Since I never got around to seeing the TV series Lost and only a few years ago finally got caught up with all the Mission: Impossible films, the first time I remember seeing J.J. Abrams was for the 2011, now nearly forgotten gem Super 8.
That film (starring upcoming future star Elle Fanning) was an original nostalgia trip into late 1970s sci-fi (a true precursor to Stranger Things). It was no surprise to me, then, when I found out Abrams was one of the main producers of The End of Oak Street (granted, it is in the early 80s, but that is not far off).
Set in the suburbs of 1982 (I would guess it is a Detroit suburb, only because I saw a news article praising the Tigers), the film centers on the Platt family. Mother Denise (Anne Hathaway) has been secretly trying to write a book that may or may not be based on her life, while her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor) is having issues at work (their marriage, it is revealed, is hanging by a thread).
Meanwhile, their daughter Audrey (Maisy Stella) appears to be hiding her own secrets (mainly about her sexuality) as she is getting ready for her college years, while her little brother Brian (Christian Convery) is in the aftermath of a neighborhood incident that has him being stalked by a bully (the late Hudson Meek), taking solace mainly in his dog, Starbuck.
If you have seen any of the trailers or marketing, you know that weird things happen and the family (along with their neighbors) start seeing dinosaurs. How did they get there? About five or so minutes is dedicated to talks about Carl Sagan and wormholes (an interest of Audrey). Writer/Director David Robert Mitchell is smart enough to know his film does not need overthought explanations as to why these events are happening. That is not the point: the point is that they are happening, and the characters need to survive.
Parents, the PG-13 rating is justified, as it is a solidified end-of-summer popcorn flick that would appeal highly to the middle school market. There are violent/scary moments, of course, and some swearing here and there (one F bomb), but nothing more so than what one would have seen in a Jurassic Park film. There is also (and I’m not making this up) a comical scene of two dinosaurs getting it on (which was definitely not in a Jurassic Park film).
Speaking of the Jurassic franchise, I have not been shy in saying how all the sequels to the first Jurassic World have become more worthless as each sequel has been added. That is not to say The End of Oak Street is any masterpiece or in the same vein as the 1993 original Jurassic Park, but with a script that does not take itself too seriously, a cast led by two solid movie stars (what a year for Hathaway), and CGI that is somewhere between passable and stellar, the film easily surpasses any of those sequels.
I wish there were a more positive way to say it, but this is truly a reliable dumb summer movie.
Overall:
Nothing else to say 