I recently watched The End of Oak Street with my kids, and I'm already certain that it's going to be a cult classic. It's got blockbuster qualities (it's a dinosaur movie that's NOT like Jurassic Park), but it's also surprisingly weird and gruesome for a PG-13 film.
I love pretty much everything about it…except for the time period, that is, as the film takes place in 1982. Now, it's not like I hate the ‘80s (as a ‘90s kid, I was born in the era, so I grew up loving cartoons like G.I. Joe and Thundercats).
However, for somebody who wanted to give this new 2026 movie a solid five stars out of five, I would only give it a four, due to the time period. Let's talk.
I'm Kind Of Tired Of '80s Nostalgia
Okay, so while I don’t “hate” the ‘80s (hate is too strong a word), I will say that I’m kind of bored with all of the ‘80s nostalgia. Blame Stranger Things (or really anything mimicking the popular series), but I’m tired of seeing kids ride their bikes through neighborhoods, or not being slaves to their cell phones. In other words, I’m kind of done with thinking that the ‘80s were the halcyon days, and that stories being set in that time period are an escape from the cyber hellscape that we’re currently living in…in so many words.
Plus, The End of Oak Street is already sort of set in the past since it features dinosaurs and other such creatures. So, why did we also have to have characters with tape decks, or hear songs like “Valerie” by Steve Winwood in an emotional moment? I just don’t understand why any of that was necessary.
It’s not like I feel the movie would have been better if it was set in the ‘90s, which is a decade that I have more nostalgia for. I honestly don’t see how this movie needs to be set in any decade other than the one we’re currently living in.
If anything, this might be one of the few instances when I think a story would be better suited for 2026.
The Film Would Have Been Very Different-And I Think Better-If It Was Set In Modern Times
You know, going into this film, I very much wondered if it was SOMEHOW connected to Cloverfield, given that J.J. Abrams has a connection to it (Even though it was written and helmed by It Follows - and one of my favorites, Under the Silver Lake - director David Robert Mitchell). There was just something mysterious about it that made me think, Are we going to see the Cloverfield monster at some point?
Well, I won’t spoil the answer to that question, but what I will say is that all of the dinosaurs you saw in the trailer are in this film, as this is very much a dinosaur movie (or rather, a movie with dinosaurs in it). Now, while this is set in the ‘80s, I actually wish characters had cell phones, social media, and everything that we have today, since I think it would make for a very different – and I think better – movie.
You see, I could better imagine what this scenario would be like if people did have modern technology like cell phones. I’m not saying that the time period totally took me out of the story, as my kids and I were on the edges of our seats watching it. But what I will say is that I wasn’t totally as into the story as I could have been, since I kept thinking, Well, why don’t they just…oh, right. It’s the ‘80s. But what about…oh, that’s right. That didn’t come until years later, also.
I also think it’s because, besides a few obvious examples of the ‘80s, it really could have been any decade prior to the 2000s, and the results likely would have been the same. So, if anything, the ‘80s just hold the movie back for me rather than draw me deeper into it. It’s a small thing, but something that I wish didn’t have to be a thing at all.
