The End of Oak Street, 2026.
Written and Directed by David Robert Mitchell.
Starring Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Christian Convery, Maisy Stella, Jordan Alexa Davis, P.J. Byrne, Bethany Anne Lind, Emily Kuroda, Denitra Isler, Hudson Meek, Anne Gee Byrd, Michael-Christian Moore, Hugo Silver, and Simms May.
SYNOPSIS:
The Platt family bands together to navigate their new surroundings after a cosmic event transports their suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown.
While the concept of humans surviving against dinosaurs typically always yields suspense, writer/director David Robert Mitchell’s tonally chaotic The End of Oak Street is aware that it should also embrace silliness. At one point, it does so with a gag referencing Jurassic Park – which hasn’t been released yet, as this film takes place in 1982 – also demonstrating that the filmmaker isn’t afraid to wear his influences on his heart. The familial element of the narrative is also Spielbergian in that it’s about parents on the verge of a possible divorce, with the struggle against said dinosaurs bringing everyone back together.
Produced by J.J. Abrams (which explains that tone more than David Robert Mitchell, who is once again crafting something entirely different from his previous works, It Follows and Under the Silver Lake), this film simply isn’t always successful in those aspirations. The End of Oak Street is certainly inspired by Amblin, but never quite captures that wonderment and magic. There is a slight twist, though, in the formula that this filmmaker is comfortable being cruel to the characters, whether we like them or not, which is credit mostly undone in the final 20 minutes, which come across as one extended studio note as to how to end this in a manner that actually sends moviegoers home happy. Even then, there is an unwieldy tone throughout that makes one question whether this was intended to be even meaner. It feels afraid to pick a lane.
What makes this frustrating is that David Robert Mitchell knows how to stage a tense sequence of humans fighting for their survival, battling dinosaurs with everything from firearms to baseball bats. A dinosaur picks up a vehicle in its mouth and rams it through the walls of a house, suspending characters in midair, but just as tense are the moments when prehistoric animals lurk in the background, slowly approaching unsuspecting humans. As mentioned, there are a handful of genuinely hysterical moments breaking up that peril, alongside a gutsy decision at the midway point driving the point home that no character is safe from dying here. Some of that violence also appears to be comedic, even when it’s done to our protagonists (the timing of a dog’s return certainly comes with a dash of mean-spirited humor).
All of this is to say that while The End of Oak Street is undeniably well-made, the emotion and heart it’s going for never fully connect with such an uneven tone. Part of that comes down to the fractured married couple, Denise and Greg Platt (Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor), frequently placed in scenarios that force them to spell out the movie’s theme and message in direct, blunt-force conversation. It’s all a bit too heavy-handed. They also simply aren’t interesting characters, barely evolving beyond what is established in the first act (aside from a bit where Anne Hathaway isn’t only stabbing a dinosaur to survive this time, but doing so with anger and seeking vengeance, using devastated, impassioned facial expressions).
Denise is an aspiring novelist who has written a book that a friend (who used to be an editor for her own husband, rarely shown gratitude for it) can instantly tell it’s personal and about her encroaching thoughts to leave the family behind, especially since Greg hardly ever makes time for them (even during a block party where it was agreed upon they would stick together, he can’t resist the call of his side job delivering pizzas). As such, the action presents multiple opportunities for them to split up, only for Denise to predictably reject them every time.
Then there are the teenage children, Brian and Audrey (Christian Convery and Maisy Stella), who also basically have no character and make astoundingly stupid decisions solely to get the family out of safety and into danger. The defining trait of the former is his desire to be reunited with his adventurous dog, lost among the dinosaurs. As for Audrey, I couldn’t tell you a single thing about her. Everyone else in the neighborhood exists to be dinosaur food (to the film’s credit, there are some pleasantly brutal kills; at times it’s like watching that extended Jurassic World death where the random guy double-fisting margaritas is the unlucky victim of dinosaurs taking turns tearing him apart) while our heroes navigate an inexplicably unique world that has seemingly blended prehistoric environments into 1982 (a remarkable visual feat that also sees them stranded and closed off, resembling a video game sandbox).
The reasoning behind that is a clever sci-fi hook that also comes with mechanics that play up the choice to stay together. One of the best scenes here also has nothing to do with action or dinosaurs, but rather with these characters smartly working through theories about what has happened and how these timelines have collided. Fumbling a great premise, it’s long before the end that The End of Oak Street runs out of steam, further hampered by empty characters and storytelling. Aiming for Amblin magic is not the same as actually having it.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
