REEL | Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor Transport 'The End of Oak Street'

"Is that a f*cking dinosaur?"

Warner Bros. Pictures / Bad Robot

Genre filmmaker David Robert Mitchell and producer J.J. Abrams team up for the sci-fi survivalist film, The End of Oak Street. When an ordinary suburban family of four (Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, and Christian Convery) and their entire neighbourhood block in 1982 get cosmically transported back to prehistoric times, they must figure out what's going on while dodging ravenous dinosaurs.

Lovingly inspired by Steven Spielberg's Amblin era of family adventure films, Mitchell expertly builds out his less-than-idyllic, middle American existence before turning up the sci-fi horror elements of dangerous creatures and dinosaur action. Hathaway, in particular, shines as both the protective mom and dissatisfied wife with aspirations outside the home. Stella and Convery work well as part of the family unit as kids wandering off.

There are throwaway discusssions about wormholes, astronomical anomalies, and Carl Sagan, but the film wisely throws logic or any prolonged explanations out the door. We experience the unexplained terror alongside the family's confusion of how they were mysteriously transported through time and space. Composer Michael Giacchino, who did the music for several similarly-themed Jurassic World films, adds a memorably killer film score that drives the chaos of the characters' actions forward nicely.

The End of Oak Street is both a gruesome yet wholesome family adventure that feels dangerous and thrilling at the same time. It's easily the best, most entertaining dinosaur movie since the first Jurassic Park. Mitchell captures the true sense of a late summer blockbuster as amusement park fun and carnage.


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