Critics are enjoying “The End of Oak Street,” praising the direction, style and performances, with one even calling it “a callback to classic sci-fi adventure.”
In their review, Collider, besides describing the film as a callback to sci-fi adventure classics, described the film as a lot of fun. They’re particularly impressed with director David Robert Mitchell’s work on the movie and, of course, Anne Hathaway. “It’s 90 minutes of edge-of-your-seat entertainment that commits to its concept and entertains throughout,” they wrote. “Big, loud, and guaranteed to make you jump at least once, it’s another eye-catching performance from the always-busy Hathaway, and proof that blockbuster entertainment doesn’t need to follow a franchise formula.”
Set in ’80s suburbia, “The End of Oak Street,” directed by David Robert Mitchell (“It Follows”) and co-produced by J.J. Abrams (“Super 8,” “Lost”), tells the story of the Platt family, played by Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella (“My Old Ass”) and Christian Convery (“Sweet Tooth”). After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighborhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings.
IndieWire felt they were truly back in the ’80s, a time when Amblin Entertainment (founded by Steven Spielberg) released many of their now beloved classics, including “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Poltergeist” and “Back to the Future.” “A crowd-pleasing but winkingly mean-spirited Amblin homage that perfectly captures the sweet menace of movies like ‘Gremlins’ and ‘The Goonies’ (so perfectly, in fact, that it almost feels like you’ve been sucked through a hole in space-time yourself), ‘The End of Oak Street’ is what multiplexes have been missing from recent summers,” they wrote. “Lean, clever, original, cheer-at-the-screen entertainment that will traumatize 10-year-olds for life and make their parents feel like they’re kids again.”
Ewan McGregor as Greg, and Anne Hathaway as Denise, wield their weapons of choice in their fight for survival against dinosaurs in “The End of Oak Street.”
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
For JoBlo.com, “The End of Oak Street” is the best dinosaur movie since the ’90s, when dinosaurs first became a massive movie phenomenon. And ComingSoon.net wrote that the film is “an extremely entertaining popcorn movie that feels designed to be experienced with a packed theater, complete with jump scares, big thrills, audience screams, and plenty of moments that practically beg you to shout at the screen.”
Ever since he was a kid, director David Robert Mitchell always wanted to make a dinosaur movie. “My dad was obsessed with dinosaurs, he had always dreamed of being a paleontologist and was always reading dinosaur books. So, I grew up around it,” shares the filmmaker. “I fell in love with the idea of doing it, but I didn’t know what would be my version of a dinosaur film. Then a few years ago I was walking through my neighborhood, just a casual stroll, and I was passing by this really interesting house and this alleyway. And I just imagined that there was a dinosaur there digging through the trash. I just could see it, and I stopped and I looked at this interesting tableau of this fantastical thing in this mundane place in a middle-class neighborhood. And I thought, I want to write something that feels like this. I want to make a movie that feels like this image in my mind.”
Run for your life! Christian Convery as Brian, and Maisy Stella as Audrey, flee from a dinosaur in “The End of Oak Street.”
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Producer J.J. Abrams says that there are amazing sequences in “The End of Oak Street.” “One in particular I think could be a classic terror scene,” he shares. “But I think the big takeaway is the thrill of seeing dinosaurs in a suburban setting. The contrast of these wild creatures in an absolutely mundane neighborhood is spectacular. The insane story becomes far more relatable than you might expect.”
Run towards the cinemas and catch “The End of Oak Street,” now showing nationwide. #EndofOakStreet
