For decades, Jurassic Park has ruled the roost when it came to big screen dinosaur movies. Sure, there have been others, but most weren’t very good. Now, a new dinosaur flick, titled The End of Oak Street, has made its way to theaters. Does this film, which follows a suburban family whose neighborhood gets sent into the prehistoric ages, give dinosaur fans what they’ve been craving? Let’s take a look to find out.

The Good

One of the selling points of a movie like this is, of course, the dinosaurs. Thankfully, the dinosaurs all look fantastic. Plus, they’re genuinely scary. The effects for them are terrific, they look accurate based on updated data, and they feel like actual threats. Whenever there’s a dinosaur on screen, which is a lot of the time, it feels like the characters are in real danger. This is dinosaurs done right.

The film remains suspenseful throughout once the dinosaurs start appearing, whether characters are hiding, running, or devising plans. It will have any audience member on the edge of their seat. A lot of this suspense is thanks to there being plenty of big surprises throughout the story. There are things no one will see coming, and jaws will be on the floor for any first-time viewing.

Outside of the prehistoric beasts, this is a movie about a suburban family. Their relationships are intriguing to see play out as they’re put to the test. It’s also interesting to see them grow closer together over the course of the film. There’s a lot of heart in this flick, and it’s thanks to these realistic and relatable family dynamics.

A lot of elements are set up quite well in the beginning of the story. We see what the characters have access to, who the characters are as people, and how the neighborhood is set up. It all comes into play as the main family looks for a way to survive the hungry dinosaurs lurking in their neighborhood. It’s all brilliant foreshadowing.

Surprisingly, there’s a fair share of humorous moments throughout as well. The more jokey parts consistently land, and they never interfere with the more suspenseful or emotional parts. They add a sense of charm to the movie.

The Bad

There are some character decisions that are just plain anger-inducing. This is especially the case with the son of the family. He puts the family in danger so he can look for his dog. He also stands still staring at a portal instead of jumping through it when he should have, then gets hurt as a result. Seeing characters make such terrible decisions is genuinely annoying, rather than suspenseful like the filmmakers clearly intend.

There are also a handful of side characters who are introduced early on but they either don’t add anything or vanish from the plot entirely. It’s nothing too harmful to the plot, as you can just imagine what happened to them in the movie, but it’s still weird how forgotten they feel by the plot.

Conclusion

The End of Oak Street is a creative film that gives audiences everything they could want from a dinosaur movie. The dinosaurs are scary, there’s plenty of suspense with a welcome amount of heart and humor, and it all looks fantastic. It’s also nice to see a well-made blockbuster that’s not a part of a bigger franchise or trying to set up a bunch of other movies. Sure, it has a couple of minor hiccups, but it’s an absolute thrill-ride that all should see.

Rating: 9/10

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