Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Offbeat, engaging and delightful
"Little Shop of Horrors" is a movie like no other. You're slyly drawn in by a cute little musical that progressivley gets more and more "weiEIeiEIerrRRrd" (to quote Wink the radio guy, played by John Candy.)Candy, Jim Belushi, Steve Martin and Christopher Guest show up here to add their talents to outstanding performances by Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene. The music is great! I'm not a huge fan of 50's and 60's style do-wop stuff, but if your feet can stay still during the tunes in this show, forget it--you're dead already and it doesn't matter. The arrangements are excellent. The Greek Chorus Girls add style, panache and polish as well as harmony. One of my favorite things about this film is finding someone who hasn't seen it yet and sharing it with them. They always say, "When was this made? How could I not hear about this movie? It's great!" The DVD version is excellent. I've owned the VHS for years, but the DVD sound and picture are far superior. The documentary on the making of the film is a nice extra and makes you appreciate what you see that much more. My confession? I've probably watched this movie thirty or more times. If you ask to watch it again tonight, would I do it? You bet. Just buy it. You won't be sorry. The DVD lets you show off your home theater system with hardly an explosion. It's a gem.
Rating: - Somewhere that's green...
Many musicals have taken the journey from stage to screen. Of those, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is given the honor of being the best transfer of them all. That is not to say the film doesn't have its shortcomings, but the great performances, music, production design and direction are enough to overshadow them.This film easily had one of the best castings in recent memory. Rick Moranis is Seymour Krelborn, a (what else) nebbish, insecure, geek in love with the ditzy Audrey (Ellen Greene in the role she was born to play.) But unfortunately for them she is dating the semi-sadist Orin Scrivello, a maladjusted dentist who loves to inflict pain. Steve Martin is priceless in that role. Others in the cast include cameos by John Candy, Christopher Guest and Jim Belushi. Throw a man-eating plant with a Levi Stubbs singing voice into the mix and you are left with this quirky musical that is toe-tapping fun. The musical LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS got its start on off-Broadway stages before creators Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) proceeded to bring it to the screen. They wrote some new songs and excised some old ones. Each song is given the royal treatment as presented on the wonderful Skid Row set design, easily a character in the film in itself. Muppeteer Frank Oz took over directing chores for the film. His tremendous experience with puppets would be put to great use, as that is how the man-eating plant AUDREY II would be presented. But, it is Frank Oz' musical sensibilities that carry it over the age. Oz opens with the haunting DOWNTOWN/SKID ROW where he introduces the denizens that live around the Flower Shop, each one with a story to tell, all told through the omnipresent eyes and mouth of a 'Greek Chorus' of street urchins. In the middle of the film is the tour-de-force SUDDENLY SEYMOUR where Oz's eye and great performances by Greene and Moranis present one of the greatest on-screen love songs to date. Oz uses the camera as a character throughout the film and uses entertaining techniques throughout. The DVD itself has a lot of stuff although it no longer has the original ending, which came available on an earlier release but was pulled for legal reasons. That finale was more in line with the stage version and many purists hated the screen ending. Although I don't think the "new ending" is wonderful, I find it works better within this intimate film (The stage version lacks that intimacy). Also in the extended material is a Frank Oz commentary and a nice gag reel. The audio/video transfer is very good and the DVD format allows multiple viewings without deterioration! When suddenly and without warning there was this total eclipse of the sun...
Rating:  - A great mix of music and black comedy
In this movie (which is based on a successful Broadway musical) a guy named Seymour (played by a wonderfully nerdy Rick Moranis), buys a strange plant in order to improve the business at the flowershop run by Mr. Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia). Calling the plant Audrey II, Seymour finds that it likes to drink blood instead of water - which lead to some very funny moments. Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops provides a great, mean-sounding voice for the plant. There are lots of celebrity cameos here - John Candy as a Radio DJ, Steve Martin as a horribly nasty and sadistic dentist, and Bill Murray, to name a few. I thought this movie was very funny and the music is brilliant. My favorite songs are the West Side Story-esque "Suddenly Seymour" (sung by Rick Moranis) and the show-stopping "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" (sung by the plant), in a great scene combining excellent music and very black comedy. I think anyone would enjoy this movie - I really liked the combination of music and black humor. It`s highly recommended!
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