Anne Hathaway is having a remarkable 2026. She has already battled shared trauma in Mother Mary, saved a fashion magazine in The Devil Wears Prada 2, and fended off suitors in The Odyssey. Now, she takes on suburban anxiety and a dinosaur with a shotgun in David Robert Mitchell's The End of Oak Street.
Mitchell, known for It Follows and Under the Silver Lake, returns after an eight-year hiatus with a blockbuster that has surprised critics and audiences alike. The film transports an entire 1980s American suburb back to the prehistoric era, blending family drama with relentless dinosaur attacks.
A Family Under Siege
Hathaway plays Denise Platt, the matriarch of a seemingly perfect nuclear family. Her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor) is secretly delivering pizzas after losing his job, while Denise hides her own ambitions of writing a novel and leaving. Their children, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), add to the tension with teenage rebellion and a broken arm from a schoolyard fight.
When strange plants start sprouting and the radio reports unusual solar flares, the community is suddenly plunged into a jungle filled with paleontologically accurate dinosaurs. The film's premise is absurd, but Mitchell grounds it in the family's emotional struggles, making the survival fight feel personal and urgent.
Mitchell wears his influences proudly, with nods to Spielberg and Amblin classics like E.T. and The Goonies. Michael Giacchino's score evokes John Williams, and the director borrows from Jaws in slowly revealing his monsters. But this is no mere nostalgia trip; it's a character-driven adventure with genuine heart.
The film excels in its set-pieces, from a Camarasaurus humping to a theropod discovering ice cream, but it never loses sight of its characters. Cinematographer Mike Gioulakis uses split diopter shots to emphasize the family's fractured dynamics, and the result is a thriller that is both suspenseful and emotionally resonant.
There are flaws, however. McGregor's performance feels stilted at times, and the ending is abrupt, wrapping up plot conveniences with a too-neat happy ending. Yet, these issues are minor compared to the film's overall impact.
The End of Oak Street is the best dinosaur movie since Jurassic Park, and it puts the Jurassic World franchise to shame. It's a summer blockbuster that delivers thrills, laughs, and a surprising amount of depth.
For those interested in cosmic drama and cultural phenomena, our exploration of eclipses in culture offers a different kind of spectacle. Meanwhile, the film's success reminds us that even in an era of franchise fatigue, original storytelling can still captivate audiences.
