Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

It may seem odd, but the 1986 Frank Oz version of Little Shop of Horrors holds some of my fondest personal memories. You see, That movie was in theatres at the time I was getting to know and starting to date my husband. We cut classes on several occasions to grab a quick lunch and go watch the Audrey II chow down on Mr. Mushnik – what fond memories! So does that make me weird? Probably. But you just can't help getting caught up in this musical spoof of '50s horror movie kitsch.

The Story
Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) is a nerdy social misfit who works as an assistant in a skid-row flower shop. His secret love for the store cashier, Audrey (Ellen Green), goes unrequited as she pursues a relationship with her sadistic boyfriend, Orin Scrivello, DDS (Steve Martin).

Syemour's fortunes begin to change, however, when he buys a 'strange and interesting new plant' from an old Chinese man. It may be some kind of flytrap... he's not really sure. But while showing it to Mr. Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia), the flower shop owner, it captures the attention of a passerby who then proceeds to buy $100 worth of roses.

Keen on using the unusual plant to boost sales, Mushnik charges Seymour with nursing it to proper health. While trying to discover what will help the ailing plant, Seymour accidentally pricks a finger only to discover his plant's perfect food... human blood. As the plant (dubbed the Audrey II after his heart's true love) begins to grow and thrive, it also begins to develop a fairly overbearing personality (portrayed by Levi Stubbs) and begins to let on it's true intent to Seymour who is quickly becoming a slave to this infernal peapod.

My Thoughts
Oh, how I love this movie. It combines just the right amount of silliness, love story, and evil man-eating plant to sit comfortably near the top of my list of favorite musicals of all time. Frank Oz's direction and the uniquely created puppet-shop Audrey II made this a can't miss hit.

Some amazing vocal performances are delivered in this movie – the most amazing not even by the feature characters. Both an incidental solo in the opening number (sung by Bertice Reading), and the tight doo-wop style harmonies offered by the movie's muses Crystal (Tichina Arnold), Ronette (Michelle Weeks), and Chiffon (Tisha Campbell), clearly overshadowed the in-character performances of the stars of the movie. But that's perfectly OK with me.

For me the flavor of the movie was made complete by the imperfect performances of Rick Moranis and Ellen Green. Audrey and Seymour are such losers that having pristine vocals would seem out of place here. The strangeness is compounded by the smarmy, creepy performance by Steve Martin as the dentist, and Vincent Gardenia's poor, tortured shop-owner. Also worth watching for are slightly-more-than-cameos by Bill Murray as a dental patient, John Candy as a radio host, and James Belushi as a promoter wanting to capitalize on Seymour's sudden fame. Finally, the brilliance of Levi Stubbs singing the role of Audrey II helps to legitimize this otherwise purely campy musical.

The biggest complaint I've heard about this movie, and I have to agree, is that the ending is altered from the stage version of the musical. That's not uncommon in movie musicals – often the creator of the screen-play is trying to distance himself from the original story or script. But as a viewer I care less about some screen-writer's Oscar chances than I do maintaining the integrity of the story. Having seen Little Shop on stage, after having seen this movie, I'm not sure the story was helped by the changes, but I'm not sure it was really hurt either. It was just different. Purists will complain, but I still like the movie version.

One other thing to watch... errr, listen for in this movie is some familiarity in some of the songs. Original songs for Little Shop were written by Alan Menken who is most famous for writing the songs for some of Disney's biggest hits. Audrey's featured solo in this film, Somewhere That's Green is musically virtually identical to Part of Their World which appeared in The Little Mermaid several years later. That piece of trivia is fairly irrelevant to this review, but its fun to know.

So do I recommend this movie? Of course I do! It isn't great cinema, but it is great fun. With only 1 or 2 instances of swearing, this movie, even with its dark themes, is entertaining silliness for viewers from about age 10 and up.


Recommended: Yes

Video Occasion: Good for Groups