In one sentence: A suburban family wakes to discover their entire neighbourhood has been transported millions of years into the past, leaving them fighting to survive among dinosaurs.

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Imagine waking up one morning, looking out of your window and discovering that your quiet neighbourhood has relocated to prehistoric times. It’s an outrageous premise, but one that The End of Oak Street embraces wholeheartedly, combining family drama, 1980s nostalgia and plenty of dinosaurs into an entertaining adventure.

Set in 1982, the film follows the Platt family. Parents, Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor), are going through a difficult patch in their marriage and their children, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), are all too aware of the tension. Over two nights, strange lights appear and mysterious whooshing sounds are powerful enough to pop eardrums, although the family dog, Starbuck, seems to be the only one paying close attention. One morning, the family wakes to discover their neighbourhood is no longer where, or more importantly when, it should be and surviving the dinosaurs outside quickly becomes their greatest concern.

The film feels like a meeting point between Jurassic Park and Jumanji with a generous helping of The Goonies and Stranger Things thrown in. Its 1982 setting is clearly designed to tap into nostalgia, from the music and fashion to Brian and his group of young friends. There is something interesting about our continued appetite for stories set in supposedly simpler times, particularly when modern life can feel increasingly complicated. The End of Oak Street certainly understands the appeal, although Ewan McGregor’s wardrobe is one part of the decade most would be happy to leave behind.

Beneath the prehistoric chaos is a fairly conventional story about a family in crisis. Denise and Greg’s marriage is struggling and their children are painfully aware of the tension between them, but suddenly being confronted with genuine danger has a way of putting everyday issues into perspective. It is an extreme version of something most people can probably recognise in that difficult experiences have a habit of reminding us who and what really matters. The film also touches on knowing when to be the bigger person and when standing up for yourself becomes necessary, although these themes remain relatively light beneath the spectacle. This isn’t necessarily the type of film that will leave you pondering its deeper meaning for days afterwards, but there is enough emotional grounding to give the action some substance.

The performances are generally solid, although this isn’t one of Anne Hathaway’s strongest roles. There is a certain emotional distance between Denise and her children which may partly be intentional given what we learn about the family, but it also made their relationship less convincing than I would have liked. Ewan McGregor is a welcome presence and it is particularly nice to see him back in a sizeable big-screen role, while Maisy Stella and Christian Convery make believable siblings caught between their parents’ problems and a considerably bigger prehistoric one.

For a film built around dinosaurs, the visual effects really need to convince and thankfully they do. The creatures have a noticeably different appearance from the dinosaurs audiences have become accustomed to through Jurassic Park, with several sporting feathers or hair-like coverings that give the film its own visual identity. There is a good variety of species and enough threat to make them frightening without pushing the film beyond the reach of a younger audience. The film also finds opportunities for humour in some of their behaviour, although one particularly bizarre encounter between two large, hairy creatures certainly wasn’t something I expected to see.

I did question the behaviour of one particularly quiet dinosaur, whose ability to approach almost silently felt slightly inconsistent given its size. Of course, films like this inevitably require a healthy suspension of disbelief and our understanding of how dinosaurs actually behaved is hardly complete. The science behind the neighbourhood’s predicament similarly needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, but it provides an interesting enough explanation to enable an otherwise outrageous premise.

The film handles tension and surprise particularly well. Rather than introducing the dinosaurs immediately, it takes time establishing the family and the strange events occurring around them before fully revealing what has happened. Once the prehistoric chaos begins, the film maintains a good sense of momentum and continues finding new situations in which to place its characters. At no point did I find myself bored and, despite recognising many familiar genre ingredients, it remained an entertaining watch.

Ultimately, The End of Oak Street is an entertaining movie that knows exactly how to keep an audience watching, even if much of what it offers feels familiar. The dinosaurs are convincing, the tension is well handled and its 1980s setting provides plenty of nostalgic charm, but there is little here that feels genuinely new. I jumped, I laughed and I remained invested throughout, although admittedly a significant amount of that investment was spent hoping the gorgeous Starbuck would survive. This is a film I imagine plenty of people will like, but fewer will truly love it.

★★★ (3/5)