The End of Oak Street

4 outta 5

The End of Oak Street may be a high-concept idea, but it ends up being a pretty straightforward survival movie featuring dinosaurs, with some really gnarly horror action involving folks being eaten by dinosaurs. This movie is primarily scenes of either dinosaur attacks or family melodrama. Adding a 1980s visual sheen is an interesting quirk but there’s really not any particular narrative reason the film has to be set in the 1980s. But if one wants to see people running and avoiding being dinosaur snacks and crazy visuals, this delivers.

In the early 1980s, Denise (Anne Hathaway) is a suburban mom working on a novel while taking care of her family: her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor) and her kids, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery). Things aren’t as perfect as it seems under the surface as Denise and Greg are having a tiff about finances. And their next-door neighbour, Mel (P.J. Byrne), is very aggravated by their dog who keeps jumping into his yard. But an even bigger problem is when there is a mysterious flash of light and their street is transported back millions of years to the time of dinosaurs. This is really bad as the dinosaurs start eating their neighbours. So while the family tries to survive the dinosaur attacks, they see a mysterious portal that could return them back home. Assuming they don’t become dinosaur snacks before that.

The early 1980s setting may be pointless, but gives the film a distinct feel. As this is a J.J. Abrams Bad Robot production, 1980s nostalgia feels contractually mandatory. There isn’t anything distinctly ‘80s about the story and even the weaponry they fight the dinosaurs with could come from any era. Probably the most 1980s thing about it is Greg’s shorts and a scene where the daughter is sitting in a car and crying while listening to a cassette tape.

The family melodrama is good, probably because McGregor and Hathaway are very good actors so their family drama feels authentic, which makes moments when the dinosaurs attack hit harder because the audience cares about them surviving. One bit where the marital drama and dinosaurs work well is when Greg and Diane are walking through the streets and find two dinosaurs having intercourse. Diane says, shocked, “Holy %$#&, they’re doing it.” And Greg wants them to leave but she wants to take a picture of Greg in front of it. It’s a silly stupid moment that adds some levity as Greg and Diane are chuckling. The scenes of Diane confronting Greg about drinking, and him saying that her novel is a thinly veiled account of their failing marriage feel cliché but McGregor and Hathaway sell it. They both have striking bits, like how determined Diane is to get the family out, and McGregor has some funny reactions and his exit is very impactful.

The movie doesn’t have a lot of character development, it is more about trying to survive. The kids themselves are basically just props that often cry. Some bits pay off well, like when they see someone get killed by a dinosaur and the emotional reaction by Hathaway and Convery is extremely effective. The subplot about the angry neighbour has some fun bits like when there’s a giant dump in his backyard that he blames on the kids, which is absurd. Also just having a dinosaur movie where characters are talking about a giant pile of poop is a very deliberate reference to Jurassic Park. When Mel the neighbour threatens to shoot the dog, Diane threatens them. And eventually Mel is so angry about the dinosaurs he gets on his roof and starts shooting at flying dinosaurs that converge and tear him apart which is very satisfying as he is such a jerk.

Oak Street is Warner Bros and to make this legally distinct from the Jurassic Park movies by Universal, the dinosaurs here have fur and feathers and look different from the lizard skin dinos of Jurassic Park. The best thing about End of Oak Street is the dinosaur attacks have lots of variety. There is a menacing bit where at night the family is shaken awake by a giant something scraping by their house. The first scene where the family is running away from rapidly running dinosaurs has a kinetic feel. One of the freakiest scenes is when the family house is invaded by a giant prehistoric snake that is as big as the hallways as it slithers through threatening to eat up the family. The subplot about the dog going missing has a great payoff when the dog returns at a climatic, heroic moment. And when the family discovers a wormhole that could lead back to their own time, there’s a bit involving them jumping into a reappearing and disappearing wormhole that has them time their jump off a roof perfectly. It doesn’t work out.

The finale of The End of Oak Street features some cool and oddly emotional time travel trickery. Lots of people keep dying and things look increasingly desperate as the dinosaur attacks never stop. The movie has some family emotional bits but overall this is an effective dinosaur horror movie that is concerned less about the wonderment of dinosaurs and more about trying not to get eaten by dinosaurs.