The End of Oak Street By David Robert Mitchell
A Review of The End of Oak Street, A Film by David Robert Mitchell
*DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS WILL BE LABELED*
Whiskey’s Garage
Film Talk
Volume 3
15/08/2026
The End of Oak Street By David Robert Mitchell
A Review of The End of Oak Street, A Film by David Robert Mitchell
Runtime: 1:39
Budget: $80-90 million
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery
Synopsis: In the 80’s, Oak Street is time-traveled back to the past and overrun with dinosaurs.
The End of Oak Street is a new Sci-Fi - Mystery - Adventure film starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor. I hadn’t even heard of this film until a few weeks ago when it was getting torn apart over its promotional strategies. Warner Brothers and The End of Oak Street decided it was a good promotion to use an AI-generated podcast of dogs talking, specifically, the dog character in the film named Starbuck. Yes, the dog's name is Starbuck. Possibly one of the dumbest names for a dog I’ve ever heard, for one of the worst films I have ever seen. This was an abomination from start to finish. There are very, very few compliments I have for this movie. From the terrible script to the awful acting, The End of Oak Street just screams “lazy” the entire runtime. My full review and thoughts are below.
In my opinion, the AI-generated promotional strategies fit well for this film, because it feels as though the entire script/plot was also AI-generated. Heading into this film, I had no expectations and an open mind, even after the backlash of the promotion leading up to it. I was hoping that this film would deliver something unique, or at least entertaining, but this is honestly one of the laziest films I have ever seen, through and through. From the “comedic” touches to the ending sequences, there is nothing that feels creative or authentic in this movie. I truly, strongly believe the majority of this script was written or influenced by AI. It’s clear that the minds behind this movie aren’t afraid to utilize the tool to save a few dollars, as we’ve seen with the awful promotional video, so why would they hire more writers if they could just puke something out with AI? The dialogue and the script were weak, the plot was simple, and the acting was pretty bad all around. Anne Hathaway was the only one who delivered a few solid moments, where she actually seemed like she wanted to be on set. The End of Oak Street also seems completely lost on what their target demographic was meant to be. It appears it’d be for kids, yet some of the scenes are pretty graphic/gory for children, along with using a few swear words throughout the dialogue, but there is also no way a plot this dumb can be made for adults. So who are they trying to attract here? I have no idea, and I don’t think they did either. The dog, Starbuck, is a mix of pretty bad CGI and a real dog, so in certain scenes it appears as a real-looking dog, and in others, you get this messy-looking, twitchy animal. I understand why they needed to have CGI for the dog in certain scenes, but it was just done poorly. He ends up looking like a twitchy, blurry mess. The score is generic; it’s not bad, but it’s nothing creative, just exactly what you’d think for an action film like this. However, I will give it props for the set design and some of the camera work. It’s nothing that is going to blow you away, but it’s pretty decent. There are a few camera shots I enjoyed: a couple of one-shot flowing scenes, transferring from actor to actor, and a unique close-up shot they utilized a few times while the main characters were speaking. Really, that’s about all that stood out for me from this film.
*SPOILER WARNING**SPOILER WARNING**SPOILER WARNING**SPOILER WARNING**SPOILER WARNING*
The ending of this film is one of the laziest things I’ve ever witnessed. Essentially, the survivors went back in time through a transporting orb and moved out of the part of town that got transported into prehistoric times. That’s it. Oak Street is still overrun with dinosaurs, so tons of people will continue to die and lose their families, but our main characters escaped it by moving out of the area. They literally have a scene at the end that pans over a reporter talking about the “unexplained events” that took place. They couldn’t even bother to come up with a proper reason or explanation for what has happened. The entire plot of the movie is just so lazy. It genuinely feels like artificial-intelligence wrote the majority of this plot. There is a “comedic” relief scene where Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor head outside to investigate, and they come across 2 Brachiosauruses humping. It seems like they were trying to build some sort of tension in the scene leading up to this, but then you are met with this. The characters aren’t terrified by the giant dinosaurs in front of them; they just laugh and even take a picture in front of them. This feels exactly like what AI would write for you if you prompted, “Give me a comedic relief scene that isn’t too graphic or inappropriate. Include a sexual innuendo or joke.” The film includes “jokes” like this that seem aimed at younger audiences, as they aren’t too inappropriate, yet they have graphic scenes like the T-Rex biting the Dad’s (Ewan McGregor) leg off and then swallowing him whole in front of his family. (The CGI was terrible on this) The scene shows a bloodied, gruesome leg that surely could have been done differently if this were aimed at children as the audience.
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This film is without a doubt a “shut-your-brain-off” flick, but even at that, I’m not sure how many will enjoy their time with it. How a film like this got greenlit for over $80 million is beyond me, but then again, Dinosaurs tend to sell, no matter how bad the film really is. I also realize the majority of that budget will be split between Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor for “Star-Power,” and CGI has decent costs as well. I’d highly recommend skipping this film, unless you have a thing for dumb, bad movies.
RATING - How well I think the movie is made, the dialogue, the production, the acting, objectively how good a film it is. Out of 100%
ENJOYMENT - How much I enjoyed the film, subjectively and based on the genre heading into it. I was expecting a historical, action, fantasy tale. Out of 100%
IMMERSIVENESS - How captivating the film is, how well it brings you into the world they are building and makes you forget reality. Out of 100%
Rating:33%
Enjoyment: 15%
Immersiveness: 5% ( I can think of 1 scene I was actually intrigued by for a moment)
PROS:
Set design
Some camera work
CONS:
Plot
Script/Dialogue
Acting
CGI at times
OSCAR NOMS (Thoughts)
Not A Chance
