations ago and the men of the family have been operating under a curse ever since.

Wrongly convicted of a crime he did not commit and sentenced to 18 months at "Camp Greenlake", Stanley is shocked to discover that this is a nightmare boot camp and that there’s nothing green or beachy about this place. The camps handlers are stupid, mean, ugly, manipulative and, if I had to guess, foul smelling as well. The warden of the camp stands idly by as it all goes on--the troubled youths digging countless holes, each five feet deep and five feet in diameter. Why the endless need to escavate? "We take bad boys and make them dig holes. Digging holes build characters and turns them into good boys". Not exactly the Boy Scouts of America oath, but it’s the philosophy at Camp Green Lake and it’s a double-sided philosophy at that. As it turns out Stanley’s "curse" is not the only one in the movie. Its actually one of a several and it’s the resolution of these curses—all cleverly intertwined—that ultimately wins the audience and tweaks their heartstrings. .

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A trio of positives help "Holes" stand out in the family film genre. First the casting coupe of Jon Voigt and Sigourney Weaver. Their obvious strengths lend a touch of class to this over-the-top story and bolster the talents of the largely unknown cast.

References to the past and the Green Lake of the Old West juxtaposed against the present-day work camp is amusing and clever.

Then there’s the undeniable "Disney" touch on the movie. Be it via animation or live action movies, Disney puts magic in its movies like few others. They know their family audience, target them and give them what they want better than anyone else.

Although I had not heard of the book that this movie is based upon, after seeing this entertaining movie, I feel inspired to check it out. This is that kind of film--a real winner.

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