[FIDO]
Plot:Set in a friendly 1950s neighborhood, when the earth passes through a cloud of space dust that winds up reanimating the dead. In order to keep the undead under control, and rather than resorting to violence against them, a collar is created to domesticate the zombies, who eventually become the new pets of human beings. Things go horribly wrong however, when a boys 6 foot tall house zombie Fido, has his collar malfunction thus reverting back to his flesh eating ways.Leaving the young boy alone inside the house to fend for himself against the newly changed Fido.

Cast: Carrie Anne Moss, Dylan Baker, Tim Blake Nelson, Henry Czerny, Billy Connolly.

My Thoughts:A poor effort.

Review::"FIDO" is one of the more interesting zombie movies to come out in quite awhile. The latest birage of zombie films have involved zombies doing the same old thing, biting people and spreading their plague, running rampant through devastated cities, etc. "FIDO" decides to do something new with the A typical zombie, with below average results. "FIDO" takes place after a freak accident where space dust begins to reanimate the dead. Being that the zombies are eating people and those who were bitten are biting others, humanity decides it cannot continue on this way. Thus a company called "Zomcon" begins creating electronic collars which sap the need to feed on human flesh, and the overall need for violent attack out of the zombies, thus domesticating them.

Once this happens, humans are then allowed to buy the zombies and use them as helpers around the house to do odd jobs such as mow the lawn, wait on people, etc. With a movie like "FIDO" , your first thought would be "I can't wait until the zombies break free of their collars and start running amok on the humans in the movie". However, Director/Writer Andrew Currie doesn't go that route, and instead decides to play alot of drama with his zombie/comedy. The humor in the film is very clean and mature, however...the movie plays out like an episode of "Leave It To Beaver" (mostly because it's set in the 1950's as the premise suggests), but that's the films major weakness. Somehow I felt if this movie was set in the modern days (1990-2007)..somewhere in between there, it might've turned into a superb film.

But watching "white bread" people, in a "white bread world" act really really "white breadish" just doesn't give the film that "umph" that it needs. I really felt like I was watching robots act on screen instead of people. With the zombies now domesticated, the picture focuses on the Robinson family, Timmy (K'Sun Ray), Bill Robinson (Dylan Baker), and his wife Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss). They're the only zombieless family on the block, but that soon changes when they bring home the title character "FIDO". Timmy immediately takes to FIDO, and soon so does Helen who surprisingly has back and forth flirtations with the zombie during many moments in the film (if you can believe it). Currie does an excellent job on this part of the story, having FIDO come into the household and eventually sort of becoming like a father figure to Timmy, doing alot of casual activities that Timmy's father Bill won't do with him, even defending him against bullies at one point in the picture.

This makes Bill angry, but at the same time also opens his eyes to how neglectful he's been to Timmy considering he's the type of father who cares more about his work than he does his family at home. FIDO himself as the title character doesn't exactly "make" the movie as he should. He offers up the usual zombie-like behavior, using grunting as an answer to questions, walking around like one of the typical undead, etc. I wasn't exactly entertained by or interested in anything FIDO did, and considering he's the title character he should've been the most entertaining and interesting character in the film, but he wasn't. Although he does have some good moments, such as his interaction with Timmy and his mother Helen Robinson, FIDO ultimately is reduced most of the time to being just a set piece.

The picture also throws in some quirky neighbors to keep things interesting, such as the head of "Zomcon" played by Henry Czerny who's sort of the cold, calculating, corporate "by any means necessary" type. His daughter Cindy, and another neighbor who actually houses a female zombie as a companion of sorts. But what hurts "FIDO" in the long run is the world that it's set in, which may be a good thing for some viewers but the 1950's isn't exactly a "cool" time period for any movie that isn't a mobster film.

The lack of blood and gore also hurt the film which waits far too long before there's any heavy zombie action. Despite it's flaws though, "FIDO" does offer up some excellent performances by Moss, Baker, and Ray as well as something original storywise for zombie movie lovers such as myself. It really falls in the middle when it comes to whether it's a good or bad film, and while I am not exactly too keen on what time period Currie chose to set his picture in, I appreciated the fact that something new and unique was tried with the zombie subgenre.

Positives:Great performances by Ray, Moss, and Baker. A great plot idea for the story. Czerny was a decent villain.

Negatives:As I said setting it in the 1950's time period wasn't a great idea. FIDO the character wasn't expanded upon enough to really matter in the picture.

Overall:Average zombie picture.





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