2026 The End of Oak Street

• Directed by: David Robert Mitchell
• Written by: David Robert Mitchell
• Stars: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 39 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oB9AxspVow

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

The Platt family bands together for survival when their whole neighborhood is transported back to an era when dinosaurs were thriving. The title has a double meaning of the end of Oak Street and perhaps the literal end of Oak Street. They nailed the retro vibe setting it in 1982. The blood and gore is surprisingly tame considering the violence, somehow they managed to avoid an R rating. The special effects are good as is the story, and we thought it was very entertaining.

Spoilery Synopsis

There’s a big block party on Oak Street, and Denise, Greg, Audry, and Brian Platt are all having a great time, probably because this is vaguely the 80s, when everyone was happy (Carl Sagan was alive and Chrysler was still a thing). Denise and Greg are having some martial issues because he’s working too many jobs. There’s a radio report of strange waves out in space.

Denise has written a book, and the old lady who’s editing it shows her a weird plant in her back yard that she can’t identify that’s grown really fast. The kids and the dog have typical problems. That night, there are weird lights in the sky; only Brian and the dog see them.

In the morning, nasty neighbor Mel comes over and blames the kids for piling hundreds of pounds of poop in his backyard. Later, the local bully, Kaden, chases Brian around the neighborhood. That night, the strange lights in the sky return, and everyone sees them this time. The power goes out and the rain instantly stops. They all hear screaming, so Greg goes out to investigate. When he returns, he warns them all to lock the doors before going back to bed.

In the morning, the power is still out. The water isn’t working either, which is unexpected. Greg and Denise go out for a walk, and it’s very quiet– almost too quiet. They hear lots of unusual animal noises.

Denise finds her elderly neighbor friend half-eaten in her kitchen, and there’s a full-on jungle in her backyard that wasn’t there yesterday. Greg, on the other hand, gets chased around the neighborhood by a dinosaur. They run home, and there is much screaming and panicking.

Everyone hops in the car, but all the roads out of the neighborhood stop in forests, as if the whole subdivision was transported into a dinosaur-infested jungle. The camera pulls away, and we see that that’s exactly what has happened. They all rush home and start boarding up the windows.

Greg admits that he was recently laid off and didn’t want Denise to worry. Denise’s book got destroyed when the basement flooded. The kids are terrified. Good times all around. The small dinosaurs hear something that scares them away. They talk about portals through time; could they be in the past?

That night, they watch as Mel is torn apart by flying reptiles. We see larger dinos slowly moving into the area. Brian runs out after the dog, and Audrey runs out after Brian; the parents soon notice and go out again, looking for them. Something big attacks the car, so that doesn’t last long.

Brian and Audrey run into Jeannette, the new kid at private school, and her parents have already been eaten. Greg and Denise find a portal that appears to lead back to the normal world, but it vanishes before they can do anything. There’s a lot of running around and being chased until Greg gets caught by a big one and eaten.

There’’s a fire that’s coming, and it’s going to burn everything.

They spot another portal, but it’s way across town. The group gets there without too much trouble and goes upstairs, where the portal is. Mr. Valcourt, the town’s librarian, is there with a shotgun. The elevated portal is blinking on and off, so they need to time their jumps. Jeanette goes through, no problem. Brian’s not so lucky and falls three stories to break his leg.

They retrieve Brian and then go back to the roof, where they all jump together, even the dog. They wind up in 1982 in someone’s swimming pool, and the owner isn’t happy. Their neighborhood is still there, like nothing happened. It’s the night the portal came, in twenty minutes from now!

Can they save all the people? Jeanette runs off to save her parents. Denise runs to a phone booth and makes a call. Turns out, she ordered a pizza from the company Greg has been working for, and that gets him out of the “transport zone.” The family watches as the lights cover the part of the city around their home and it all vanishes and is replaced with a chunk of dinosaur jungle.

Two years later, a news report explains what’s been going on. Turns out, Denise called a lot of people, warning them to get out, and ended up being a local hero for it. She then wrote a book about the whole ordeal. Everyone’s got a happy ending (including TWO Jeanettes)!

Brian’s Commentary

The easy comparison here is the recent film, “The Last House” (2026), which is similar in a lot of ways. “Jurassic Park” also comes into play heavily here.

Ewan McGregor’s “American” accent is not great.

Special effects for dinosaurs aren’t exactly new, but they are very well done here. Many are more birdlike, with hair and feathers, something scientists didn’t know about when Jurassic Park was made, but they added it here. The portals aren’t really explained in much detail, but we don’t need to know.

The blood and gore is pretty minimal, but a lot of people are killed and eaten, so it’s borderline on the horror scale, but we’ll count it anyway because it’s pretty good!

Kevin’s Commentary

I know that it’s more scientifically accurate, but after growing up with all lizard dinosaurs I feel irrationally annoyed at some dinosaurs being depicted with fur and feathers now.

I agree that Evan McGregor’s accent sounds kind of unnatural. At least it’s consistent.

I thought it moved well and was entertaining. I’d give it a thumbs up.