8/10
The End of Oak Street is what happens when a perfect family, Denise (Anne Hathaway), Greg (Ewan McGregor), and their children, plunge into a prehistoric nightmare. Directed by David Robert Mitchell and produced by J.J. Abrams, the movie follows the transition of day-to-day life into a fight for survival. Yes, there are dinosaurs in this movie.
More than anything else, The End of Oak Street succeeds in blending genres. The film is equal parts science fiction, horror, family drama, and survival story. And all of those parts are equally interesting and completely captivating.
When The End of Oak Street opens, Denise and Greg Platt have a picture-perfect life: they have two kids, Audrey and Brian, and a heroic dog, Starbuck. But that’s not the whole story. The Platts are falling apart. Greg is hiding the fact that he has been let go from his job, while Denise’s resentment toward her husband grows. And this is all before the supernatural occurs.
Then things take a turn for the worse. During the night, unusual earthquakes occur, then an enormous flash of light. At first, only Brian and Starbuck notice something’s wrong. Soon, the whole neighborhood starts to experience these strange occurrences. The water systems are failing, unfamiliar plants are appearing out of nowhere, and, of course, terrifying creatures are starting to reveal themselves.
Now, the Platt family isn’t just dealing with failing marriages, financial problems, or rebellious kids. They are trying to survive in a new, frightening world. It’s time to put the old issues down the drain; there are bigger fish to fry. The Platts soon discover that their neighborhood has somehow found itself stuck in the middle of prehistoric times.
Between horrifying dinosaurs and desperate survivors, the Platts are forced to make challenging decisions as previously pushed aside problems resurface.
When the Platts finally discover a portal back to their own world, escape isn’t easy. The portal is surrounded by dinosaurs, requiring Greg to sacrifice himself for Denise’s sake. The venerable moment seems to help heal the family’s wounds, allowing them to realize the love they have for one another.
When the surviving Platts finally make it through the portal, they discover they have traveled back to the night before the world-colliding event began, giving them the opportunity to start over. They have developed through pain and struggle, becoming a unit in order to fight for a common goal: survival.
The End of Oak Street’s acting is phenomenal, with the actors successfully selling both family drama and unbelievable science fiction elements. The film needs powerful performances to carry the story and Hathaway and McGregor absolutely deliver.
Hathaway portrays a strong-hearted mother who is scared but determined. She isn’t perfect, instead reacting like a real parent. She panics, gets angry, makes mistakes, but still does everything to protect her children. McGregor has a more complicated role. His decision to hide losing his job from his family can make him frustrating, but it also makes him more relatable. McGregor develops the most as the situation progresses, eventually valuing his family over his own issues.
The child actors, Maisy Stella as Audrey and Christian Convery as Brian, do an excellent job of making the film feel more realistic. The kids don’t always agree with their parents and have their own personal problems as well, like being impacted by their parents’ marriage problems, causing frustration and anxiety. Brian takes out his anger on another kid in their neighborhood, and Audrey is trying to find enough money for college.
The movie’s writing helps all the film’s elements come together. The writing connects the family’s personal problems to the science fiction story. Their financial problems and unhappiness in the parents’ marriage, in turn, make what seems like a bizarre situation feel much more realistic to viewers.
David Robert Mitchell also does an exceptional job of turning an ordinary neighborhood into a battle for survival. The movie uses strange lights, earthquakes, and lightning to make the familiar houses and streets horrifyingly unfamiliar.
The End of Oak Street’s biggest strength is its originality. A family drama mixed with science fiction, dinosaurs, time travel, horror, and suburban chaos is definitely not something you see every day. It brings out a classical element while introducing new ideas, giving the audience a mix of thrills and family love.
“They were all the sweetest people, everybody took care of everybody else.” Anne Hathaway said later during the L.A premiere showing that even outside of the movie, the actors still developed a special bond, which rubbed off on the film.
This drama enhances the importance of the characters’ relationships. Dinosaur attacks aren’t just an exciting plot point; they’re designed to reveal deep connections within the characters, creating a captivating emotional story. For example, during one of the most climactic moments near the end of the film, Denise Platt tries to sacrifice herself for her children, revealing that she would do anything to protect them.
Sometimes the story becomes too complicated, and some characters’ decisions become frustrating in times of distress. The movie also forces the audience to blindly accept some major scientific ideas (like time travel) without explaining any details.
Still, those problems don’t take away from the overall experience. The End of Oak Street is a strange, exciting, and surprisingly emotional movie. It shows what it’s like to be a part of a family when things get rough. Sure, it isn’t perfect, but it’s fun. It takes a normal suburban family, throws them into ridiculously dramatic situations and asks if they can put their differences aside in order to survive.
