End of Oak Street Rotten Tomatoes Score Tops Every Jurassic Park Movie From Last 29 Years

For over three decades, Jurassic Park has been one of the most financially successful franchises in Hollywood, with the seven films released to date combining to gross $6.902 billion at the worldwide box office. These movies consistently make money, which is why Universal is on the hunt for a new director for the Jurassic World Rebirth sequel. Unfortunately, the series’ review scores pale in comparison to the lofty box office numbers. The original Jurassic Park remains an all-time sci-fi classic, but the follow-ups never managed to recapture that lightning in a bottle. But there’s a new dinosaur movie that’s beating the most recent Jurassic Park installments at its own game: The End of Oak Street.

As of this writing, The End of Oak Street (which opens this weekend), has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 84% with 58 reviews submitted thus far. Remarkably, that score is higher than every Jurassic Park movie that’s been released over the last 29 years. The only Jurassic film with a better mark is the aforementioned 1993 original:

What Critics Are Saying About The End of Oak Street

Rotten Tomatoes has yet to publish a Critics Consensus for The End of Oak Street, but a skim through the reviews that have been published gives people a general idea of the film’s pros and cons. Similar to the early social media reactions that circulated this week, people are praising The End of Oak Street for being an entertaining blend of family drama and sci-fi genre thrills, with many pointing out the obvious comparisons to beloved Amblin productions from the ’80s. This is director David Robert Mitchell’s first stab at big, mainstream studio filmmaking (he’s best known for the indie horror movie It Follows), but he proves he’s more than capable of handling a project of this scale, delivering exciting dinosaur action that terrifies audiences by pushing the boundaries of the PG-13 rating.

Multiple critics stated that The End of Oak Street is an example of the kind of film studios should be making more of: a fun, original concept that delivers on its premise while wearing its influences on its sleeve. Notably, it seems like The End of Oak Street is more than just a series of set pieces featuring dinosaurs on the loose. The focus on a suburban family thrust into an extraordinary circumstance grounds the film in something human and relatable, adding a bit of substance to complement the spectacle. Anne Hathaway, coming off of raves for The Odyssey, is cited as a highlight, with her performance helping viewers become invested in the story.

Like every movie, The End of Oak Street does have some naysayers. Even some of the positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes say the film amounts to little more than “dumb fun” and won’t be particularly memorable. There are a handful of negative reviews that call The End of Oak Street too derivative of its predecessors, feeling it fails to fully embody the spirit of those old Steven Spielberg movies it aspires to be. But those opinions aren’t as prevalent as the ones hailing The End of Oak Street as a fun thrill ride that feels fresh and could teach the Jurassic Park franchise a thing or two.

It is important to keep in mind that 58 reviews is a very small sample size for a new wide studio release. There will likely be hundreds of more reviews submitted over the next couple of days, which could cause the score to fluctuate. It’ll be interesting to see where it stands once the dust settles, but people shouldn’t expect any drastic shifts in either direction. Typically, the first wave of reviews is indicative of where the final consensus will land. The End of Oak Street may not be able to beat Jurassic Park, but going down as one of the best dinosaur movies since 1993 isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Hopefully, the positive reception will fuel a fruitful box office run. Dealing with holdover business for Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey, The End of Oak Street needed all the help it could get, and the reviews are a boon.