The End of Oak Street (2026)

-Written by Bryan Miller.

In the summer of 1982, an entire neighborhood is mysteriously transported 95 million years into the past. Greg (Ewan McGregor) and his wife, Denise (Anne Hathaway), must fight to keep their family together and alive as they face a world filled with deadly prehistoric creatures—all while searching for a way to return home to the present day. 

One Sentence Review: 80’s nostalgia, mixed with dinosaurs; makes for a fun time!

When I first saw the trailer for The End of Oak Street, written and directed by David Robert Mitchell and starring McGregor, Hathaway, Maisy Stella, and Christian Convery, I’ll admit I was immediately intrigued. Jurassic Park is one of my all-time favorite summer blockbusters, and while I’ve enjoyed its sequels, none of them have ever quite captured the same sense of excitement I felt seeing dinosaurs on the big screen for the first time. A movie set in the ’80s, featuring an all-star cast and dinosaurs? Count me in.

So, let’s start with the positives…

The casting for this film was absolutely perfect.

I thought McGregor and Hathaway were phenomenal as Greg and Denise Platt. Both actors brought a real depth to their characters, making them feel genuine and relatable. They both had flaws that clearly created tension in their marriage, but at no point did I feel like one was more likable than the other. I genuinely cared about both of them and the sacrifices they were willing to make for the sake of their family. It was refreshing not to feel like I had to choose which parent I liked more—I loved them both!  The same can be said for their children, Audrey and Brian, played by Stella and Convery. Like Greg and Denise, there is more to these characters than what is merely on the surface. Like their parents, they are also struggling to find their place on this Earth, which gives both characters a little more depth than you might initially expect. 

Behind the camera, I thought Mitchell did a wonderful job. While I can’t say his script was perfect, I thought his direction was terrific. Set in the 1980s, the film genuinely feels like something ripped straight from that era. I never felt like Mitchell was shoving ’80’s nostalgia down my throat, something I think happens far too often with movies and TV shows set during the decade. His approach is much more subtle and, ultimately, more believable.

The film is also incredibly well balanced in its storytelling. Yes, there are dinosaurs, but the dinosaurs are never the main characters. I loved that Mitchell took the time to develop the characters and establish the setting before the action really begins. At 99 minutes, the movie does a great job building suspense without ever sacrificing the human element for spectacle, and I really appreciated that.

On the technical side, I thought the dinosaurs looked and felt more like legitimate dinosaurs, and by that I mean they don’t look like the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. We all have a certain idea of what dinosaurs looked and sounded like, largely because of how they’ve been portrayed in movies for decades. While the later Jurassic Park films attempted to explain why their dinosaurs didn’t necessarily match what science had since uncovered, they were still designed around those earlier depictions. In The End of Oak Street, these aren’t those same dinosaurs, and while that may be jarring for some viewers, I found it refreshing. No, they didn’t look like the dinosaurs I had always imagined, but they were every bit as dangerous and terrifying—even with feathers and fur, and I absolutely loved it.

Okay, so I have said all this wonderful stuff about the movie; was there anything bad?

I had a few major issues with this movie, two of them largely fell on the humans. 

Yes, I loved the casting, and I felt the characters were fleshed out and genuinely human, but that doesn’t change the fact that they still made some incredibly stupid decisions—decisions I’m not sure a normal person would actually make. And, perhaps because I cared about these characters, those choices annoyed me far more than I expected. Yes, your children are missing. No, that doesn’t mean you need to scream their names at the top of your lungs and announce your location to every carnivorous animal within earshot. The same goes for using flashlights and blaring music. Why take unnecessary risks that could draw the attention of something that wants nothing more than to eat you? 

Another issue I had with The End of Oak Street was the lack of human interaction once the community is transported. At first, I assumed it was just the street that had been transported through time, but it turns out to be a much larger area. Despite that, there is surprisingly little interaction between the people who find themselves trapped in this terrifying new world. Yes, another character is eventually introduced, but that doesn’t happen until very late in the film. I just had a hard time believing that an entire community, suddenly and inexplicably displaced 95 million years into the past, would barely communicate with one another. We know there are plenty of other people out there, yet there is very little effort to find or interact with them. In a situation that is terrifying and completely unfamiliar, I would think people would naturally seek each other out for safety, information, or simply reassurance. It just didn’t feel feasible to me that so many people could be thrown into this situation and essentially remain isolated from one another.

But, by far, the biggest issue I had was with the ending. Unfortunately, I can’t really go into much detail without spoiling the movie, so I’ll keep this brief. I will say that the ending resolves a twist I never saw coming (and actually enjoyed), and while it ultimately makes for a happier conclusion, I found it morally questionable. In fact, from a moral standpoint, I felt it was simply wrong, and it left me far less satisfied than I would have liked. 

Now, what are my final thoughts?

Overall, I had a great time with The End of Oak Street. It may not be a perfect movie, and some of the characters’ decisions and the ending left me frustrated; but those issues didn’t take away from everything I enjoyed. Mitchell’s direction, the ’80s setting, the terrific cast, and the surprisingly frightening dinosaurs all worked together to make this a fun and entertaining experience. I especially appreciated that the film focused on its characters and their relationships rather than allowing the dinosaurs to completely take over the story.

McGregor, Hathaway, Stella, and Convery all brought something meaningful to their roles, while Michael Giacchino’s fantastic score added another layer to the film’s atmosphere. The End of Oak Street may not reinvent the dinosaur movie, but it doesn’t need to. It takes a simple premise, surrounds it with compelling characters, throws in some genuinely terrifying prehistoric creatures, and delivers exactly what I hoped it would: a fun summer movie. 

Written & Directed by David Robert Marshall. 

Starring Ewan McGregor, Anne Hathaway, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, etc. 

7/10 = WATCH IT FOR FREE