A dinosaur movie on the big screen without the Jurassic moniker? Is that even allowed? Warner Bros and Bad Robot seemed to think so, with the release of The End of Oak Street, a sci-fi romp that feels like it was pulled straight out of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. But does this one land, or should it have been deemed extinct? Let’s find out.
The End of Oak Street comes to us from writer/director David Robert Mitchell, best known for the cult favourite It Follows, and producer J.J. Abrams. It stars Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella and Christian Convery as the Platt family, a typical 1980s suburban family who are in the midst of some familial struggles of their own, despite their outward appearance of being the perfect family. Denise (Hathaway) is miserable in her marriage, while Greg (McGregor) is a happy-go-lucky failure, delivering pizzas part-time for extra cash. When a bright light envelops their neighbourhood and brings it back to the time of the dinosaurs, they have to find a way to survive and get back to their time, while feathered lizards tear about their natural environment.
The End of Oak Street definitely taps into that childhood nightmare you likely had. I know I did. There’s a dinosaur lurking around your house, trying to peek through the window and eat you. It doesn’t make any sense, but it still terrified you. Maybe I’m projecting. But that idea of mishasming the suburbs and the extinct dinosaur terror is something that feels scary, because it’s so invasive. And while this may be a PG-13 movie, this is perhaps the bloodiest PG-13 movie I’ve ever seen? This movie gets pretty gnarly at times, even a bit gory, with a surprising amount of blood left behind after a dino attack and some grizzly attacks against the neighbours. The movie also has a slow-burn build-up, which I liked, keeping its dinos on reserve until the right time to deploy. One of the best parts of the film as well, I thought, was the kickass score from Michael Giacchino, who tapped into both suspense and suburban whimsy for this one to the point where it really stood out. David Robert Mitchell also does some really cool things with his cinematography, especially with the depth of field.
This kind of movie only really works if you’re on board with the characters, as the film prioritizes their struggles during a most unexpected event. This is where the film may lose some viewers. While it does handle the familial aspects better than the Jurassic World movies, for instance, it’s still pretty clunky and heavy-handed. At least the cast does a good job, chiefly Anne Hathaway. But the characters constantly make incredibly dumb decisions throughout the film, to the point of disbelief. There’s also quite a few plot holes throughout the film.
Without spoilers, I really wasn’t much of a fan of the ending of the movie, as I found it compromised some dramatic moments from earlier on in the film. Also, and this is more of a nitpick, the selection of dinosaurs on display actually makes no real amount of sense. The neighbourhood was supposedly sent back in time to a specific period, but the dinosaurs are from every known period, from the Triassic to the Cretaceous. So it doesn’t make that much sense to have more of a “let’s get all the toys in the sandbox” approach here for the dinos. I would’ve preferred they stick to a more accurate selection of dinosaurs if they were going back to a specific period in time, but I know this gripe will be irrelevant to most viewers.
In the end, The End of Oak Street is a decent creature feature that feels like an episode of vintage TV, just with a bigger budget. The script may be inconsistent, but it’s fun, bloody, and well-shot. A fun, good movie, but not a great one.
