Cast: Ewan MacGregor, Anne Hathaway, Christian Convery, Maisy Stella Review by Carol Allen
They live in one of those well groomed, spacious and utterly boring American suburbs in the 80s, where nothing more exciting than an argument with a neighbour ever occurs. However, all is not as it seems. The apparently perfect marriage is under strain since Greg lost his job, Denise is planning her getaway and the kids can smell trouble.
Marital discord is however about to become the least of their worries. It starts with the discovery of a strange, long extinct plant growing on the manicured lawn and a row with the neighbour who accuses the Platt family dog of creating the huge mountain of excrement that has appeared on his lawn. Look at the pile, look at the dog – I don’t think so. That’s followed by strange lights and sounds, a total cut off of electricity and water and the fact that this smug, suburban island is now surrounded by exotic vegetation going back to when dinosaurs rule the earth, all of which gives them a big clue that something weird is up. Which it certainly is as somehow Suburbaville has been transported back in time to when dinosaurs ruled the earth. And the dinos and other creatures are back, they’re hungry and they fancy some nice tasty humans for dinner.
So predictably but very entertainingly it’s now all about the Platt family’s struggle to survive. The human actors all do well as they do battle and the tension builds nicely as more and more of the bloodthirsty creatures reveal themselves – not a herbivore amongst the lot of them. This is Jurassic Park with knobs on. The special effects guys have excelled themselves.
There’s even time for a touch of humour, when Greg and Denise come across a couple of amorous dinos in full copulation mode and take a theme park type photograph. But for most of the time it’s a non stop and often spectacular battle to stay alive. And then there’s the dog. We are all worried about the dog. Has he been eaten? That would be real tragedy
We’re never given any proper explanation as to why this strange metamorphosis has happened. And for what is a largish neighbourhood, we see comparatively few of the other inhabitants. There’s the grumpy man next door – soon dispatched – and a rather pleasant elderly woman friend of Denise whom they find dead on the kitchen floor with sinister bloody animal footprints leading away from her. There’s the girl (Jordan Alexa Davis), whom young Brian saves from one of the creatures and I thought I saw a group of teenagers being pursued by another one in the background towards the end as an afterthought but otherwise Oak Street is somewhat sparsely populated. Forget logic though. This is a movie.
And as for the dog? You’ll have to go and see the film, won’t you? I recommend it as a real fun thriller ride.
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