The 90s are back in Aussie family flick Allen

A kids’ movie that opens with the same scene as the opening of Predator can’t be all bad. But it can be riffing a lot on the kinds of 80s and 90s movies (and pop culture) that was a central part of the childhood of Petey Burns (Edward A O’Sullivan), a regular Aussie kid growing up in coastal Queensland. Goosebumps, The Simpsons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – they all get name-checked in the opening, firmly establishing that he’s just a regular kid.

Well, apart from that time he met an alien.

The start of a beautiful friendship

Sneaking out one night to see what exactly it was that he saw falling out of the sky, he found a huge glowing egg floating above the local beach. Cue strange semi-musical noises, and a small creature that could make light come out of its hand. Good thing Petey was recording it on video tape, or he might have thought he fell asleep during a Steven Spielberg marathon and dreamed it all.

What follows is pretty much every kid’s desire to having a magic friend who can make things float, heal a broken bone instantly, and acts interested when you show them your Tazos collection. And when Petey reveals Allen (he gets his name from his mispronunciation of “alien”) to his brother Jaden (Tom Broadmore) and their friend Carly (Caitlin Niemotko), the creature from outer space quickly becomes part of the gang. One who’s obsessed with Cheezels.

Coming from the studio that gave us Bluey (Daley Pearson, co-founder of Ludo Studios, is co-writer and co-director, alongside writer Sophie Miller and director Jeffery Walker), Allen is a family film with a bit of an edge to it. It’s packed with nostalgia, while also being something of a warning about the dangers of not letting go. Allen might be the perfect childhood playmate, but nobody stays a kid forever.

So you know when Petey asks Allen to stay ‘together, forever’ that things are about to take a turn. Not long after, Allen vanishes in a beam of light.

Holding on

Suddenly, it’s 20 years later and all the now-adult Petey (TJ Power) has left to remember his close encounter is his collection of video tapes of their time together and a strange ring-like scar in the palm of his hand.

Petey is still living exactly where he was, only now it’s his brother’s house. Jaden (Josh Helman) and Carly (Charlotte Nicdao) are together, Carly’s pregnant, and they need Petey out by the time the baby comes. But that’s an earthly problem. Petey still has his head in the stars. His room is packed with equipment to try and contact Allen, and tonight, the stars have aligned to give him a clear path back.

When Allen does make his eventual return, Petey has burnt pretty much all his bridges on Earth (and most of his evidence as well). ‘The best thing that ever happened to me, already happened,’ he says, and considering the shambolic state of his life, it’s hard to disagree.

So then all his problems are solved when Allen does show up? Not quite. Seems that while Petey grew up (kind of), Allen remained the same, and adorably child-like behaviour from a playmate is a lot easier to work with when you’re 10 than when you’re 30.

Allen’s return also reveals something else that’s going on, and… well, this is a movie it’s best to see unspoilt.

Throwbacks, flips and reverses

Allen is a family movie, in that parents should expect their kids to have a few questions (possibly about the numerous references to Predator).

Tonally it’s very much on par with the kids’ movies of the 80s. There’s nothing really scary, and the bad guy is the nasty but largely ineffectual local cop Rory (Benedict Hardie), who dislikes Petey because of his long-time friendship with his fiancé, fellow cop Sarah (Emily Barclay). But the story takes a few turns that take it to a very different place from something like ET.

While the message here is that it’s not healthy to live in the past, for adults a lot of the fun is how this takes the tropes of those classic 80s movies and plays around with them. Aside from the obvious ones, and the popular ones – at one stage Allen can be heard in the background singing the old Mentos jingle – this isn’t afraid to get really specific. During Allen’s first visit the kids play the video board game Nightmare (‘yes my gatekeeper’), which is about as deep as deep cuts get.

ScreenHub: From Bluey to Allen: Daley Pearson on his first feature film

Despite existing firmly in a pop culture world, Allen works just fine even if you don’t know any of the references. In a lot of ways, it’s a straightforward kids movie: Petey is a nice guy who never got over the most exciting event in his life, and Allen is a playful outsider who does silly things, sings karaoke, and just wants to be with his friends. It’s a sunny day in Queensland and we all know things are going to work out in the end.

Just don’t look too closely at the picture Allen draws on an Etch-a-Sketch.

Allen streams on Netflix from 12 November.

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