Working against a myriad of limitations and a lack of identity, My Pet Dinosaur promises a Steven Spielberg style sci-fi family adventure, but does not have the storytelling chops nor the performances to back its boast.  

We surely are living in a post-80s era. From Stranger Things to The Edge of Seventeen, the tone and feel of the “decade of excess” has been recaptured and repackaged for a new generation. Nostalgia sells, and My Pet Dinosaur is a film that rests its whole existence on that fact. Yet while writer/producer/director Matt Drummond has a clear affinity for the works of Steven Spielberg and its offshoots (E.T., The Goonies), he has forgotten to inject any semblance of soul or personality into a movie that lacks substance or imagination. In short, My Pet Dinosaur is as unconvincing as it is derivative.

Although filmed in Australia, My Pet Dinosaur is set in the fictional US town of Brightwood. Strong evidence towards the existence of a cancer cluster, along with consistent reporting of strange occurrences, leads to the arrival of government agencies and the military. Amongst the discord is young Jake Emory (Jordan Dulieu), who along with his group of bicycle riding friends come across a radiant gooey substance. When it is mistakenly blended with Jake’s protein shake, a small dinosaur like creature is created. Jake affectionately names the creature Magnus and opts to keep him. But when Magnus grows at an ever-expanding rate, it doesn’t take long for crazed Colonel Roderick (Rowland Holmes) to take notice.

My Pet Dinosaur asks a lot of its audience. First is the ability to adjust all senses to the facade of an Australian town playing suburbia USA, an extremely difficult thing to do considering the obvious eye test that in all facets suggests otherwise. Coupled with the wide and far misfiring of schlocky American accents by its cast of mostly unknowns (poor in performance one and all), the film feels more like a high school production called “Spielberg!” than a feature length movie. The one saving grace is the rather good VFX of the dinosaur creations, a result of Drummond’s long tenure in the visual effects industry.     

Worse is the lack of personality found in its story and characters. In his attempt at transforming an Australian made and set movie into a low-rent American production, Drummond robs My Pet Dinosaur of its best attribute: its uniqueness. There has been all matter of E.T. knock-offs over the years ranging from Super 8, to Earth to Echo, to Mac & Me. Instead of transplanting that Spielbergian formula into a culture and environment that would generate a different tone and texture, Drummond opts to join the pack rather than be an outsider.

His reasons are obvious and logical: the international market still has a problem with Australian accents. Yet one would think the might have also have a problem with a low rent version of a well-worn out story.