diff --git a/json_field/fields.py b/json_field/fields.py
index 4566fb0..38b7a13 100644
--- a/json_field/fields.py
+++ b/json_field/fields.py
@@ -9,27 +9,36 @@
     from django.utils import simplejson as json
 
 from django.db import models
-from django.core import exceptions
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
-from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+from django.utils.dateparse import parse_date, parse_datetime
 
 import re
 import decimal
 import datetime
 import six
-try:
-    from dateutil import parser as date_parser
-except ImportError:
-    raise ImproperlyConfigured('The "dateutil" library is required and was not found.')
 
 try:
     JSON_DECODE_ERROR = json.JSONDecodeError # simplejson
 except AttributeError:
     JSON_DECODE_ERROR = ValueError # other
 
-TIME_RE = re.compile(r'^\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}')
-DATE_RE = re.compile(r'^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}(?!T)')
-DATETIME_RE = re.compile(r'^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T')
+
+# django pure implementation has missed trailing $ in time regex, so reimplement it
+time_re = re.compile(
+    r'(?P<hour>\d{1,2}):(?P<minute>\d{1,2})'
+    r'(?::(?P<second>\d{1,2})(?:\.(?P<microsecond>\d{1,6})\d{0,6})?)?$'
+)
+
+
+def parse_time(value):
+    match = time_re.match(value)
+    if match:
+        kw = match.groupdict()
+        if kw['microsecond']:
+            kw['microsecond'] = kw['microsecond'].ljust(6, '0')
+        kw = dict((k, int(v)) for k, v in six.iteritems(kw) if v is not None)
+        return datetime.time(**kw)
+
 
 class JSONEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
     """
@@ -79,21 +88,12 @@ def decode(self, obj, *args, **kwargs):
                 if self._is_recursive(value):
                     obj[key] = self.decode(value, recurse=True)
         elif isinstance(obj, six.string_types):
-            if TIME_RE.match(obj):
-                try:
-                    return date_parser.parse(obj).time()
-                except ValueError:
-                    pass
-            if DATE_RE.match(obj):
-                try:
-                    return date_parser.parse(obj).date()
-                except ValueError:
-                    pass
-            if DATETIME_RE.match(obj):
-                try:
-                    return date_parser.parse(obj)
-                except ValueError:
-                    pass
+            try:
+                dt = parse_time(obj) or parse_date(obj) or parse_datetime(obj)
+            except ValueError:
+                dt = None
+            if dt:
+                return dt
         return obj
 
 class Creator(object):
diff --git a/test_project/app/tests.py b/test_project/app/tests.py
index d34d264..6a013d9 100644
--- a/test_project/app/tests.py
+++ b/test_project/app/tests.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 import inspect
 
-from json_field.fields import JSON_DECODE_ERROR
+from json_field.fields import JSONDecoder, JSON_DECODE_ERROR
 
 from test_project.app.models import Test
 from test_project.app.forms import TestForm, OptionalForm, \
@@ -183,3 +183,50 @@ def test_creator_plays_nice_with_module_inspect(self):
         # invisible for inspection.
         data = dict(inspect.getmembers(Test))
         self.assertIn('json', data)
+
+    def test_decode_date(self):
+        decode = JSONDecoder().decode
+
+        # Valid inputs
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"2012-04-23"'), datetime.date(2012, 4, 23))
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"2012-4-9"'), datetime.date(2012, 4, 9))
+
+        # Invalid inputs
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"20120423"'), '20120423')
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"2012-04-56"'), '2012-04-56')
+
+        # Invalid formatting
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"2012-04-23 | Test"'), '2012-04-23 | Test')
+
+    def test_decode_time(self):
+        decode = JSONDecoder().decode
+
+        # Valid inputs
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"09:15:00"'), datetime.time(9, 15))
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"10:10"'), datetime.time(10, 10))
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"10:20:30.400"'), datetime.time(10, 20, 30, 400000))
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"4:8:16"'), datetime.time(4, 8, 16))
+
+        # Invalid inputs
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"091500"'), '091500')
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"09:15:90"'), '09:15:90')
+
+        # Invalid formatting
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"09:15:00 | Test"'), '09:15:00 | Test')
+
+    def test_decode_datetime(self):
+        decode = JSONDecoder().decode
+
+        # Valid inputs
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"2012-04-23T09:15:00"'),
+                         datetime.datetime(2012, 4, 23, 9, 15))
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"2012-4-9 4:8:16"'),
+                         datetime.datetime(2012, 4, 9, 4, 8, 16))
+
+        # Invalid inputs
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"20120423091500"'), '20120423091500')
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"2012-04-56T09:15:90"'), '2012-04-56T09:15:90')
+
+        # Invalid formatting
+        self.assertEqual(decode('"2012-04-23T09:15:00 | Test"'),
+                         '2012-04-23T09:15:00 | Test')