A derivative take on the old boy & his toy fable given a 21th century facelift. A robotic dog is being developed by a clandestine branch of the military as an insurgency weapon when one of them is lost in the desert in California. Enter our hero, a scrappy, on the rise motorbike racer who encounters the lost piece of combat hardware when a prank by a smarmy, rich Motocross competitor strands him away from home. Seeing a kindred spirit in the bionic canine, they connect w/each other giving the scientists who created it (who are monitoring their relationship via a tracking device) a chance to see their product in action. This wouldn't be par for the course w/o the plucky girl, who comes from similar straits, to befriend the hunky lead or the faceless, driven military types who engage all concerned in order to get their expensive piece of property back. No cliche is overlooked in this tired tale (which came out on the heels of another male wish fulfillment fantasy named Kin (that was the one w/a kid & a laser gun)) that brings nothing new to the table unless you're sitting at home checking off each & every story beat w/the maniacal glee of one who gets off on this type of dreck. Stick w/E.T. or even Explorers to get your fix for this sort of thing & avoid this as if it were a proverbial black cat in a dark alley.
