Intensity: 🩸🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Written and Directed by David Robert Mitchell
My first five-star movie of the year! The End of Oak Street is the most fun I’ve had at the movies in 2026. It is without a doubt the best dinosaur movie since the original Jurassic Park film, feeling like an old EC Weird Science tale or a Twilight Zone episode. Adventurous in thought, and wildly entertaining in execution. In 1982, solar flares create time/space anomalies that switch a neighborhood from modern times to the Mesozoic Era. Slowly, at first, then all at once in a flash of light in a glowing sphere of altered physics. The story of the Platt family, led by Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, elevates this film above its peers. The struggling but loving family faces the severe task of surviving the impossible.
Full disclosure: I have been obsessed with dinosaurs since I was five years old… so 51 years of obsession. So this movie feels specifically designed to appeal to ME. I have a fossil collection, and a trilobite tattoo. I learned how to read by memorizing geological time tables. Among the first words I knew were Cretaceous, Ordovician, Struthiomimus, and Saurischian. Dino-nerds will understand what that means. So, The End of Oak Street may not be a five-star film for many of my readers, but it is right in my wheelhouse.
That’s not to say I love all dinosaur movies. The original Jurassic Park is among my all-time favorites, and I ended up dating a dino-nerd woman who shared my love for it. So, multiple layers of fond memories. Since then, movies have squandered opportunities to capitalize on dino-horror. Making convincing dinosaur movies is an expensive CGI proposition, no way around it, and the Jurassic Park/World franchise has scared off almost all competition. Sadly, each movie within that franchise has been on an arithmetic decline in quality, leaving us with sloppy storytelling and impressive visuals.
I had hoped that Primitive War, a Vietnam War meets dinosaurs R-rated horror adventure from last year, would be THAT movie for me. While the dinosaurs were well rendered, the movie was so cliché-ridden that it barely passed muster. Watchable, but disappointing.
What makes The End of Oak Street work so well is the social dynamics of watching a family endure the impossible situation. They are a family in turmoil, struggling with economic hardship and divided aspirations, but they still love each other. Not surprisingly, the family faces real trial-and-error struggles, as their immediate survival outlook is grim.
The Cast of The End of Oak Street:
- Anne Hathaway plays Denise Platt, the matriarch of the Platt family. She secretly writes fiction that feels awkwardly close to her real family life. She fiercely defends her family, be it against neighbors… or dinosaurs.
- Ewan McGregor plays Greg Platt, the family’s father. Greg recently lost his job, unbeknownst to his family, and makes up for the loss by delivering pizzas, which he claims is a side hustle.
- Maisy Stella plays Audrey, the older sister. Audrey is a Cornell-bound astronomy student. She remains a closeted girl in an age where coming out is still very taboo. Audrey’s scientific knowledge provides much of the exposition to the wild events that unfold.
- Christian Convery plays Brian Platt, the thirteen-year-old little brother. He is going through typical adolescent issues, including bullying, middle school crushes, and self-confidence issues. He loves the family dog, Starbuck.
- Jordan Alexa Davis plays Jeannette Christiansen, the new girl in town. She attracts the attention of several boys in the neighborhood, including Brian.
- P.J. Byrne plays Mel Jacobs, the next-door neighbor of the Platts. He loses patience with Starbuck getting into his backyard and complains to Greg and Denise about all sorts of perceived injustices.
- Emily Kuroda plays Mrs. Valcourt, the town’s librarian, who lives in a prominent house on the hill.
- Anne Gee Byrd plays Mrs. Huddleston, the elderly neighbor of the Platts. She is Denise’s confidant and a proponent of her writing.
- Hudson Meek plays Kaden Tucker, Brian’s bully, who threatens to beat him up for breaking Kaden’s little brother’s arm. Even in a prehistoric apocalypse, he holds a grudge.
A Synopsis of The End of Oak Street:
The sleepy suburban town of Flowervale, Michigan, is an idyllic community, the epitome of middle-class life in the Reagan era. We find the Platt family competing in a potato sack race during a neighborhood street party. It all seems picture perfect, but the underlying turmoil in the Platt family tells a different story. This family is on the brink of divorce, even though much love lies beneath the ongoing frustrations.
A radio broadcast describes ongoing solar flare anomalies, but for the people of Flowervale, it’s background noise. It is, however, a harbinger.
Strange occurrences begin to crop up on Oak Street. A strange light floods Brian’s room that night, forcing Starbuck to bark in alarm. A strange large cycad-like plant pops up in Mrs. Huddleston’s backyard overnight, and Denise helps her remove it. Denise goes to the library to determine what it might be, and Mrs. Valcourt identifies it as a pleuromeia, an extinct plant from 250 million years ago. Weird. Meanwhile, a massive tower of animal feces is in Mel Jacob’s yard. Of course, Mel blames the Platts, claiming it’s a prank for all his criticism of their dog intruding on the yard. This turd definitely did not come from a dog. Again, weird, and Greg offers to clean it up along with Brian to make peace with his neighbor.
Prehistoric Problems:
Those were but a prelude for the next night. The strange light comes back, along with huge gusts of wind that rattle the whole house. This wakes the whole family up, and they find the power and water are out. The Platts bunker down in the living room just in case. When they wake up, Starbuck has cut loose from his doghouse, and the utilities are still down. Greg goes out looking for the dog, and Denise goes to check on Mrs. Huddleston. It’s really warm and muggy out. Why?
