The Platt family bands together to navigate their new surroundings after a cosmic event transports their suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown.
Whenever a new dinosaur-themed film is released, it’s automatically going to be compared to Spielberg’s classic “Jurassic Park.” And that is only fair. After all, “Jurassic Park” set the bar very high for all dino films that would dare to follow in its gigantic footsteps.
Set in a suburban neighborhood in 1982, it focuses on the Platt family: mother and father Denise and Greg (Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor), and their two teenage kids, Audrey and Brian (Maisy Stella and Christian Convery). After strange lights and thunderous sounds awaken them one night, they soon discover that their neighborhood has been mysteriously transported back in time to an unknown, otherworldly environment populated by prehistoric creatures. They try to escape in their car, but at the end of their street, the road drops off into an unknown expanse roamed by dinosaurs.
Once back in their house, they board up all the windows and doors, hoping silence will keep them safe from the creatures outside, but dwindling supplies force them to venture out in search of food and water. Neighbors’ bodies line the streets as the prehistoric creatures feed on them, but after encountering a mysterious spherical energy field that keeps disappearing and reappearing, it then completely vanishes. Audrey concludes that it is a portal that must have somehow transported their neighborhood to prehistoric times.
As a wildfire consumes the neighborhood and everyone and everything in its path, the family searches frantically for another portal in the hopes that it will take them safely back to their era, but with time running out, the fire getting closer, and a flock of pterodactyls closing in on their location, their survival hangs in the balance.
“The End of Oak Street” is produced by J.J. Abrams, well-known for his secretive film projects, and once the trailer dropped, theories began immediately popping up all over the internet, with some stating that this was a new CLOVERFIELD film. I can tell you, it’s not. The only connection is Ewan McGregor’s involvement, whose wife, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, starred in “10 Cloverfield Lane.”
Writer-director David Robert Mitchell establishes a tone of suburban tranquility early on. The neighborhood seems like the perfect place to raise a family, an idyllic setting filled with games, cookouts, and camaraderie. Reminiscent of early Spielberg, the family appears close to perfect at the outset, but cracks in their facade soon emerge. Behind closed doors, Denise and Greg argue constantly, their kids worrying that they might get a divorce. When their world is turned upside down and dinosaurs threaten their family, the crisis forces the couple to unite, prioritizing their family’s safety, and in the ensuing chaos, they slowly rekindle their own relationship. It never feels forced or contrived; it happens organically, and we relate to them and their attempt to reconcile.
The CGI dinosaurs look fantastic, but what I liked is that they are not stereotypical of what we generally see in films of this ilk. Instead of seeing the T-Rex and the Velociraptors, the focus is on lesser-known, but equally formidable creatures like Allosaurus, Coelophysis, and Ankylosaurus. While the T-Rex and Spinosaurus do make brief appearances, it is these less familiar dinosaurs that command the screen.
The first half is taut and suspenseful, while the latter loses some of its earlier intensity. A few technical missteps—such as inconsistent sightlines, where characters’ points of view do not match the objects they’re observing—prove distracting.
The finale also felt out of place. With elements borrowing heavily from “Back to the Future,” it feels somewhat incongruent with the film’s earlier tone. While the majority of the film is harrowing and, at times, somber, the choice to give it a more upbeat resolve just felt extraneous.
These few nitpicks aside, “The End of Oak Street” delivers an entertaining cinematic experience. We genuinely care about the characters and their situations, and there is one nail-biting scene with a prehistoric snake-dinosaur hybrid that was executed flawlessly. Though the novelty of seeing dinosaurs on screen may have faded since “Jurassic Park,” this film demonstrates that, when handled with care, such scenes can still captivate audiences. While the ending doesn’t necessarily hint at a sequel, if the film makes a lot of money, I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to turn things around.
In Theaters Friday, August 14th
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