In the grand scheme of things, outside of that one notable franchise about the dino theme park gone wrong, Hollywood hasn’t really produced that many mainstream dinosaur movies. We can ponder why, but it’s worth pointing out because we haven’t been inundated with an abundance of dino flicks. When one such as The End of Oak Street comes along, with a fun high-concept premise to boot, my ears certainly perk up. Fortunately, this lean yet mean monster movie that doubles as an Amblin-tribute delivers the goods. There are plenty of thrills to be had. Yet, the movie is anchored by a solid set of familiar types taking the form of a suburban family. Quick-paced, interestingly shot, and held back from wearing out its welcome – bingo! This movie features the right amount of dino DNA to go with its big-budget Outer Limits premise.
Set in 1982, the film opens with a block party in a suburban neighborhood. Sure, we hear something on a TV in the background about mysterious solar flares, but that’s no matter. Instead, the focus is on setting up a few characters – The Platt family. Denise (Anne Hathaway) is the dutiful mother with dreams of being a published author. Gret (Ewan McGregor) is the family breadwinner, though hard times have forced him to work as a pizza delivery man at night, putting a strain on his marriage. Their daughter Audrey (Maisy Stella) wants to study astronomy once she graduates high school. And the younger son Brian (Christian Convery) is enjoying being a kid with a bike and a loyal dog, Starbuck.
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While the film goes just over the 90-minute mark before credits, we get an appropriate amount of time with these characters. Each of the actors finds ways to sell enough about who they are to be effective while fitting within a style the movie quickly intends to establish. Writer/director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) may be under the hands of producer J.J. Abrams when considering the efforts to have this movie fall in line with many Spielberg-produced 80s Amblin favorites (including a very big Michael Giacchino score that I’m still not sure ultimately helps or hurts); however, this still feels like the product of a single filmmaker.
For all the efforts to evoke a cinematic depiction of a time period, we also see a large number of split diopter shots, heavy uses of 360 camera rotations to establish environments or build up certainly levels of tension. And then there are matter-of-fact editing choices to go along with some clever single-take shots. Working with one of his frequent collaborators, cinematographer Michael Gioulakis, it’s always neat to see a film so quickly establish a visual identity that hardly needs to adjust once things really kick into gear.
Now, to focus on the major story element at play: well, a large chunk of the neighborhood is transported to prehistoric times. This means the Platts, along with everyone else in this suburb, suddenly find themselves being attacked by dinosaurs. Knowing survival means sticking together, we watch the family attempt to navigate this incredibly dangerous situation, fighting off whatever comes their way, and hopefully figuring out some way to get back home…in the right time.
Something that very much works in this film’s favor is its aim to make audiences hate dinosaurs. Sure, we’re just watching wild animals that are the dominant species react accordingly to the presence of humans (reminder that A Sound of Thunder logic has no place in a film like this). With that in mind, The End of Oak Street has a real mean sense of humor when it comes to how these dino interactions go, calling to mind a creature feature like Crawl more so than any Michael Crichton stories. Being that this is designed to function as a summer blockbuster, things never become too gory for their own good. Still, there’s plenty of fun and frights to appreciate when considering how much chaos this very blood fish-out-of-water situation creates.
Outside of cleverly staged dino-attack sequences and cleverly devised scenes of tension leaning on the surprising amount of stealth these large animals possess, there’s even more to appreciate about the execution thanks to the effort put in by this cast. I can highlight each for different reasons, including at least one fun subversion involving an interaction with a new neighbor girl, Jordan (Jeannette Christiansen), who eventually joins the Platts, but I want to mainly focus on Anne Hathaway.
Sure, McGregor is down to have fun here, once again utilizing that American accent that everyone has accepted as good except for me, but the work done by Hathaway is spectacular. I’ve now seen 4 out of the 5 2026 performances she has in store for audiences, and whether we’re dealing with a workplace comedy, a psychodrama, a fantasy epic, or this ridiculous dino thriller, she’s delivering the goods. Here, she leans on being a protector of her family, someone invested in their marriage, and a person with creative talents they’d really like to explore. All of that is suddenly put to the test by throwing dinosaurs at her, and the range of emotions we get to see really sells the idea that Hathaway is truly one of our best working American actresses today.
Thanks to these additional layers that never feel like they are making the film less interesting, it becomes easier to accept some of the sillier aspects of this story. Again, the film moves quite well, leaving little time to linger on logic questions that just don’t really matter. The visual effects look mostly pretty great, incorporating aspects not usually seen when it comes to dinosaurs, as well as behavior that really wants to push away from the wonder and lean more on the horror of it all. And yet, the film also never loses sight of being fun.
There’s strength to be found in a film that appears to know what it is. The End of Oak Street doesn’t appear to be aiming incredibly high when it comes to unbelievable spectacle, but it does understand how to use today’s technology to its advantage for the sake of an entertaining, standalone thriller. A strong cast makes it feel more worthwhile, and the prospect of seeing a lot of dino action makes it all the better. Thanks to Mitchell’s vision to keep the film visually exciting throughout, audiences get a good time at the movies, caught up in the thrilling land of the lost.
The End of Oak Street opens in theaters and IMAX on August 14, 2026.
