Action
Adventure
Review: ‘The End of Oak Street’ is a Fiercely Fun Throwback to an Era When Movies Like ‘E.T. The Extraterrestrial,’ ‘The Goonies’ and ‘Back to the Future’ Ruled the Box Office
August 14, 2026Ben MK
|
When Steven Spielberg brought his adaptation of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park to the big screen in 1993, moviegoers everywhere marveled at the film's realistic dinosaurs. Fast forward 33 years and five sequels, though, and that sense of child-like wonderment has all but vanished into thin air. Blame it on the quantum leaps and bounds made in CGI and special effects or blame it on blockbuster fatigue — either way, it takes a lot more than just jaw-dropping visuals and edge-of-your-seat action set pieces to wow modern-day audiences. But what if you could transport viewers back to an era in cinema when they were actually amazed and enthralled by what they saw on screen? The time and place is 1982 Michigan, and the Platt family are in the throes of a domestic crisis. Out-of-work dad Greg (Ewan McGregor) has resorted to taking odd jobs like delivering pizza to help make ends meet, while his wife, Denise (Anne Hathaway), has turned to writing a book in order to vent her marriage frustrations. It's a situation that has even begun to take its toll on the couple's two children, high school senior Audrey (Maisy Stella) and her 13-year-old brother, Brian (Christian Convery), who, like their bickering parents, are trying best their keep up a happy facade. However, when a mysterious wormhole swallows up their entire neighborhood and send it back to the Mesozoic Era, this foursome will have to put their family issues on the back burner and focus on surviving the situation at hand. Suddenly threatened with extinction, the Platts must contend with creatures they never ever imagined they would come face to face with, from giant snakes and turtles to one of the most terrifying carnivores of all, the towering Allosaurus. But even if they manage to avoid becoming just another part of the food chain, are they fated to spending the rest of their lives in the prehistoric past? That's the question Denise and Greg find themselves struggling to answer. And as hungry, fast-moving Coelophysis stalk their street and swarms of equally menacing Pteranodons circle overhead, it's something they'll have to figure out sooner rather than later. Thankfully, the family has so far been more fortunate than many of their neighbors, some of whom have already been killed or eaten by these savage predators. Nonetheless, with a not-so-distant active volcano looming ominously in the background and a fast-moving fire ravaging their neighborhood, time is definitely not on their side. Will the Platts be able to piece together the mystery of what has befallen their once-peaceful suburban paradise before everything that they've ever known is completely and utterly destroyed? And will this totally unexpected, thoroughly fantastical and ultimately life-changing turn of events help them to set aside their minor differences and allow them to band together to face the unknown? Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, what follows feels stepping through a time portal to the 1980s, when movies like E.T. The Extraterrestrial, The Goonies and Back to the Future ruled the box office. For while The End of Oak Street does make excellent use of state-of-the-art visual effects and immersive sound design to bring this humans-versus-dinosaurs thriller to life, it's really how much it succeeds at being a crowd-pleasing throwback to the films of yesteryear that make it such a treat to watch. From the cinematography and the storytelling to the narrative themes, this is exactly the kind of story that fans of '80s sci-fi fantasy adventures will appreciate the most. In fact, one might even argue that it even gives the recent Jurassic World movies a run for their money, especially with its ability to leave even the most cynical viewers slack-jawed in amazement. Suffice to say, there have been a number of films this summer that have tried to conquer the multiplex. And although not all of them have managed to live up to the hype, The End of Oak Street may just end up being one of the few to actually make good on its promise. No matter how you cut it, discerning audiences would be hard pressed to pick a more fun and engaging roller coaster ride of a movie to help round out the summer box office season. And given that the basic premise of this film is basically a feature-length version of the T-Rex-in-the-city sequence from The Lost World: Jurassic Park, that's high praise indeed. The End of Oak Street releases August 14th, 2026 from Warner Bros. Pictures. The film has an MPAA rating of PG-13 for some strong violent content, bloody images, some strong language and suggestive material. Its runtime is 1 hr. 39 min. |
0 comments