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"FIDO" (PG-13)
"Fido" is basically a
tale of a boy and his zombie
By Joey Magidson
If you’re like me, you’ve always wondered
what the 1950’s would have been like with zombies running amok. (Really?
I thought I was the only one. We should get some coffee sometime…) Now,
imagine if there had been a “zombie war” and humanity had triumphed and
enslaved the undead. Mix that concept with some healthy satire of the
50’s, some tongue in cheek “Lassie” references, and an intentionally
cheesy feel, and you have the film “Fido”.
The film is essentially a story about a boy and his zombie. Little Timmy
has no friends until his mom (Carrie Ann Moss) brings home a zombie to
make life for the family easier. Timmy quickly becomes friends with the
zombie (a brilliant Billy Connolly) and it follows a pattern similar to
any and all “Lassie” films. This side of the movie is where it really
shines. We see how all of the family except dad (Dylan Baker) accepts
Fido (what Timmy names his dog). There’s even a scene showing the boy
and his “pet” running in a meadow. The film is both making fun and
paying tribute to those canine flicks.
“Fido” is less successful as a zombie movie, mainly because it only has
one note to its song. Zombies can be controlled and forced to do the
labor the townsfolk (all white, not too subtly) don’t want to bother
with. Here and there a zombie’s collar deactivates and a couple of new
zombies will sprout up, but that’s a small price to pay, right? So much
could have been made of this idea, but it never really goes anywhere new
or interesting.
The movie never wants to be much more than a clever little film, in that
respect, it succeeds. It’s the fact that it misses a chance to become a
true genre-breaking classic that keeps me from proclaiming it to be a
masterpiece. As it stands, “Fido” has a nice bark but only a small bite.
***/**** |
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