The End of Oak Street
Currently only in theaters
Runtime: 1 Hour and 39 Minutes
Rated PG-13
"I think our house, our neighborhood, our whole street, has moved."
It’s a typical day in 1982 for parents Greg (Ewan McGregor) and Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway) and their teenage children, who seem to be constantly fighting with one another. But everything changes one morning when a mysterious cosmic event transports their entire suburban neighborhood into the middle of a prehistoric jungle. Suddenly, Greg and Denise go from trying to keep the peace between their children to trying to keep their family alive, and off the menu for the dinosaurs roaming just beyond their front door.
Themes:
The 1980s, dinosaurs, family, siblings, suburbia, parenting, neighbors, strained relationships, marriage difficulties, secrets, survival, communication, being laid off, losing everything, teamwork, trauma, loss, and time travel.
Language:
A*s - 1 B*tch - 1 D*mn - 7 Fword - 1 Hell - 16 Sh*t - 11 Religious Exclamation - 12
A few times, characters almost say sh*t, but trail off. Some of the cursing is said during very quiet conversations; I tried to count them all, but could have missed one or two.
Stuff to be aware of: (Some of this is considered spoiler territory, but I try to keep things ambigious)
Alcohol and Drugs - A man takes a swig from a bottle and later is accused of and admits to drinking. A commercial playing on a tv in the background mentions getting drunk.
Gross - Most of the gross scenes in the movie are people/animals getting eaten and dino poop.
Small dinosaurs are seen eating a cat.
Multiple dinosaurs are seen eating people; a pterodactyl during one scene is munching on people.
Two different scenes have large piles of dino poop in them
LGBTQ - There seems to be a character that is implied to be a lesbian, but most people will likely miss it.
At the very end of the movie, two college-aged women are holding hands in a scene full of people and activity. At no time is there a discussion about this character being a lesbian, but this could mean she is. It is a blink and you’ll miss it scene.
Scary - There are lots of prehistoric carnivores that bring a horror factor similar to the Jurassic Park franchise to the movie.
Due to camera angles, the audience often sees things the characters don’t. This causes scenes to feel intense and scary.
Dinosaurs creep around off camera, but bushes are seen moving, or noises are made.
There is a giant snake that has rows and rows of needle-like teeth.
Sexual - There are a few scenes with male and female characters kissing.
Teen boys spy on a girl and talk about her looks.
A family playing fetch with a dog tells the dog to imagine the toy they are throwing is someone’s “balls.” The word “balls” is used multiple times.
A teen boy secretly looks at a Playboy magazine; no nudity is seen.
A man is seen in his briefs and a T-shirt.
A character mentions that one dog might be getting fresh with another dog.
In a National Geographic moment, two dinosaurs are seen mating. It is as graphic as two animals mating is. The two animals are shown multiple times and make noises. Jokes are made and photos taken.
Violence/Gore - The violence and gore level is about the same as the Jurassic World movies.
A man threatens to shoot a boy’s dog.
A woman is found dead lying on her back on the floor with blood on her neck and surrounded by bloody dinosaur tracks.
A dinosaur jumps and engulfs a woman’s head into its mouth.
There are multiple scenes with people in the background and foreground running from or being eaten by prehistoric beasts.
In a lengthy scene, flying dinosaurs attack a man, eventually putting him on his back and eating him. As with most of the scenes in the movie the gory details can’t be seen.
In one scene, a larger carnivore drags off a smaller animal to eat him.
A boy jumps another boy and starts beating him up, leaving him with a bloody nose.
A dead woman with blood on her face is seen in a car.
Probably the goriest scene in the movie is when a person gets their leg bitten off in one bite and then is devoured by a large T. rex-like dinosaur.
Characters stab and shoot a giant snake with arrows, causing it to bleed heavily.
There are a few scenes where people are being devoured off-screen. There are sounds, or in one scene, a man’s feet can be seen while the rest of his body is behind a desk. His feet shake, and there are eating sounds.
Religion
There is a brief conversation between characters about whether they believe in God or not. Some do, some don’t, and some aren’t sure.
It is mentioned that a man only goes to church on Christmas.
It is mentioned that a plant went extinct 200 million years ago.
Overall:
Seeing It With Your Family
In a lot of ways, The End of Oak Street is comparable to the Jurassic World trilogy when it comes to violence, gore, and overall scare level. The dinosaurs reflect more modern ideas about what they may have looked like, including plenty of feathers, but the intensity and violence are still roughly on the same level as those films.
Is it just me, or are PG-13 movies including more and more language these days? This one has plenty of profanity, including a single use of the f-word, seemingly because the filmmakers know they can get away with one and still keep the PG-13 rating.
Most of the movie is also very intense. There aren't many traditional jump scares, but the filmmakers frequently let the audience see the danger before the characters do. You may spot a dinosaur lurking in the background or realize that something is about to happen while the characters remain completely unaware. That creates a lot of suspense and keeps the tension high, especially during the dinosaur attacks and chase sequences.
Families who are comfortable with the Jurassic World movies will probably have a good idea of what to expect here in terms of scares and violence. The biggest additional caution is the amount of language.
What I Thought
Jurassic World: Rebirth was terrible, so I went into The End of Oak Street hoping for a new take on man vs. dinosaur that was creative and exciting. While this movie probably won’t be winning any awards, it succeeds at being fun summer entertainment (with dinosaur chaos!).
As with many movies and shows these days, this one takes place in the early ’80s, giving us some great music and style that mixes the tail end of the ’70s with the beginning of the awesome ’80s we all know and love. The setting gives the movie a lot of personality and makes the suburban neighborhood of Oak Street a fun place to unleash a bunch of dinosaurs. The movie doesn’t necessarily do anything revolutionary with the dinosaurs themselves, other than giving many of them feathers and hair. However, simply dropping them into an early-’80s American suburb mixes things up enough to make the familiar man-vs.-dinosaur formula feel fresh.
Where the movie really separates itself from what has come before is in the way it creates suspense. Instead of relying heavily on jump scares or threats suddenly appearing out of nowhere, the camera often allows us to see the danger before the characters do. We know something is lurking behind them or moving toward them while they remain completely unaware. It creates a sense of suspense and urgency that makes you want to yell, “RUN!” or “LOOK BEHIND YOU!” I watch my share of scary movies and dinosaur movies, and I can’t remember the last time one had me reacting like that.
The movie also genuinely surprised me a few times. For the most part, I wasn’t able to predict exactly where it was going, which helped keep the story interesting.
One aspect that surprised me even more was the relationship between Greg and Denise. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, or maybe the writers knew exactly what they were doing, but the chaos unfolding on Oak Street works surprisingly well alongside the problems in their marriage. I found myself cheering with each near-death experience as the insanity around them forced Greg and Denise to confront and work through different aspects of their relationship. Their fight for survival gradually becomes intertwined with their fight for their family, giving the movie more heart than I expected from a story about dinosaurs invading suburbia. Secrets and not communicating can be as dangerous to a marriage as dinosaurs in a neighborhood can be.
I’m not sure The End of Oak Street is the beginning of a new franchise. I suppose there are ways they could write a sequel, but I’m actually okay if they don’t. In a world filled with movie franchises that require you to keep up with multiple movies and TV shows just to know what’s going on, there’s something refreshing about a movie that can simply tell its story and be done.
The End of Oak Street feels fresh, uses its dinosaurs well, and manages to mix suspense with humor and heart. It may not reinvent the dinosaur movie, but it finds a fun new place to let them run wild, and sometimes that’s enough.