EwanMcGregor – Credits Rolling

Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg Platt (Ewan McGregor) are on the brink of divorce. Though they have tried to keep it together for their children Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), they know that they aren’t fooling anyone. But when a cosmic event takes place and shifts their suburban neighborhood into a world where dinosaurs still exist, they are forced to put aside their differences to do what they can to survive.

The End of Oak Street seemed to come out of nowhere. I hadn’t heard much about it until closer to its release date. The fact that most of the storyline was kept under wraps made it even better as it enhanced the viewing experience. I went into it expecting one thing and ended up getting so much more than I bargained for. It’s probably one of my favorite cinema experiences of the summer!

With Hathaway and McGregor at the helm, it wasn’t a surprise that they would deliver solid performances. While McGregor seemed to be more of a side character to Hathaway’s kick ass mom, the two worked well off each other. I simply can’t get over how dynamic Hathaway is as an actress. This is her fourth feature film of the year and each one has been so different, yet just as impressive as the last. Stella and Convery did a good job as the kids; there was a genuine chemistry between all four of them that really made it seem like they were a real family.

The main event was, of course, the dinosaurs. The way in which they were introduced was well done. Slowly at first, where the audience doesn’t see them in their full form straight away. Instead we are teased by little things here and there before we finally witness how threatening they truly are. The special effects used for these creatures were spot on and there were some positively terrifying moments that had me jumping in my seat. It was absolutely thrilling.

Overall, The End of Oak Street is exactly what you would want from a summer blockbuster. While it never fully explains how this neighborhood is transported back in time, it doesn’t need to. It leans into the crazy all the way that it seems believable enough to happen. The whole experience was a blast and it’s a film that I would definitely revisit in the future.

Rating: ♥️♥️♥️.5

By now we should know the story of Pinocchio, a wooden puppet, who was magically brought to life. After all, this is the third adaption that we’ve had this year alone. And how can we forget the original 1940’s Disney classic? So I won’t bore you with the plot details. What I will say is that there was a lot of hype surrounding Del Toro’s version as it was considered to be the most unique of them all. I can’t say that I disagree!

The best part, hands down, has to be the way in which this was filmed. Stop motion animation is something that we don’t get to see all too often anymore. To have this featured throughout was so refreshing and interesting that it kind of took my breath away at times. Seeing each character, location and object come to life in this way was really cool.

All the characters that we know and love were brought to life by some wonderful voicing talents. Ewan McGregor as Cricket was by far my favorite, who served not as Pinocchio’s guide and conscious, but also the narrator of the story. Alongside him were David Bradley as Geppetto, Cate Blanchett as Spazzatura, Christoph Waltz as Count Volpe and Tilda Swinton as Wood Sprite. Each brought something special to their roles.

Before settling in to watch, it is important to keep in mind that this version of Pinocchio is very different than anything we’ve seen before. There is a much darker element that I wasn’t quite prepared for. In some ways it worked – for example, learning about Geppetto’s life with his son Carlo and the horrific way in which he died added some oomph to the story and broke my heart into a million pieces. But there were other areas in which I thought it was overdone.

I don’t know what I expected going into Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, but it wasn’t what we got. There were some aspects that I really enjoyed and overall I do believe it’s the best adaptation we’d had this year. That being said, I spent a lot of the movie feeling confused. Who was the target audience supposed to be? At times it felt it was geared towards children, but then there were scenes that even I’m sure will give me nightmares. I also don’t think setting it in fascist Italy worked as well as it could have.

My opinion may be an unpopular one, but oh well. Maybe I’m just ready for an entirely different Disney classic to be adapted.

Rating: ♥♥♥