Going into The End of Oak Street, I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into. Dinosaurs and suburbia, all blended together in a deliciously wicked sci-fi-horror cocktail. My hopes were high that this could serve as modern day spiritual successor to the Jurassic films, and maybe, just maybe, a way to course correct for dino-film fans after what can only be described as a soulless outing in Jurassic World: Rebirth. What I didn’t expect was how much of a genuine throwback the whole experience would be. If you are looking for a love letter to the golden age of Amblin Entertainment, you might want to strap in.
David Robert Mitchell drops us, and the Platt family (Greg (Ewan McGregor), Denise (Anne Hathaway), and their two kids Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery)) into a regular ’80s cul-de-sac, just before the whole street is uprooted and dropped into a prehistoric nightmare. It’s a premise that could carry a film on concept alone, and for long stretches, it does. When Mitchell leans into the horror, and leans in hard, the film is at its strongest. Despite the initial clever concealment of a lot of fan favourite dinos, the first act is an absolute standout, where the sense of entrapment in a familiar yet completely surreal enviornment feels genuinely claustrophobic. That’s not to say that the dinosaur action doesn’t hit hard when it does begin. A particular sequence comes to mind involving a massive prehistoric snake that is one of the more unsettling creature reveals, and it’s a clear callback to Mitchell’s tension-building instincts that made It Follows work back in 2014.
Where the film struggles is in deciding what it actually wants to be underneath the dinosaurs. Greg and Denise’s marriage is meant to be quietly falling apart, with a classic ’80s-suburban-drama undercurrent that is never given enough room to breathe. The film keeps cutting away from moments where that tension could really be explored, opting to chase the next set piece instead. It’s a shame, because there are flashes of something more interesting buried in there, particularly around Denise’s arc, and Anne Hathaway, in the midst of a real purple patch this year, is showing up to work in this movie.
Tonally, the film also gets a bit messy. It wants to be an Amblin throwback, continuing the Spielbergian tradition of ordinary families thrown into extraordinary circumstances, while also being a genuine horror film with real stakes and gore. Those two impulses are in tension with each other for most of the runtime, and Mitchell never quite decides which one wins. One moment you’re watching a legitimately scary set piece, the next you’re back to a family-photo cutaway that undercuts whatever dread just built up. It’s not that either theme fails individually, it’s that neither is fully seen through.
The internal logic has similar problems. The wormhole explanation is thin, the rules of the prehistoric setting are inconsistent from scene to scene, and once you start asking questions about how any of this actually works, the film has no good answers for you. To its credit, the story doesn’t dwell on the mechanics long enough to fully expose itself. And hey, once you buy into the absurdity of the whole situation, these issues should not be enough to pull you out of the experience for long.
Yet, despite these shortcomings, I had FUN. There’s something to be said for a film that’s willing to be this earnestly silly, dinosaur “romance” included (iykyk), while incorporating some fantastic horror elements, and still trying to say something about a family needing to band together under pressure. It doesn’t fully succeed on the domestic drama front, and it definitely doesn’t reinvent anything in the “ordinary people vs. extraordinary threat” genre. But as a big, messy, Amblin-flavoured summer romp, it works.
Ultimately, The End of Oak Street is a fun, uneven ride that calls back to a simpler time in the world of entertainment. Worth the watch for the creature work alone — just don’t think about the wormholes too hard.
