Directed by David Robert Mitchell, The End of Oak Street follows the Platt family as they experience a mysterious cosmic event that uproots Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighborhood to an unknown location with prehistoric creatures. They discover that their survival now depends on sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings.
The Jurassic Park/World series has held a strong reign on the big screen for several years and there has been seemingly no other original dinosaur film to challenge its dominance. Small attempts like 65 and Primitive War barely made an impact on audiences despite their unique approaches to the genre, but now a new challenger approaches in the form of this film directed by David Robert Mitchell, who is well known for his magnificent horror film It Follows. With a good director, cast, and premise involved, I was definitely interested in giving this film a shot, and I was fortunate enough to see it at a packed early screening.
The End of Oak Street proves itself to be a truly awesome and fun survival story that is packed with high-octane thrills, strong heart, surprisingly great laughs, and really well-crafted technical elements, making it one of the biggest surprises of 2026. From start to end, I was thoroughly entertained and engaged with everything this film had to offer, which sets itself apart from other films in the dinosaur genre, including the most recent Jurassic World film that didn’t have the same kind of thrilling and heartfelt magic that this film had. This is a brilliant gem of a film to arrive in late summer that is unfortunately not as well marketed as it could have been, yet shouldn’t be missed out on, especially for those who have wanted something more original and refreshing in the dinosaur film genre.
Unlike the Jurassic World films that choose to have huge ensembles of big names, The End of Oak Street chooses to focus on a much smaller cast of characters that we end up actually caring about, thanks largely to the performances and the writing they are given. Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor both embrace the wild nature of the premise and deliver extremely committed performances for Denise Platt and Greg Platt respectively. The two play flawed individuals with differing personalities, one being a realist and one being an idealist, who are clearly going through their own issues but are trying to resolve them for the sake of their family’s survival. This results in some genuine moments of heart, laughs, and drama between them that I really loved and cared about, when normally it’s something I would despise in a film like this when it’s done poorly.
Anne Hathaway’s role in this film may not be as grand compared to her recent role as Penelope in The Odyssey, but she still committed 110% to this role, with her performance making one badass mother that you can’t help but root for.
Ewan McGregor delivers both charm and humor in his performance, making for an equally compelling lead to root for.
Their character’s kids, Audrey and Brian, also ended up being extremely compelling characters with great performances by Maisy Stella and Christian Convery, respectively. Kids in horror and survival films are always 50/50 when it comes to how well done they are, but thankfully these two ended up being really great both in terms of performances and how they are written. They make their fair share of mistakes, but they aren’t absolute morons that endanger themselves or their family at every turn like others have done in other films. On top of that, they have genuinely moving emotional moments both together and on their own thanks to the stellar performances of Maisy and Christian.
Together, the four all make a family that isn’t as perfect as some would think they are but clearly love each other and will do anything to protect each other in this extreme survival scenario. Additionally, there is also the later inclusion of another survivor named Jeannette Christiansen, who is given a quiet but still emotionally moving performance by Jordan Alexa Davis, and the Platt family’s dog Starbuck, who ends up being the best boy in this film.
This film’s narrative is an interesting amalgamation of sci-fi mystery, dinosaur thriller, and family survival that is blended together to make for a really fun late summer flick that has the vibes of classic Jurassic Park but on a more grounded scale. The narrative smartly takes the time to establish the characters, the heart, and the suspense of this survival story before delivering endless amounts of high-octane thrills that keep you on the edge of your seat at all times.
And for a film that wasn’t exactly marketed to be a horror it certainly had its fair share of horror elements that had me jumping up more than expected and really pushed the boundaries of its PG-13 rating with some bloody, gnarly kills and torn-up corpses scattered everywhere, really showing that no one was safe in this crazy scenario. There’s also a great balance of thrills and hilarious humor that gives the film a lot of heart and makes fun use of the situation when it can.
Interestingly enough, this film does defy some typical tropes with certain story threads it sets up and even avoids any kind of major explanation of the cosmic event that caused everything to happen, leaving a feeling of wonder and ambiguity that is very much welcomed. There is one moment where the phenomenon is given a theoretical explanation by one of the characters but never goes any further than that, which I’m completely ok with as I didn’t feel the need for some overbearing exposition or some grand twist that could have ruined the whole film.
With that being said, this film does take a few leaps in logic in an attempt to create suspenseful scenes, and I can totally see these moments annoy the hell out of people watching it, but I can honestly give it a pass as the film still remains very fun and thrilling even with those moments included.
On a technical level, this film was able to accomplish a lot with very little considering its surprisingly low budget of $85 million. Visually, the film looks beautiful with both great effects and outstanding cinematography that really dialed up the thriller action and horror elements of this film, similar to the cinematography of It Follows but in a much different setting. There was even a really impressive one-shot involving an allosaurus chase sequence that had me completely on edge with how amazingly done it was.
The practical set of the neighborhood was incredible, with excellent production design making for some really fun set pieces for all the thrilling sequences. The dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures featured in this film are all CGI creations, but they all look really good and detailed even if they may not look as visually clean compared to high-budget Jurassic World dinosaurs. But to be honest, I think the fact they didn’t always look visually clean made them look even more terrifying and monstrous, which in turn made the thrills hit harder.
Adding on to all of this is an intense and awesome score by composer Michael Giacchino, who I had no idea was involved in this film until I saw his name in the end credits. It’s crazy to see Michael Giacchino jump from doing music for Spider-Man: Brand New Day to doing music for a much smaller film in comparison, yet he continues to put forth maximum effort into his work no matter what, which I absolutely love that he did.
The End of Oak Street is a late-summer gem that honestly deserves to be seen by everyone, even when it faces the overwhelming odds of two box office giants and poor last-minute marketing decisions. This is an original film that I found to be very refreshing, engaging, and fun, which is more than I can say about Jurassic World’s latest installment last year that just didn’t hit the mark for me. So if this film sounds like it’s up your alley, then chances are it absolutely is, and you should go see it as soon as possible when it releases in theaters this week. I’m going to give The End of Oak Street an A = 97.
You can find more of my writing on instagram, and check out my channel on YouTube!