Nothing brings a family together quite like a parade of dinosaurs running amok in the neighborhood.

"The End of Oak Street" is a thrilling throwback adventure about a suburban Detroit family trying to hold it together while dealing with a sudden, unexplained prehistoric invasion on their idyllic street. Forget the why, the Platts need to figure out the how — how to survive when there's a T-Rex in the backyard, velociraptors out front, and a long, slippery, snake-like sucker crawling through the inside of their house.

Writer-director (and Clawson native) David Robert Mitchell ("The Myth of the American Sleepover," "It Follows") steers this earnest thrill ride with eyes full of wonder. He plays it like the kitchen scene from "Jurassic Park" stretched out to feature length, but the reason it resonates is that he takes time early on developing his characters and getting the audience to care about them. It's a popcorn ride that gives audiences something more substantial than popcorn to bite into.

Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway are Greg and Denise Platt, and there's tension boiling over in their marriage. He's picking up extra pizza delivery shifts on the side to help make ends meet and he's sneaking a little hooch on the side, and she's trying her best to save face in front of their kids, Audrey ("My Old Ass'" Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery). But they're old enough to know their parents are fighting, and they're starting to wonder if they're headed for the big D.

A different big D is headed their way, in the form of dinosaurs. Wait, dinosaurs? Through an unexplained cosmic phenomenon, the Platts' quaint suburban neighborhood is transported into a dinosaur realm, or a dinosaur realm is transported into their neighborhood, one of the two. There's not much time to ask questions when there are volcanoes erupting in the distance and brontosauruses loose in their neighbor's yard, and the family needs to figure out how to stay alive, let alone together.

Mitchell crafts his world with a delicate touch and an eye for period detail. The movie takes place in 1982, and the fashions are all '70s holdovers, as the '80s had yet to stylistically kick in. He stages several shots using split diopters, where subjects in the foreground and background are in focus at the same time, which feels like an homage to Spielberg. (Growing up, Mitchell was "obsessed" with "E.T.")

But what really stands out is his patience as a storyteller, and the way he takes his time letting the audience get to know his characters before thrusting them into peril. It makes them more than just pawns waiting to become dino food.

McGregor and Hathaway give rooted, committed performances as the parents, and Stella and Convery come off as real kids, not baby showbiz stars-in-training. It helps add authenticity to their world. And when they're all running and hiding from dinos, Mitchell stages some pulse-racing action scenes which are equal parts terrifying and rollicking. The roller coaster of emotions are why you go to the movies.

Back to that big why of the story: Like Mitchell's bizarre, darkly comic 2019 mystery "Under the Silver Lake," the plot particulars of this world are not laid out in an exactly air-tight fashion. It's best to not worry about it too much, go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

We've seen enough special effects-driven dinosaur attacks onscreen to know that at this point, there's nothing particularly novel about them. "The End of Oak Street" knows the dinosaurs don't matter, it's the people running from who are important. That craft and care makes all the difference.

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'THE END OF OAK STREET'

Grade: B

MPA rating: PG-13 (for some strong violent content, bloody images, some strong language and suggestive material)

Running time: 1:39

How to watch: In theaters Aug. 14

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