I was just about twelve years old when Jurassic Park hit theaters in June 1993 and I remember seeing it at The Cinesphere in Ontario Place (which was the world’s first permanent IMAX theater with a screen 80-feet wide and 60-feet high) and it was a movie-going experience like no other. Like many kids I’m sure I had dreamt of being a paleontologist in the years prior. I mean, what’s not to love about dinosaurs? Okay, I guess I should rephrase that to what’s not to love about dinosaurs now that they’re extinct – because The End of Oak Street certainly showcases, there’s a lot that wouldn’t be enjoyable about them should they appear at our doorstep today.
Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell (best known for It Follows), The End of Oak Street takes place in the summer of 1982 and immediately gives off Amblin Entertainment movie vibes of the era, which is exactly what you want the audience feeling when making a movie like this. It transports you back to a time before cell phones, before the internet and to some that alone may make 1982 feel prehistoric. The film’s protagonists are the Platt family, with the central focus being on Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway), a woman who is unhappy with where her life is at, as while it was much more common during this time for women to stay home and raise the family while the man went to work, Denise wonders if there’s more for her out there and dreams of up and leaving in the night.
We learn all of this because she’s an aspiring novelist and her neighbour, Mrs. Huddleston (Anne Gee Byrd), is editing the book she’s secretly been working on during the night about a woman who, you guessed it, dreams of a different life and is ready to pack up and leave but hesitates due to her love for her children. There’s a clear tension that she and her husband Greg (Ewan McGreggor) try to hide, but their kids Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery) notice it. Greg seems to put doing side jobs, such as delivering pizza, above spending time with the family and Denise also dislikes how he’s much more lenient with the kids, thus leaving her to be the bad guy.
Now there are two ways you can really deal with this sort of tension in a marriage, with the first being counselling – or even just opening up and talking to one another on your own – and the second is having your entire neighbourhood teleported to a prehistoric era that adds incredibly vicious dinosaurs to the mix. Mitchell decided to go with the latter because seeing the Platts being chased by dinosaurs while trying to work through their problems is so much more entertaining than having them sitting on a couch watching the clock tick down until their therapy session ends.
I’m not going to get into too much detail about the movie itself, as it’s a story best experienced while watching it unfold. The acting is really strong when required and the Platt family are easy protagonists to get on board with, which is also no small feat. The film also walks the tonal tightrope well enough, as the Amblin vibes early on do get a bit darker than the ones in Jurassic Park, even though people are being eaten left and right in that movie too. I wouldn’t say it’s too dark, but there’s a larger element of horror in the air here that adds some weight. But, I mean, maybe I’m just writing overly cautious, as I guess we did see Samuel L. Jackson’s torn off arm fall onto Ellie Sattler when she thought she was safe and that was a jump, but nothing that kept me up at night.
The film is a quite brisk 99-minutes and it works for the story being told, though I feel like they actually could’ve added a few more scenes to dive a bit deeper into the characters. This is especially true of Denise and Greg who could’ve benefited from another scene or two of even up and down emotion, where as cliché as it may be they kind of find that spark again before tensions boil over once more due to the pressure of the situation at hand (you know, the whole dinosaurs thing) and just kind of lean in a bit more to the fact that if they’d simply open up and talk with one another that they’d all be in a better place – well, at least a better place emotionally, because, the dinosaurs.
Even without this Mitchell does do a good job of creating a movie that is fast-paced and enjoyable, and much like the ‘80s Amblin movies it stylistically aims to mirror early on, it’s the perfect type of movie to watch when you’re in the mood for a fun escape. The dinosaurs (gorgeously created by Industrial Light & Magic) are a thrill to watch and we get such a variety pack of them in this movie (some even have feathers!) that dino-lovers are really in for a treat, and even if you could take or leave dinosaurs (how dare you) the action sequences and attacks are delivered in ways we haven’t really seen before, so it’s a movie that’s a win on pure entertainment alone.
4K Blu-ray Video and Audio Review:
The 2160p/HDR10/Dolby Atmos transfer here is beautiful, which isn’t shocking given the digital production as a whole. The look of the ’80s is helped through filters used and as a whole the visuals are just strong across the board. The film just looks good and the dinosaurs look like they’re a part of the world, for the most part, once they arrive. The details found on these beasts is also incredibly impressive, as these aren’t born and bred Jurassic Park babies, no, these are dinosaurs of their own era, with battle scars and chipped teeth that really help set them apart – as do the feathers that some of them have as well. It’s clear that a lot of research and fun went in to picking which dinosaurs would be used and all of the choices help make this a unique journey for viewers.
On the audio side of things we’ve got a superb Dolby Atmos mix that delivers the goods just the way you want when you’ve got dinosaurs involved. There’s a lot of action happening throughout the film and those moments will shake your room if you allow it. There’s also quite a bit of tension building and dialogue and even in these quieter moments the mix shines, with the dialogue always being wonderfully clear and the sound effects and score hitting at just the right moments in booming fashion.
Special Features:
Banding Together: The Making of The End of Oak Street – This is a 19-minute feature that sees the Platt family, Hathaway, McGregor, Stella, Convery, as well as Mitchell, producers Hannah Minghella and Tommy Harper, plus J.J. Abrams all talk about the making of the movie, what it was like on set, how it was in the works for a while before production began and how Hathaway had wanted to work with Mitchell ever since It Follows.
Every Creature Tells a Story: The Dinosaurs of Oak Street – Here we get an almost 12-minute featurette that sees some of the same above talk about the dinosaurs in the movie, how they were able to bring them from any era given the time traveling aspect of the story, as well as the special effects that brought them to life and the extra care and detail they could give each one.
The Spinosaurus Attack: Driving Fear on Oak Street – This featurette is the shortest coming in at just under 7-minutes and it breaks down the Spinosaurus attack that sees Denise and Greg go flying into a neighbours house in their car thanks to their attacker.
Disclaimer: A review copy of this Blu-ray was sent to me to cover in honest and truthful fashion.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents The End of Oak Street. Written and Directed by: David Robert Mitchell. Starring: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis, P.J. Byrne, Emily Kuroida, Anne Gee Byrd. Running time: 99 Minutes. Rating: PG-13. Released on 4K Blu-ray: Nov. 3, 2026.
About Brendan Campbell
