Director: Andrew Davis
Year Released: 2003
Rating: 3.0
After getting caught "stealing" a pair of sneakers, loveable loser Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf) gets sent to a 're-education camp' that involves digging holes in the middle of the desert for a warden (Sigourney Weaver) with a hidden agenda. Based on the popular Louis Sachar book for kids (which is regularly taught in elementary schools), it is primarily focused on the idea of destiny and correcting wrongs of the past (and being rewarded for doing so), which is clever and somewhat thought-provoking (if one is given to the notion of fate), though the performances by most of the cast (LeBeouf aside, since he was already method at the time) remind me a bit too much of Nickelodeon's programs (adults behaving like imbeciles ... especially Jon Voight). How a virtual slave camp run by rogues with criminal backgrounds would be even permissible is implausible in a Child-First society like the U.S., but you know what Serge Daney said about the cinema and the suspension of disbelief....
