“The best dinosaur film since 1993” is how The End of Oak Street is being touted by some in the film-critic community. And while I think that’s coming off a bit strong (though it does make for a great headline), there’s no denying that this bite-sized dino thriller packs more bite for its buck than the last two entries in the Jurassic saga.
A mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports the entire neighbourhood to somewhere unknown. The Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognisable surroundings.
That vague synopsis is probably as deep as the script gets, to be honest. A half-baked family drama subplot is dispatched relatively early on, leaving The End of Oak Street to settle into what it does best: a lean, relatively straightforward survival thriller.
Directed and written by David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) and produced by J.J. Abrams, there’s plenty of pedigree behind the camera. Unfortunately, the script isn’t quite up to the standard Mitchell achieved with his sophomore effort.
In front of the camera, we’ve got 2026’s most bankable actress, Anne Hathaway, alongside Ewan McGregor as the Platt family adults Denise and Greg. Maisy Stella and Christian Convery join them as their children, Audrey and Brian.
There’s also Starbuck, a CGI dog who feels like he has far more to do with marketing the film than actually being in it. And, unfortunately, he’s about as convincing as you’d expect from a fairly average animated CGI dog.
Thankfully, things improve considerably once the dinosaurs arrive.
A lean, mean, dinosaur munching machine
It doesn’t take long, either. At just 90 minutes, The End of Oak Street is one of the shortest summer blockbusters in recent memory, and it wastes little time getting to the good stuff. Once the pleasantries are out of the way and we’ve been introduced to the family and their neighbours, the dino action begins.
And there’s no shortage of it.
The dinosaurs are rendered in considerably more detail than poor Starbuck, and there’s an impressive variety of species to spot throughout the film. Whether you’re a fan of Titanoboa, Allosaurus or Spinosaurus, there are more than 10 different species lurking across the runtime.
Sadly, the environments they’re inhabiting don’t always look quite as convincing. There’s an artificial quality to some of the locations, potentially the result of reshoots and the need for quick green-screen edits. It’s a shame, because when the film gets the balance right, it looks fantastic.
And there are some genuine surprises along the way. For all its light and feathery writing, the script throws up a handful of twists that I can guarantee 99% of the movie-going public won’t be expecting. For that alone, The End of Oak Street deserves some credit. It’s considerably braver than most modern blockbusters.
Unfortunately, that bravery isn’t always matched by the writing.
Some of the character decisions are bizarre, while certain plot threads are introduced and then seemingly forgotten. A gay romance subplot, in particular, goes absolutely nowhere, feeling like it belongs in an entirely different version of the film.
The performances don’t always help matters, either. Anne Hathaway is as dependable as ever, bringing plenty of warmth and credibility to the role, but Ewan McGregor is bizarrely wooden. At times, it genuinely feels like he was there for the pay cheque and not much else.
A throwback to blockbuster glory
And yet, despite its shortcomings, there’s something oddly charming about The End of Oak Street.
This is a film that harks back to the good old ’80s and ’90s, when movies like E.T., Jumanji, Twister and Jurassic Park were taking the world by storm. In essence, it’s a love letter to the filmmaker who defined that era: Steven Spielberg. This movie is aiming for ’80s and ’90s Spielberg, and just falls short.
You can feel that influence throughout. The suburban setting, the family at the centre of an extraordinary situation, the sense of wonder mixed with danger – The End of Oak Street clearly wants to recapture the magic of that era of blockbuster filmmaking.
And, to its credit, it gets plenty right. The dinosaurs are nicely rendered and feel menacing enough, it’s beautifully filmed (I absolutely love the use of split-diopter shots throughout), and the film never takes itself too seriously.
But ultimately, a very, very poor script and a bizarrely wooden performance from Ewan McGregor stop The End of Oak Street from achieving prehistoric greatness.
It’s not the best dinosaur film since 1993. But it’s certainly a lot more fun than it has any right to be.
