 |
Fido by Andrew Currie
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
DVD Cover InformationActor: Billy Connolly, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Kaye, Jan Skorzewski, K'Sun Ray Director: Andrew Currie Cinematographer: Jan Kiesser Editor: Roger Mattiussi Producer: Peter Block Producer: Patrick Cassavetti Producer: Jason Constantine DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language) Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 2.35:1 Running Time: 92 minutes DVD Release Date: 2007-10-23 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Studio: Lionsgate
Movie Reviews of FidoMovie Review: A Boy and His Zombie Summary: 3 Stars***1/2
Who says zombies can't be converted into useful members of the community? Certainly not the makers of "Fido," who take us to a never-never-land version of the 1950's where the undead have been turned into butlers and servants for the burgeoning middle class. Timmy Robinson is the all-American boy who becomes emotionally attached to the family`s new full-time domestic - a recently resurrected zombie whom Timmy has affectionately dubbed Fido. All of this has been made possible by Zomcom, a big-brother-type organization that has found a way to render the zombies (who were originally brought to "life" by radiation from outer space) manageable and docile - at least most of the time.
This twisted, modern-day spin on the TV series "Lassie" - it might easily have been entitled "A Boy and His Zombie" - takes slyly satirical swipes at such pre-`60s concerns as obsessive social conformity (here keeping-up-with-the-Joneses means having more zombie servants than the folks next door), the sterility of suburban life, the corporate control of civic affairs, small town corruption and nuclear family values - all played out in a beautifully designed setting of parti-colored houses and immaculately manicured lawns. The movie doesn't hit the audience over the head with its message nor does it engage in endless hyperbole to generate laughs. Instead, this is a low-keyed, subtle little satire that elicits appreciative chuckles rather than full-bellied guffaws. Much of the humor derives from the incongruity between the placidness of the setting and the cavalier attitude towards death demonstrated by the fine citizens of the community (Life Magazine has been replaced with a periodical entitled Death Magazine). Despite some playfully graphic violence, the movie stays true to the spirit of innocence we generally associate with both the 1950's itself and the cheesy, low-budget horror movies that were so much a part of the pop culture scene of that decade.
K`Sun Ray, Carrie-Ann Moss and Dylan Baker are amiable and appealing as the wide-eyed Timmy and his Cleaver-esque parents (with slightly sinister undertones), while Billy Connolly accomplishes the well nigh impossible task of bringing a great deal of humanity and depth to the role of a resurrected corpse.
This is what "Lassie" might have been had Timmy's best friend been afflicted with the occasional bout of rabies.
Summary of FidoIt doesn't take long for the hilarity of Fido's central idea to kick in: the world is reeling from the Zombie War, and the undead are being contained in two different ways. Some of them are roaming loose in fenced-off wilderness zones. The rest are, thanks to the good people at the ZomCom corporation, docile and domesticated--indeed, available as house servants for the upwardly-mobile. Such is the case with the Robinson family, a suburban clan who seem to have stepped straight out of an old episode of Lassie. Little Timmy is happy about the new manservant, whom he promptly dubs "Fido," and Fido himself is fine as long as the mechanical collar around his neck doesn't malfunction (in which case he will revert to being a cannibalistic brain-eating zombie). Fido is played, in a stroke of inspiration, by the Scots comedian Billy Connolly, although you wouldn't be able to recognize him without already knowing he's in the movie. Dylan Baker and especially Carrie-Anne Moss are just right as Timmy's parents, who have accidentally wandered out of a John Cheever novel and into a George Romero world. Director Andrew Currie skillfully gets the 1950s satire and the zombie action right, although there's no way to disguise that this premise is too thin to spread out over feature length. For a while, though, Fido hits a stride--a staggering, vacant-eyed stride. --Robert Horton
|
 |
Dumb and DumberWarner Brothers; Release date: 1997-05-21; DVDBest price: $5.98Price in other shops: $14.96
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 2001-10-23; DVDBest price: $8.86Price in other shops: $19.94
FidoRelease date: 2007-10-23; DVDBest price: $4.94Price in other shops: $14.98
So I Married an Axe MurdererRelease date: 1999-06-01; DVDBest price: $7.64Price in other shops: $14.94
Raising ArizonaCAGE,NICOLAS; Release date: 1999-08-03; DVDBest price: $6.28Price in other shops: $14.98
Mystery MenRelease date: 2000-01-11; DVDBest price: $2.47Price in other shops: $9.99
The Naked Gun Triple FeaturePARAMOUNT PICTURES; Release date: 2007-08-07; DVDBest price: $12.94Price in other shops: $19.98
UHFYANKOVIC,WEIRD AL; Release date: 2002-06-04; DVDBest price: $4.11Price in other shops: $9.98
Strange BrewWarner Brothers; Release date: 2002-10-01; DVDBest price: $5.40Price in other shops: $14.96
The Princess Bride (20th Anniversary Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-11-13; DVDBest price: $6.92Price in other shops: $14.98
|
|