The End of Oak Street Review

 

A family from 1982 has their entire neighborhood transported back to prehistoric times, and now they must fight to survive.

The film has great attention to detail re-creating the 1982 aesthetic, both practically with the sets and costume/hairstyles, but the way the camera moves and uses different shots like split diopter or zoom in to convey tension feels very authentic to movies at the time.

The plot is simple: survive and not die, but there are a few quiet moments where we see the characters dealing with their own emotions about the situation, and those were well done.

I like the design of the dinosaurs; they went for a more realistic “closer to birds” look (so they have more feathers and beaks), which gave them a more unique feel, and there were some creatures included besides dinosaurs that not only was I surprised by for real lol, but they definitely helped vary the types of attacks up.

The CGI is very impressive throughout; all the creatures look very realistic and well detailed, but I also appreciated how in a lot of shots you wouldn’t see the whole dinosaur, you’d only see their back scale or tail sticking out; it really added to the mood and feeling that danger could be behind any corner.

The family members are all going through their own bits of life drama, nothing crazy, but just feeling stuck in life or wanting something they don’t have; it never gets to the point where it feels overdramatic or out of place, although there are a few moments where I thought, "Y'all are doing this now? Can you save it until after you’re out of danger of being eaten? lol

I know this isn’t surprising, but Anne Hathaway is very good in the movie lol. She has to portray a lot of different emotions and sometimes has to switch between them in an instant, and she makes them feel very realistic and is able to portray a lot by only doing little facial movements.

Ewan McGregor’s character is very down to earth and likable but also not the smartest tool in the shed and not good at making choices, so there’s definitely some complexity to his character where at some points you like him and at other points you’re like, "Dude, you've got to start thinking more."

Maisy Stella & Christian Convery play the children, and for such young actors, both are very good at conveying complex emotions in a very subtle but realistic/sympathetic way, plus they have a fun chemistry as bantering siblings.

The family also has a dog, and the movie uses the trope of “Oh no, the dog might be in danger; I gotta go out into an area full of danger that I shouldn’t and was told not to make sure he’s OK." Now, that trope can be very hit or miss as far as the character is making dumb decisions based off it, but luckily, this film never gets too ridiculous with it, like at least the characters are smart and cautious when making that decision, and you can see where they’re coming from.

Also, the dog's name is “Starbuck” and is directly named after the character from the 1970s Battlestar Galactica show… It doesn’t affect the movie; I just thought that was kind of cool.

The film mostly focuses on the family, but there are a few supporting characters, who are all pretty good, except there’s one neighbor who’s pretty much just there to be a jerk to an unreasonable amount so later when he gets attacked, you don’t feel bad. This character felt a bit one-dimensional, but I liked the actor, so it wasn’t too bad.

The action was very good; the director was very good at playing with tension, getting cool and dynamic shots during the fighting, and creating some pretty fun and suspenseful chase scenes. Plus, for a PG-13 film, some of the attacks can get pretty crazy, like there was one part that even though I saw the film in an empty theater all by myself, I still said out loud, “Oh God damn," at one point lol.

The music is good; they play a few songs, and the time that we're there is nice to listen to.

The movie isn’t too long and moves along at a nice pace; it’s very efficient with its storytelling, and the explanation of what happened is simple but understandable and doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation.

The very end is a little bit of a mixed bag; they try very hard to tie everything in a nice neat bow, but it raises questions and ideas that they don’t really go into that I wish they had.

The End of Oak Street is a fun summer film with good acting, fun action, and creature designs, not to mention some good twists along the way. I give the films a high three stars; it’s nothing you have to rush out and see, but when you do, I think you’ll enjoy it ⭐️⭐️⭐️. It's quite… Dino-mite! 🦖🦕😂