Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Timmy Robinson's best friend in the whole wide world is a six-foot tall rotting zombie named Fido. But when Fido eats the next-door neighbor, Mom and Dad hit the roof, and Timmy has to go to the ends of the earth to keep Fido a part of the family. A boy-and-his-dog movie for grown ups, "Fido" will rip your heart out.
Fido is a genuinely distinctive piece of work — a pitch-perfect 1950s suburban Americana satire crossed with zombie horror-comedy, executed with real commitment to its absurdist premise. The boy-and-his-dog conceit applied to a zombie is cleverly sustained throughout. The novelty is its strongest suit: the concept is singular and the tone is maintained with impressive consistency. Acting is competent and game across the board, with Billy Connolly's physicality as Fido a highlight, though no performance reaches a truly exceptional level. Cinematography leans into the bright Technicolor pastiche effectively but is ultimately in service of the concept rather than visually inventive on its own terms. The plot holds together well enough as satire but doesn't develop into anything particularly surprising beyond its initial conceit. The ending deflates somewhat, wrapping up tidily without the satirical bite or emotional punch the premise promises, feeling more perfunctory than resonant.