Users Picks DVD Releases Release Schedule Reviews Smartcine Picks Classics Home DVD REVIEW: FIDO 10/17/07 Zombie movies have changed some what since the 1968 classic George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Even the new blockbuster movies such as Resident Evil and 28 Days Later follow the same plot as Romero’s; a group of people running from an outnumbered , slow and human flesh hungry zombies. This has caused a new genre to emerge, Zom-Com (zombie comedy). Movies like Shaun of the Dead is the most known representative of this genre. But even this one, kind of follows the same story line as this 68 classic. Well, if you thought that there was not going to be any improvement in this kind of movies, you were wrong. A new approach to the zombie movies was introduced at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and it passed through America in June 2007 with out being noticed. This movie is called FIDO, and it will make its DVD day view on October 23 2007. Fido begins where all the others Zombie movies ends. It kind of answer the What Happens after the zombies are contained. It takes place in 1950 retro future American town called Willard. Here a company named ZomCon has learned how to control the zombies and now they are productive in the actual recovering world. They are the new trend in town, everybody has one. They have multiple uses from gardeners, mail mans to butlers and pets. The movie takes off when the Robinsons, the classic unconventional family, that seems to be from an old TV show, acquires their first zombie. Timmy the family’s only child, who has no friends and is constantly bullied at school, has a rough start with the zombie. Soon their relationship begins to develop until they grow a true friendship, and Timmy decides to treat the zombie as a pet and named him Fido. Everything goes fine until a misfortunate event happens; Fido eats Timmy’s Neighbor. After that, Timmy will do anything to protect his beloved friend causing a whole change in the neighborhood and more important in his family. Director and Co-Writer Andrew Currie surprises old fans and strangers of this genre with his new vision. He does an excellent job depicting the 1950s society, and with his camera makes the audience think that they are watching an old TV show, kind of what Quentin Tarantino did with Death Proof. He also gives an introduction at the beginning so the audience gets familiar with the story. Also each character have unique characteristics that represent the human condition making them appealing to the audience. IThe make up on the zombies is nothing out of this world, I guess there has not been much improvement in this aspect since Michael Jackson’s Thriller video .Yet, comedian Billy Connolly makes a good job representing Fido, and the whole cast also did an above average performance. If you watch carefully, you will see that this movie also ridicules some important issues going on today. Such issues include the national security, the tobacco industry, gun control, family values, religion, power, cheap labor, greed, and interracial relationships. I wonder if Andrew was aiming for all these. Nonetheless, Fido turns out to have a predictable plot with some boring parts. The jokes are some how hard to catch, making it more of a visual comedy. Also the situations presented seem too cliché. It is hard to guess what kind of audience this movie is aimed for. But one thing is for sure, Fido is a mixture between Beethoven and Rise of the Dead. This movie should be seen for its ingenuity and critics to society, in that I applaud Currie. But if you are planning to watch it as an entertainment it will not blow your mind away.   Review By Milo milo@smartcine.com   MORE MOVIE REVIEWS >>>   Submit Your Movie Review  Name: Movie:   Rating: None 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Review:   People Movie Review Fido       Director: Andrew Currie Writer:  Robert Chomiak                Andrew Currie                Dennis Heaton Genre: Comedy Drama Fantasy Duration:  1hr 30mins Staring:  Carrie-Anne Moss                  Billy Connolly                  Dylan Baker                  K’Sun Ray                  Henry Czerny                   Tim Blake Nelson Producer: Blake Corbet                     Mary Anne Waterhouse Distributor: LIONSGATE    Rating:  PG-13 for sequences of zombie            violence and gore, and comic            horror situations. Release Date:  June 15, 2007  OFFICIAL WEBSITE View trailer CRITICS REVIEWS & SCORES VARIETY >> 70 ROLLING STONE >> 63 HOLLYWOOD REPORTER >> 75 NEWSDAY >> 75 Home | DVD | Advertising |  Press Kits submissions | Publishing All movie titles, pictures, etc... are registered trademarks and/or copyrights of their respective holders Copyright ©2007 The Entertainment Report Group