The End of Oak Street: is it suitable for your child?

Story

In 1982, Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg Platt (Ewan McGregor) live with their children, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), in a leafy neighbourhood in Flowervale, Michigan.

One night, a huge white light appears in the sky together with a storm and power outage. The next morning, Denise and Greg venture out to look for their dog, Starbuck, and find that their street has been transported to the age of dinosaurs. Encountering dinosaurs of various shapes and sizes in the area, Denise and Greg try to find an escape route but all exits are blocked by water and separation from the rest of the land. In desperation, Denise and Greg return home and barricade themselves and their children in their house.

Audrey suggests that their neighbourhood has moved through a wormhole, back millions of years. Matters get much worse when the dinosaurs attack their neighbours, many of whom are then seen lying dead in the street. One day, Brian sees Starbuck in the street and sets out to find him, resulting in a terrifying search as the other family members try to find Brian. They also meet up with a young girl called Jeannette (Jordan Alexa Davis), who has lost both her parents, and the Platts take her with them.

Denise discovers a small wormhole, which appears and disappears at regular intervals. Eventually, some of the family manage to get through the wormhole and back to 1982, just before the wormhole first appeared. Denise has to use her wits to reverse the tragic impact on their neighbourhood.

Themes

Science fiction; time travel; dinosaurs

Violence

The End of Oak Street has a lot of violence. For example:

The Platts’ neighbour Mel is annoyed by their dog digging holes under the fence and threatens to shoot him. Denise says if he does, she’ll burn his house down.
A bully threatens Brian and beats him up.
Denise finds her elderly neighbour dead on her kitchen floor, covered in blood. Bloody claw prints lead away from the body.
Denise shoots at the dinosaurs several times with a rifle. Greg attacks the dinosaurs with a baseball bat.
A woman is grabbed by the head by an allosaurus.
There’s a picture of a dinosaur eating another creature with blood dripping from its mouth.
The neighbour shoots at pterodactyls from his roof, but they attack and kill him.
Denise and Greg argue a lot and often scream and yell at each other.
Greg and Denise are driving around the neighbourhood trying to find Brian when an allosaurus attacks the car. It pushes the car into a house, starting a fire. Greg and Denise escape, but the dinosaur chases them.
When a dinosaur threatens Jeannette, Brian fires his bow and arrow at it and Audrey hits it with a wooden stick.
A horde of dinosaurs chase after Greg and Denise, who hide in a car. The dinosaurs jump on the car, smashing windows and rocking the car. There’s a dead person in the driver’s seat of the car.
An allosaurus chases Brian down the street. Denise shoots at it and it nearly grabs her. Greg hits it with a hammer on its leg and head, and it falls down. But it gets up again.
Denise stabs several times at an eel-type dinosaur with a kitchen knife.
An older woman shoots at crocodile-type dinosaurs with a rifle.
Brian falls off the roof and lands heavily on the ground. He has an injured leg and is attacked by a pterodactyl.
A main character is killed.

Sexual references

The End of Oak Street has some sexual references. For example:

A couple kiss.
Brian sneaks a look at a magazine with pictures of women in skimpy lingerie.
Denise and Greg kiss.
The dog has a chew toy. The children joke that the toy is the neighbour’s genitals.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

The End of Oak Street shows some use of substances. For example:

People drink at a neighbourhood street party.
Greg has a secret stash of whisky in the garage, which he drinks when he’s stressed.
Greg tells Brian to stop smoking, which he denies but has to own up to.

Nudity and sexual activity

The End of Oak Street has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

Greg is seen in his underpants and a singlet.
Two brontosauruses are shown mating.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in The End of Oak Street: Kellogg’s Froot Loops.

Coarse language

The End of Oak Street has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The End of Oak Street is a science fiction thriller that transports a regular street into the dinosaur era, pitting humans against the ferocity of prehistoric creatures. The movie is quite intense and the main characters are constantly in peril, making it more suited to teenage and adult viewers.

The main messages from The End of Oak Street are to value what you have while you have it and not to take life and those you love for granted.

Values in The End of Oak Street that you could reinforce with your children include bravery, courage, heroism, selflessness and family bonds.

The End of Oak Street could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like the following:

The effect of parental conflict on children – for example, both Audrey and Brian are very upset when their parents argue.
Religious belief – for example, Greg and Brian both believe in God, but Denise and Audrey don’t. Jeannette also believes in God and attends a Catholic school.