The End of Oak Street – Review

In a film that celebrates the great Amblin Entertainment films of the 80s’ and is inspired by the style of Steven Spielberg, The End of Oak Street and director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) don’t tell audiences what the sci-fi drama sets out to be – it shows it. And it recruited Anne Hathaway in her third amazing outing of 2026 to guide audiences through the adventure that explores the secrets and love we all have at home. And the dinosaurs outside.

In what can only be regarded as Mitchell’s love for prehistoric creatures in a suburban neighbourhood, Mitchell places Hathaway’s Denise Platt and husband Greg (Ewan McGregor, Obi-Wan Kenobi) as parents of two teens – Audrey (Maisy Stella, Nashville) and Brian (Christian Convery, Frankenstein) – who have given up things in life for their family. Denise seeks solace in her private writings, sharing them with an elderly neighbour, while Greg claims to have a job but takes side gigs delivering pizzas for more money.

Smooshing all of these background details in the first 10 minutes, their little suburban neighbourhood is then subjected to weird situations – extinct plants appearing, along with a pile of chest-high poop, and a dog gone missing – until one morning, a bright flash of light takes the whole neighbourhood from a thunderstorm into a humid environment, filled with prehistoric creatures.

Before you can even say Jurassic Park, Mitchell moves his film along in an even faster pace, as the neighbourhood becomes prey to these ancient monsters. The kids, and other kids, are running around, as neighbours get devoured by increasingly vicious creatures and the film turns into a more relatable take on one of Spielberg’s iconic films. There are no T-rex or raptors to be seen, probably because Mitchell did his research and populates his film with feathered creatures from one time period, but his energetic display of monster hunting and slaying shows how small, intimate action can sometimes convey stronger, more powerful bouts of fear, especially with two leads who have had their fair share of green screen experiences, and thus deliver enough of a performance to keep up the suspense, allowing The End of Oak Street to deliver and outperform any and all non-Spielberg directed dinosaur movies with its pacing and sense of danger.

And in the search for answers and their missing children, the quartet learn more about love and secrets within the family, and about depending on one another. Sure, the children end up doing something silly, which leads to an incident, but that’s also the premise of The Goonies and Gremlins, and we’re here for that, as much as we enjoy seeing an 80s’ style Hathaway and McGreggor take on reptilian monsters with a bat and shotgun.

Along the way, the movie makes references to the situation on hand, revealing just enough as to the reason why the time displacement took place, but offers little in terms of how they can all return to their own time. The Platts aren’t scientists or adventurers with a plan in mind, or know how to survive and make it back to their era – they just know they need to make it back as a family, even if not everyone is likely to make it out alive. 

They bicker, complain and cry like normal folks trapped in an impossible situation, and Mitchell takes his time to unfold the emotions that are befalling the family, even as he continues to show, and not tell, audiences what’s coming. 

The sci-fi elements can be followed but they don’t need to be understood for the film to work. Neither does the family’s relationship with their neighbours, be it adversarial, romantic or frustrating. These are all emotions we have, and we don’t really know or understand it enough, to be reflective, even though we feel it. And it’s this familiarity that brings us the greatest joy, of experiencing one man’s childhood revisited and brought to life as a sci-fi thriller. 

Hathaway channels the mother who wants to do better, and wants more of her husband even as McGreggor is doing his best to be the father. He reassures them that they will be safe if they stay together, even though we know it’s an empty promise even if it’s what needed to be said. And as his wife questions the lie to the children, we recognise there’s no right or wrong because that’s what family dynamics and relationships are about – recognising that what needs to be said isn’t always the most honest.

The music by Michael Giacchino, delivered with a homage to John Williams, is both lively and impending. Already a master of the craft with outings in Star Trek, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and more, Giacchino’s notes adds volumes to the film, bringing Gen X and Millennials back to a time when movie music was magically without being fancy.

This film won’t bring Hathaway any awards, nor will it win McGreggor more fans but it’s a reminder of the movies that movie studios used to make, where adventure doesn’t require massive special effects or gigantic monsters. It’s an emotional journey akin to watching E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future and Batteries Not Included, when audiences appreciated and understood what they saw on the big screen, and the kind of movie magic that helps bring out the imagination of audiences.

And in a prime example of show, not tell, keep an eye out for the backyard scene at the end of the movie, and take note of who else is there.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?