One would be hard pressed to find anyone alive at this juncture in time that didn’t go through a dinosaur phase. It’s safe to say that dinosaurs are many people’s safe space. What happens when you peel back that childlike wonder and throw historically accurate feathered behemoths of a world lost into a 1980’s era neighborhood? Chaos, comedy, bloody violence, and one of the best films of the year. ‘The End of Oak Street’ feels like a movie out of time, but in every good sense of that statement. Nostalgia slaps with each frame as the audience follows the Platt family through their nightmare. Every thing that you are hearing about this film is TRUE. It’s a marvel and a spectacle, a tearjerker and a laugh riot. ‘The End of Oak Street’ has found it’s audience and it’s all of us.
Struggle with finances and their own family dynamic, the Platt’s are, for the most part, the average 1980’s family. That is, of course, a strange flashing light becomes a strange flashing problem that transports the Platt’s to the land that time forgot. Throughout their terrifying adventure, they find ways to survive and each other. This film cannot be complimented enough. ‘The End of Oak Street’ isn’t just one of the greatest dinosaur films ever made, it’s plainly one of the greatest FILMS ever made.
Blast From the Past
What will connect with audiences immediately is the sense of nostalgia that permeates throughout ‘The End of Oak Street.’ This is evident within the film’s heartbeat: the score. ‘Oak Street’ is always aware of what it is, never striving to be anything outside of that, following the flow of a score ripped from the late ’80s adventure film. The film’s awareness allows it a level of vagrancy, wandering from genre to genre, a veritable nomad of genre work. One moment, ‘Oak Street’ is a horror, action flick. The next, the film is a comedy adventure. ‘The End of Oak Street’ is a love letter to just about every film that Spielberg ever made.
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Director David Robert Mitchell, coincidentally enough, employs a technique made famous by the man, himself. Mitchell hides his monsters. It isn’t until late in the film that the audience gets their first glimpse of one of the dinosaurs terrorizing the neighborhood, echoing the Spielberg classic ‘Jaws.’ It’s this sense of nostalgia that will draw audiences for returning viewings. Relying on personal experience, I saw this film with my seven year old, much Like I saw ‘Jurassic Park’ with my father when I was seven years old. There’s just something inherently beautiful about sharing a groundbreaking dinosaur film from generation to generation. ‘The End of Oak Street’ is a passing of the baton for the next generation of dinosaur lovers.
Casting Brilliance
‘Oak Street’ gives the impression that each day on set was literally the best day ever. Whether that is true or not will fall to the behind the scenes extras, regardless the cast is so effective in their portrayals of their respective characters that they feel like family. Mitchell’s research is rewarded with genuine Oscar worthy performances. The young cast, comprised of Christian Convery and Maisy Stella, bring a charm and innocence that tempers the dark that resides within the adults of the film.
Ewan McGregor echoes his role in ‘Big Fish’ as caring father Greg, who just can’t seem to catch a break or kick the bottle. The true flowers, however, belong to Anne Hathaway and her portrayal of matriarch, Denise. Yes, of course, Hathaway is phenomenal. That is true, but this is a film about time travel with dinosaurs and she treated it with the same delicacy as ‘The Odyssey.’ That is not the norm, but a testament to the quality of the film and her fellow film makers on set.
Final Thoughts:
‘The End of Oak Street’ is a generational film. Up there with one of the greatest dinosaur films ever made, ‘Oak Street’ isn’t just “this generations ‘Jurassic Park.'” It’s in a league all it’s own bringing a uniquely terrifying and enjoyable experience at the theater.
