The year of Anne Hathaway is kicked into hyperdrive. Following the release of the legacy sequel “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” the indie art house film “Mother Mary” and on the heels of Christopher Nolan’s epic “The Odyssey,” the Oscar winner now stars in the new movie “The End of Oak Street” (and she still has another movie slated for this fall!).
She and Ewan McGregor are Denise and Greg Platt, a not-so-happy couple who put on a happy face for their two teenage children, Audrey and Brian (Maisy Stella and Christian Convery) in their idyllic neighborhood on — you guessed it — Oak Street in Summer 1982.
One night, a mysterious light floods the outside of their home, and they wake up without any power, running water, and are not even picking up any radio stations. It doesn’t take long after Denise and Greg leave the house to figure out something isn’t right — there are dinosaurs everywhere.
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The entirety of their neighborhood was somehow transported back to a prehistoric era where the end of the street is literally cut off by a giant cliff with jungles taking over people’s backyards. The Platts must fight to survive and find a way back home — if there’s even a way back home.
Someone in Hollywood — possibly writer-director David Robert Mitchell — must’ve pitched, “What if it’s ‘Jurassic Park’ but set in suburbia?” The premise is totally inexplicable, and that’s completely OK, as long as the audience can buy into the premise, even one this absurd. Mitchell’s strong execution on a pure entertainment level supersedes the need for a logical explanation.
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Mitchell, best known for his 2014 breakout horror flick “It Follows,” knows how to build up suspense and put together fun action sequences. He’s aided by cinematographer Mike Gioulakis, editor John Axelrad and Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino, who delivers yet another magnificent score.
It’s no surprise that J.J. Abrams, the producer behind “LOST,” the “Cloverfield” trilogy and the recent “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” films, also produced this sci-fi action thriller.
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Hathaway hits her stride here, arguably more so than any of her other role this year, playing the no-nonsense matriarch of the household, while McGregor brings levity as the perhaps Pollyannaish father. But all of them, including Stella and Convery, take turns kicking dinosaur butt. And some of the dinosaurs are quite terrifying!
“The End of Oak Street” is a fun, crowd-pleasing wild ride that is full of laughs and suspense that feels like a throwback to the kinds of movies that Hollywood used to make. If you’re going to squeeze in one more movie with the family before the kids go back to school, consider this one.
“The End of Oak Street” is rated PG-13 for some strong violent content, bloody images, some strong language and suggestive material. Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes. In theaters now.