The whole neighborhood got swapped out to the Mesozoic era. There are dinosaurs about. Denise finds Mrs. Huddleston half-eaten in her kitchen, with bloody tracks leaving the house. Denise scavenges a shotgun that Mrs. Huddleston unsuccessfully tried to defend herself with. Greg can’t find Starbuck and runs into a pair of feathered creatures (probably Ceolophysis) scavenging from a garbage can. They chase him back to the house, where he meets Denise, and they retreat to the living room to strategize.
Audrey concludes that a cosmic wormhole must have opened up in their neighborhood. Oak Street didn’t move geometrically, but it did move in time, millions of years ago. The family gets into their station wagon and tries to flee to safer ground. They encounter their neighbors, who are surprised and picked off by the new local fauna. They eventually reach the end of Oak Street, now a cliff that drops hundreds of feet to a jungle below.
Once again, the family retreats home and boards up the windows. Greg insists that they hunker down and wait for the wormhole to return. Denise argues they won’t last long and will soon run out of food and water. This seems like a lose-lose-lose proposition. They are at the whims of the cosmos, and unless something dramatic happens, they are stuck and likely to be eaten before too long.
Evaluation of The End of Oak Street:
This movie has an X factor. Many movies pack in plenty of action. Certainly, the Jurassic Franchise has massive action set pieces. Zombie movies, alien invasion films, vampire fueds, there are plenty of films that pack the action. The End of Oak Street feels less like a series of staged set pieces than its peers. The adventure flows naturally from the storytelling… unlike, for example, Alien vs. Predator, which feels comparably clunky.
What matters is that the Platts are a flawed but empathetic family. The first act gives you just enough to understand the pressures this family is under. They are all good people, but without this crisis, they’d be doomed to fall apart. The crisis forced the family back together, and it’s executed really well.
2026 might become known as The Year of Anne Hathaway. The Odyssey, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Mother Mary, and The End of Oak Street all in the same year. Full credit goes to her and Ewan McGregor, two instantly recognizable actors, for disappearing into their characters. McGregor manages to play an unlucky but earnest character, an everyman… and that’s a bit unusual for an actor who usually does much more flamboyant roles. Hathaway, however, owns this film. Among the supporting cast, veteran character actor PJ Byrne is memorable as the feisty and annoying neighbor, Mel, a guy who you love to hate.
Unquestionably, this movie leans on nostalgia. The Spielberg/Abrams influence exudes from the production. Set design and costumes are spot on. It does take the well-worn path of ’80s retro callbacks, using kids on bikes, which seems mandatory in retro-80s material. Needle drops for several 1982 hits from Pat Benetar, Steve Winwood, and The Cars ensure you know when this movie took place.
The Dinosaurs (Allow me to indulge my inner dino-nerd!)
This is both a high-concept time travel movie and a romping-stomping thrill ride. It is also non-stop, full of dinosaurs. (queue my applause) They clearly weren’t worried about CGI budget limitations, as they hooked up with Industrial Light and Magic, which does the dinosaur animations for The Jurassic Park/World franchise. They also used similar but different creatures for this film. Instead of a Tyrannosaurus rex, they used an Allosaurus, which is the highlight of the movie. The enormous Spinosaurus makes a grand appearance, too. We do get some of the smaller predators, like the Compsognathus and Coelophysis, though I’m sure that many viewers will immediately think Velociraptor!
Credit the producers for picking some unusual creatures as well. The amazing Titanoboa monster snake was a nice addition, and very creepy. Some other pterosaurs made their film debuts as well: the kite-rudder-tailed Ramphorhynchus and the oddly beaked Tropheognathus. Wild! There is an amusing bit with some giant prehistoric tortoises, maybe Megalochelys. And for a deep, deep dino cut, they used a pack of the Triassic critter with a disproportionately large head, Garjainia.
So, bonus points for using some new and interesting dinosaurs. From a scientific accuracy standpoint, it’s a muddle. It mixes and matches dinosaurs from different eras: the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. They chose what looks cool. And that’s fine. This isn’t a documentary; it’s entertainment. So you have a stegosaurus and an ankylosaurus at the same time. The movie did make the effort to put feathers on the dinos, which is now a known fact. Some of the smaller dinosaurs probably could have used more, and the big sauropods less… but points for trying.
Most importantly, that Allosaurus kicked ass!
OK. Dino lesson over.
Concluding Thoughts
If you dug that last review section, then this is the movie for you! If not, it’s still an enjoyable night at the movies, and bring plenty of popcorn. The production values are top-notch. The ILM effects team was on point, with smooth, seamless CGI, and Michael Giacchino had a fantastic score that swooped and soared. The set designs, props, and costumes were all convincing for the retro vibes.
This is a violent and intense movie. Yes, it’s PG-13, but it will give small children nightmares, and older kids too, probably. Bad things happen to characters you come to care about, and it isn’t pretty. One stunning moment is a real gut punch, and I was amazed that Mitchell went there.
Again, this is an Anne Hathaway bad-mamma-jamma showcase. She’s not quite an action hero, but damn close. She will go into the horror movie top-10 moms, no questions asked. I really appreciated the story arc that Mitchell gave her. This is a fully fleshed-out family, and I always say, my #1 rule is: do I care what happens to the protagonists? I could not plant my flag higher than for the Platts. I hope this movie gives Convery and Stella a platform to launch their careers. They gave us depth and empathy for the two kids in peril. Oh, Starbuck will also be going on to the horror movie all-dog team. He’s fantastic!
The End of Oak Street is currently playing in theaters throughout the USA. It did well enough, and the August competition isn’t likely to bump it out of theaters anytime soon, so go see it on the big screen if you can. Give me a sequel!
Review by Eric Li
Quite a view: Christian Convery, Anne Hathaway, and Ewan McGregor in The End of Oak Street (2026)
