Caught The End of Oak Street at a Mystery Preview yesterday.
First thing I really liked was the whole 80s setting. It reminded me quite a bit of Poltergeist. And they really went for it. The houses, the streets, the clothes... it actually feels like the early 80s. 😂
I think this worked even better for me than Stranger Things, where everything always looked just a little too clean and modern underneath all the 80s stuff.
I also thought the dinosaurs were pretty well done. Not perfect, but some of them actually looked really good. The cast is solid and the kids do a great job too.
The story itself... well, okay. It’s mystery sci-fi, I can live with some things not making perfect sense. 😂
But one thing kept bothering me. This is supposed to be a pretty crowded neighborhood, everyone seems to know everyone... so where the hell did all the other people go? 😂 Anyway.
What really didn’t work for me was that the movie never seems to know who it actually wants to be for.
There are a few scenes that go quite a bit further than what we usually get in Jurassic Park. And one particular scene was... let’s just say pretty surprising. 😂 It also felt completely out of place compared to the rest of the movie.
And then somehow that same scene is so ridiculously bloodless that it almost becomes funny again.
If this is supposed to be a family movie, fine. Then leave scenes like that out. If you want something more adult, give me more of it and at least a little blood.
For me, it ends up being neither one thing nor the other.
