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Avg. Critic Score: 71 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
10 OK for kids 10+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    One of the few recent movies I have seen that plunged me into that rare, giddy state of pleasurable confusion, of not knowing what would happen next, which I associate with the reading and moviegoing experiences of my own childhood. But there is no reason that children should have a monopoly on this primal, wonderful experience. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    It's great to see an action-adventure family film with heart as well as humor, whimsy alongside wisdom, and a compelling narrative. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    A movie so strange that it escapes entirely from the family genre and moves into fantasy. Like "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," it has fearsome depths and secrets. Read full review

  • 83
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Honoring the literary ground beneath it, spotted yellow lizards and all, the movie Holes is easy to dig. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    It's got an involving, adventurous story to tell and the wherewithal to tell it correctly. And while young adults may think this is intended only for them, in truth it's their elders who are especially starved for this kind of entertainment. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    It eschews obvious effects, but even more impressively, it tells a story without an obvious moral. It assumes that kids can wrestle with a fairly complicated narrative and draw their own conclusions. Read full review

  • 75
    New York Daily News | Jack Mathews

    A great family movie, with a terrifically empathetic young hero, strong messages about the powers of familial love and friendship, buried treasure and enough action to keep the little ones from getting bored. Read full review

  • 70
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    One would have to be totally tone-deaf not to notice that the director, Andrew Davis, has inflicted a broad cartoon style on adult performers who are distinctly uncomfortable with it. Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    Holes functions as a film, but just barely: Readers familiar with the book may negotiate the film's antic crosscutting, but newbies will need to pop a Dramamine before the lights dim. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Holes will no doubt speak clearly and appealingly to its intended early teen audience. Read full review

View more reviews for Holes on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 10+ Great movie respects its audience's intelligence.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie, based on the bestseller by Louis Sachar, has an edge to it, but it's not as gritty as it could be. Portraying a teen boys' work-camp could give excuses to broach more lewd subject matter, but this movie portrays the rough and tumble without devolving into a gross-out fest. There are some moments of racial and gender tension played out in glimpses of the past (reference to a lynching, men trying to force their attentions on a woman), which might be too intense for younger viewers.  
  • Families can talk about its themes of fate and choice. What actions in the movie seem to have been decided by fate (or a curse) and what were decided by the characters?
  • How much of our present is influenced by or determined by the past?
  • There are even more connections between the three stories than you see at first. How many can you find?
  • If you pay close attention, there is something significant about when the boys use their real names and when they use their tough nicknames. What does that tell you?
  • Why doesn't Stanley tell the truth in his letter to his mother? How is Stanley different at the end of the movie?
The good stuff
  • message true2 Positive messages: Stanley and Zero are treated badly by adults at the camp who call them worthless and stupid. Stanley, however, takes on the task of teaching Zero how to read. He sticks out his neck for Zero and eventually saves his life.
  • rolemodels true1 Positive role models: The adults in charge of the boy's camp are mean-spirited and demeaning. But the adults in Stanley's life are kind-hearted and generous. Stanley has inherited these traits from his family, welcoming Zero into his home like a brother. 
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Stanley is sent to a boys' work camp, where there is rough-housing and some fist fights. There are wild west flashbacks where a gun-toting female renegade kills men and then kisses their cheeks. Members of the old west community threaten to lynch an African-American man who loves a white woman -- he is shot as he tries to escape. Perilous moments on the face of a rock, as Stanley and Zero nearly fall to their deaths. A character commits suicide by allowing a poisonous lizard to bite her.
  • sex false1 Sex: Non-sexual scenes of boys showering (in their underwear). Stanley talks in passing about a fantasy he has of seeing a woman in a bikini.
  • language false1 Language: "Damned," "hell," "schmuck," and "jackasses" are all uttered.
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: Mr. Sir hands a guard a Coke. Characters revel in newly found wealth.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Mr. Sir has quit smoking at the start of the movie, but is back to smoking by the end. In an old West flashback, a sheriff admits that he is drunk.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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