After being wrongfully convicted for stealing a pair of shoes, Stanley Yelnats is sent away to Camp Green Lake, a boys detention facility where inmates are forced to dig holes all day in the hot desert sun as a form of character building. As he endures the brutal routine, Stanley begins to uncover a hidden truth behind the camp—one that connects to a dangerous secret and his family’s history.
Writing
Tightest adaptation of a beloved kids' novel.
Direction
Andrew Davis balances grim and goofy masterfully.
Acting
Sigourney Weaver's most unhinged performance ever.
Director
Andrew Davis
Shia LaBeouf
Stanley "Caveman" Yelnats IV
Khleo Thomas
Hector "Zero" Zeroni
Sigourney Weaver
Louise Walker the Warden
Jon Voight
Marion Sevillo "Mr. Sir"
Tim Blake Nelson
Dr. Pendanski
Patricia Arquette
Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow
Dulé Hill
Sam the Onion Man
Henry Winkler
Stanley Yelnats III
Siobhan Fallon Hogan
Tiffany Yelnats
Eartha Kitt
Madame Zeroni
Brenden Jefferson
Rex "X-Ray"
Jake M. Smith
Alan "Squid"
Byron Cotton
Theodore "Armpit"
Miguel Castro
José "Magnet"
Max Kasch
Ricky "Zigzag"
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Author Louis Sachar wrote the screenplay and has a cameo as a bald man in the scene where Sam sells onions. He refused to let Hollywood change the ending.
The film quietly depicts one of Disney's most damning portrayals of systemic racism through Kate and Sam's backstory — a lynching implied rather than shown, rare for a 2003 PG movie.
US
