Film REVIEW: The End of Oak Street (2026) - ★★★★

Mix Up Theatre (Stewart)
12 hours ago
4 min read

If you thought Elm Street was a nightmare, just wait until you get a load of The End Of Oak Street. Check out our guide to the Spielbergian chomp-romp starring Ewan McGregor (Star Wars series) and Anne Hathaway (Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises), headed cinemas on 14 August.

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Writer: David Robert Mitchell

Stars: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery.

Genre: Adventure, Action, Mystery

Themes: Dinosaur, Surivial Adventure, Family Relationships

The Platt family bands together to navigate their new surroundings after a cosmic event transports their suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown.

The film received positive reviews from critics.

MIX UP REVIEWS:

Sam (Age 13) - ★★★★

"This film is honestly a 7.5 out of 10. It's about a neighbourhood that gets transported back to the prehistoric, where a family struggles to survive. It was probably one of the scariest Dino movies I've seen. Maybe even more terrifying than Jurassic Park, but I did see this on the big screen. The cinematography was clever. The constant zoom-ins at the beginning of the film were slightly jarring, though. It has accurate dinosaurs, sci fi stuff and is set in the 1980s. My only gripe is that the characters are marginally stupid, but I'd probably react the same way if I was in their situation!"

Have you seen it?

https://youtu.be/3oB9AxspVow?si=727W7KWVBuoQWQb-

The End of Oak Street buzz - Why is everybody talking about The End of Oak Street movie?

Welcome to the summer of Spielberg. First up, we’ve got a movie that was literally directed by the man in the cap – that’s Disclosure Day, wowing audiences at cienmas as you read these words. But Spielbergian vibes are all over the slate – and especially The End Of Oak Street.

Just check out that trailer. It’s a little bit scary. It’s a little bit snappy (like Jurassic Park and Jaws). It’s a little bit sci-fi (like Close Encounters Of The Third Kind). And did we mention that it’s set in 1980s suburbia (like E.T., Gremlins and The Goonies)?

But don’t mistake The End Of Oak Street as some soft-headed Spielberg tribute act. Writer/director David Robert Mitchell is a major talent with an auteur’s edge. No wonder cinema fans are betting this new survival thriller will give the master a run for his money when it releases at cinemas on 14 August.

What is The End of Oak Street about? The End of Oak Street plot revealed

The trouble starts when the Platt family awakens on a typical weekend morning circa 1983. There’s something a little off. The power is out. The taps don’t run. But pretty soon, glitchy utilities will be the least of their worries.

At first, Greg (Ewan McGregor), Denise (Anne Hathaway) and their kids think they’re imagining those rustling bushes and rattling garbage cans. But there’s no denying the gaping chasm that suggests Oak Street has been sheared off and pinged who-knows-where/when. Oh – and there’s also the dinosaur that just bit the head off their neighbour. Definitely not your average Saturday.

Cast of The End of Oak Street - Who stars in The End of Oak Street movie?

You’ve gotta hand it to Anne Hathaway: she’s got serious range (and a superhuman work ethic). In a single six-month period, the New York actress has starred as a perky journalist (The Devil Wears Prada 2), a mythological queen (The Odyssey), and now, as a mother trying to stop her kids ending up as dino-bites (The End Of Oak Street).

“David Robert Mitchell is an amazing director,” Hathaway told Today. “His script is just wild. It’s this kind of family drama set against time travel and dinosaurs. And when he told me that Ewan was going to play my husband, I got very excited.”

In the same interview, the Star Wars star agreed: “David wrote a very beautiful script, but then, by page 20, it suddenly turns into something quite different that you weren’t expecting. As I was reading it, I couldn’t believe it.”

The End Of Oak Street cast also includes Maisy Stella (Nashville) Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth, Playing with Fire) as the Platts’ kids Audrey and Brian. Jordan Alexa Davis (Vampirina) and P.J. Byrne (Green Book, Bruce Almighty) haven’t had their roles confirmed

yet, but we’re betting at least one of them will end up in a T-Rex’s gaping maw.

The End of Oak Street trailer - What footage can we watch from The End of Oak Street movie?

Bright lights. High winds. Barking dogs. The parched rasp of something nasty in the woods. The End Of Oak Street trailer mercilessly cranks the tension. Even Billy Joel’s naggingly upbeat My Life has never sounded so creepy. And when David Robert Mitchell finally pulls the trigger, we’re seeing the most white-knuckle dino action since the Raptors toe-tapped through the Jurassic Park kitchen.

End of Oak Street age rating - Who can watch The End of Oak Street movie in cinemas?

Well, that’s the big question. From a certain angle, The End Of Oak Street looks like it’s pitched at fans of Jurassic Park and Jumanji. But It Follows was seriously dark, and it seems unlikely that David Robert Mitchell has totally changed his stripes.

The film is rated 12A.

The End of Oak Street trivia - what's a fun fact about The End of Oak Street?

The Spielberg nods you know about, but that’s not the only influence drawn on by David Robert Mitchell. The End Of Oak Street was also inspired by M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, uncanny-valley TV show The Twilight Zone and ’60s fantasy classic The Valley of Gwangi – while the director was above all drawn to the notion of strangeness visiting the “mundane, middle-class” suburbs.

The End Of Oak Street is out now in cinemas which can conjure the thrills and chills you felt during Spielberg’s golden first run. “It's the merging of character with spectacle, the way I think some of those '70s and '80s movies did really well,” David Robert Mitchell tells EW. “There are moments of drama, of terror and suspense, and humour. It really does move through the range.”