Any movie with dinosaurs in it will inevitably be compared to Jurassic Park, so the bar for both quality and nostalgia invocation is already high for The End of Oak Street to begin with. It’s been eagerly awaited by Sci-Fans for some time, and such pressure might instantly fossilize Hollywood competitors or leave them marching towards extinction. But does this one breathe new life into the ancient genre? 

The End of Oak Street is a cunning attention predator; set in 1982, it grabs fans of retro eras instantly with its aesthetics. The story follows inhabitants of the titular Oak Street who are initially going about their daily lives replete with school dramas, strained marriages and annoying neighbours until the power goes out. What seems like a run-of-the-mill inconvenience becomes something much more unexpected – and dangerous – when it turns out Oak Street is surrounded by a time-bending cliff drop and supposedly-extinct life has reared its head to chow down on the residents.

The fact that there’s no Jurassic-themed parks in The End of Oak Street is only one of the ways it brings dinosaur-based Sci-Fi to a new generation; it has a few other ways to lure you into the neighbourhood, too. Have you ever wanted to see Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Christian Convery of Sweet Tooth fame, Maisy Stella and Jordan Alexa Davis fighting carnivorous dinosaurs in the ’80s? Well, that’s pretty specific, but you’re in luck! The cast is as star-studded as a prehistoric sky. 

The movie is also produced by someone you may have heard of before: J.J. Abrams, the name behind screen mysteries such as iconic TV series Lost and found-footage Kaiju film, Cloverfield. And while there are undoubtedly influences from Spielberg’s dinosaur classic, according to MSN in August 2026, Abrams says the movie has more in common with the director’s other work.

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“When I was reading [the script], it felt like it had a little bit of that Amblin vibe, for sure,” Abrams revealed. “I mean the era, the family. It weirdly had almost a bit more in common with Poltergeist, frankly, than any of the other films, which is one of my favorites. And, it had this sense of absolute wonderful characters, a really incredible sense of humor, and this great sense [that] you’d wanna see it if it weren’t a genre film.” 

Abrams also mentioned that this is more of a movie with dinosaurs in it rather than a dinosaur movie. “The thing that I love the most is that, when you see movies with dinosaurs, you kinda think, ‘well, that’s gonna be just a monster movie’. This is a people movie with monsters in it. There are certainly moments of horror with Oak. It moves through a range in terms of a tone and genre in terms of what it feels like, but there are absolutely some serious moments of suspense and mystery and genuine terror.”

And he’s right; the movie’s central protagonists – the Platt family – aren’t just trying to survive dinosaurs; they’re also trying to work out what happened to Oak Street and escape with their lives. Family dramas run through the core of the movie around all the dinosaur chaos which pose as much emotional threat to the family as the deadly reptiles do physically. Not only are the Platt parents at odds with each other, Jeannette Christiansen – portrayed by Jordan Alexa Davis – is another point of contention for the family. 

Here’s another spoiler, so peruse this paragraph at your own risk: Christian Convery’s character, Brian Platt, has a crush on Jeannette. However, in an unexpectedly refreshing queer-coded twist, Jeanette develops a subtle and sweet romance with his sister Audrey instead, leading to further tension among the survivors.

The Poltergeist atmosphere of The End of Oak Street’s script didn’t just lure in Abrams; Yahoo!Movies reported in September 2026 that the vibe convinced Anne Hathaway to join the cast, too. Hathaway had an impressive run in 2026 with Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2 and The Odyssey, but Oak Street scratched a nostalgic itch for her. “Reading it, it reminded me of one of my favourite movies from when I was a kid – which I probably shouldn’t have watched when I was a kid, but still, it was great – which was Poltergeist.”

“And when I connected with David [Robert Mitchell, the director],” Hathaway continued, “I mentioned that as a reference and he said, ‘That’s what I was going for.’ I just said ‘Well, I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but please sign me up. I want to be in this world.’”

So the real question is this: does Oak Street live up to the hype? Well, as you may have already guessed, both the aesthetic and tone are nostalgia shots that have proven very popular these days… and everyone loves dinosaurs! One of the movie’s strongest points, though, is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. 

The plot is endearingly silly and some of the scenes are even sillier (dinosaurs doing what they’d do on the discovery channel, anyone?) but it’s a better movie for it. The setting would come across as pretentious otherwise. Sure, some of the characters don’t quite realize their potential – Jeanette could have had a little more to do – however, it’s been admirably received by both critics and audiences, so it’s not enough to ruin a good time. 

Oak Street is a refreshing take on everyone’s favourite extinct reptiles; it provides excitement, fun and of course J.J. Abrams’ signature mysterious tone that’ll keep you hanging on until the end credits. At least on the big screen, dinosaurs are alive and well.