In the 33 years since Steven Spielberg first unleashed the lab-grown dinos of Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” on movie audiences, the franchise has lost some of its luster. Not even gay dreamboat Jonathan Bailey could keep the latest installment, 2025’s “Jurassic World Rebirth,” afloat.
Set in not quite prehistoric 1982, in a Detroit suburb, David Robert Mitchell’s “The End of Oak Street” (Warner Brothers) introduces us to the Platts, a family on the brink of falling apart. Unhappily married Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) are trying to keep it together for the sake of their teens Audrey (Maisy Stella) and her younger brother Brian (Christian Convery). Denise finds solace in her basement office where she types away on her novel. Meanwhile, Greg is doing odd jobs, including pizza delivery, covering for being laid off at Chrysler (which he has kept a secret).
One summer night, following bright flashes of light from what appears to be a storm, everything in the Platts’ world changes. Their neighborhood is suddenly transformed into the land of carnivorous dinosaurs and giant vegetation. Naturally, this change in circumstances emphasizes the need for the family to stay together as a unit.
As neighbors are being devoured, dragged into the underbrush, or carried away by winged creatures, the pressure is on the Platts to do all they can to survive and maintain their personal secrets. For Greg, it means that he starts drinking again (to calm his nerves, as he says). Of course, this set off Denise who, as it turns out, has been writing a warts-and-all book about the family. Brian is doing his best to find the missing family dog Starbuck, as well as avoid the neighborhood bully who is out for revenge.
We also see Audrey struggling with her own identity. In one scene, after everyone else is asleep, she sneaks out to the family car and sings along with the Steve Winwood song “Valerie” in the cassette deck as tears roll down her cheeks. The emotions on display are hard to miss. It’s one of the subtlest and most effective ways of revealing a clue about her identity.
Later, in the movie, after the body count continues to rise, and the wildfires burning in the distance begin to encroach on the neighborhood, Audrey and Brian encounter new teenaged neighbor Jeanette (Jordan Alexa Davis). Brian’s interest in her is obvious, but there is an undeniable spark between Jeanette and Audrey.
Writer and director Mitchell does a decent job of capturing the era (including the music), and he even gives the movie a kind of ’80s visual texture. The depicted dinosaurs achieve maximum scariness, too. But there were some unexpected bumps, including distracting references to religion, that felt like they were thrown in almost as an apology for the movie’s queerness.
Rating: B-
