The End of Oak Street
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The End of Oak Street is playin gin theaters at the time of review. Rated PG-13. Common Sense says 14+
The Platt family bands together to navigate their new surroundings after a cosmic event transports their suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown.
STORY: B+
Humanity shines through the sci-fi spectacle.
The screenwriters use swift, precise strokes to sketch its characters. They love their dog. They get jealous of their friends’ boyfriends. They shield bad news that might hurt their partner’s feelings. They occasionally dream of running away from it all.
It’s easy to see parts of ourselves or people we know in them. And that’s the trick the screenwriters use to help us buy into the story’s bonkers premise: if we believe the characters are real people, we believe whatever is happening to them is real, too.
PEOPLE: B
Anne Hathaway continues her busy, impressive year.
In a year when she’s appeared in Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and The Odyssey, this is the Hathaway performance that may get overlooked. It shouldn’t. She’s the anchor of this movie. She balances the responsibilities of motherhood with its frustrations, even as she chases prehistoric killers down the street with a shotgun.
The rest of the cast is also good, particularly Ewan McGregor’s Greg, who would love to keep kicking the horrors of their situation down the road. His philosophy may work in suburbia, but not when it’s being overrun by dinosaurs.
FILM NERD STUFF: A
The camera places us in the Platts’ unstable situation.
Directors use handheld cameras to convey instability. I’ve never seen one shake with fear as fervently as it does during Hathaway’s first encounter with a dinosaur.
They use a diopter shot while the family discusses what they should do, keeping everyone—both those close and far—in sharp focus. It’s jolting to look at and reinforces the strange turn the Platts’ lives have taken.
Yet the best shot of all is a single take that zips up and down the road as every family member takes their shots at the massive fangs chasing them through their idyllic neighborhood.
ONE BIG LESSON: A-
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Were humans meant to live in the suburbs? It’s no accident that the film is set in a “perfect” little neighborhood. But a lot of man-made struggles are borne out of this manner of living. Can we make the mortgage? Can we get along with our neighbors? Why is my soul so unsatisfied?
These are all legitimate struggles. But they pale in comparison to being chased down Oak Street by a salivating T. rex. That is a conflict we’re designed to deal with.
FINAL COMMENTS:
This film feels like a throwback to the golden days of The Twilight Zone and the movies of the week from the ’80s. It’s a thrilling roller coaster of a film designed for maximum thrills and fun. Check it out while it’s still on the big screen.