I'm no big fan of musicals but LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS captured my heart the first time I saw it as a kid. What's not to love about the ultimate carnivorous plant growing to gigantic proportions as the story progresses, and the ultimate geek whose life is given over to mentoring it? Rewatching it now as an adult, it's easy to see this film as a product of the 1980s. It's all about cheesy excess, and there's never a moment of restraint when some loud, all-singing sequences are ready to be played out. The songs are belted with gusto and the actors put their all into the show. This is a film all about spectacle, and it works.
Rick Moranis is one of those guys who I feel got unfairly maligned by producers and viewers alike back at the time. He was passed over as one-note, OTT, cheesy, unbelievable. But comedy is a subjective field, and I always admired the guy for his turns in this and the likes of GHOSTBUSTERS and HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS. Against him, Ellen Greene has a cracking set of lungs and proves every bit his equal.
There's a lot to enjoy in this adaptation of the stage musical, not leave Steve Martin's extended cameo as a truly deranged dentist. Martin goes all out with a performance so physically demanding that he brings an adrenaline shot to the heart of energy to the movie. Plus, of course, there's Audrey II, who still looks and sounds great after all these years; kudos to Levi Stubbs for providing the inimitable voice.
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS might not be high art, but it sure is a lot of fun.
Rick Moranis is one of those guys who I feel got unfairly maligned by producers and viewers alike back at the time. He was passed over as one-note, OTT, cheesy, unbelievable. But comedy is a subjective field, and I always admired the guy for his turns in this and the likes of GHOSTBUSTERS and HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS. Against him, Ellen Greene has a cracking set of lungs and proves every bit his equal.
There's a lot to enjoy in this adaptation of the stage musical, not leave Steve Martin's extended cameo as a truly deranged dentist. Martin goes all out with a performance so physically demanding that he brings an adrenaline shot to the heart of energy to the movie. Plus, of course, there's Audrey II, who still looks and sounds great after all these years; kudos to Levi Stubbs for providing the inimitable voice.
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS might not be high art, but it sure is a lot of fun.