A Silly But Entertaining Creature Feature
Summary
The End of Oak Street is crazy stuff, but it refuses to be predictable with plenty of surprises, regular dinosaur attacks and memorable characters. It’s better than any of the Jurassic World movies and worth a watch on the big screen.
Plot: A mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports a neighborhood to someplace unknown. The Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings.
Review: Critics have been surprisingly kind to this movie as I thought The End of Oak Street was just going to be some silly Summer movie with dinosaurs in it. I mean, it still is but it’s one of the best dinosaur movies since the original Jurassic Park.
It’s such an outlandish concept which is why I’m not sure it will be a huge box office hit; they also released it while Spider-Man was out which probably wasn’t the best idea. Like I said it’s a tough concept for audiences to swallow, but if you can get behind the idea that a neighborhood has somehow ended up being ripped through time and into the age of dinosaurs you’ll have an absolute blast. Also, never underestimate the draw of dinosaurs for families, so the box office will be interesting.
Within the first few minutes this feels like a classic Amblin movie with all the Spielberg tropes including a family that is barely being held together. Ewan McGregor plays the optimist Greg and Anne Hathaway plays his wife, Denise and they have their share of martial problems. But will facing the jaws of death from raging dinos reignite their marriage? Well, you’ll have to watch the movie to find out but it doesn’t quite go the way you expect with several shocks and some pleasingly gruesome moments.
It’s a little slowburn at first, but I found the build-up perfect and when the dinosaurs appear the pacing rarely lets up. The fact it’s only an hour and 40 minutes long is another plus, so it ends without dragging anything out too much.
On the action front it’s mostly running from and shooting at dinosaurs, but it’s amazing this got a PG-13 rating as there are some brutal moments and great jump scares.
Michael Giacchino understood the assignment giving us a wistful Spielbergian-esque score that captures the 80’s spirit of adventure.
Overall, The End of Oak Street may be silly, but it’s unpredictable with surprisingly strong characters, dinosaurs and plenty of gruesome kills. It may not be for everyone, but I had a blast with it and it’s definitely worth seeing in IMAX as the sound was amazing. FYI my favourite dinosaur is the Stegosaurus which appears in the movie; what’s your favourite dinosaur?