The End of Oak Street feels like the family adventure movie we haven’t seen in a while, with clear echoes of 80s Amblin movies. Director and writer David Robert Mitchell (It Follows), alongside producer J.J. Abrams (Lost, Super 8), delivers a much-needed dinosaur movie with horror elements, fantastic visuals and thrilling chase sequences.
The plot is simple: dinosaurs invade suburbia. And how did that happen? Science fiction. As ridiculous as that sounds, that’s really all you need to have a good time.
Firstly, the visuals: chef’s kiss. The grainy film, retro colours and feel of an 80s suburban neighbourhood push the nostalgia hard. The feathered dinosaurs are detailed and genuinely menacing, making them feel like a real threat. The creative dinosaur-stalking sequences also feel like a clear nod to David Robert Mitchell’s horror roots, with the dinosaurs often treated more like creatures from a horror movie than your typical blockbuster monsters. There’s also enough dinosaur violence to get the point across without going overboard.
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It’s been a busy year already for Anne Hathaway with The Devil Wears Prada 2 and The Odyssey, and it’s great to see Ewan McGregor back on the big screen. The two play parents of two teens going through the usual growing-up drama, and all four actors have great chemistry on screen. However, some of the family storylines feel like they’re abandoned along the way, leaving certain character threads feeling underdeveloped. The movie also falls into the usual trap of characters making some questionable decisions just to give the narrative more action.
With a runtime of 1 hour and 40 minutes, I couldn’t help feeling it could have benefited from another 20 minutes. That extra time could have helped flesh out the family drama and the sci-fi aspects, which deserved more room to breathe.
Considering the movie was marketed with a fairly serious tone, there are plenty of surprisingly funny moments, mainly through the family’s reactions to the ridiculousness of the situation. Most of it works, but there are a few tonal shifts where the comedy and horror clash, leaving you unsure whether you’re supposed to laugh or take the moment seriously.
Around the midway mark, the movie goes completely bonkers. One particularly surprising scene at my premiere had the audience reeling and shouting, and from that point, if you weren’t already on board, you are now. What follows is a geninely unnerving sequence and a heart-pumping, relentless climax that carries all the way through to an ending that gives us enough closure.
This is definitely one to see in the cinema. The visuals, chase sequences and big dinosaur set pieces are made for the big screen, and the audience reaction at my premiere only added to the experience.
The End of Oak Street is the kind of fun, nostalgic adventure movie I’ve been missing. It has dinos, horror, humour, family dynamics and enough chaos to make it a pretty good good time. When this movie does get going, it’s hard not to have fun with it.
