Alright! Today I'm continuing my 1980s streak with another classic, the 1986 musical Little Shop of Horrors. I was this close to having a 1984 streak with Dune and Ghostbusters, guys. Darn it. It's an adaptation of the 1982 musical of the same name, which in turn is based on a 1960 horror film of the same name.
Little Shop of Horrors joins a rare list of movie musicals that I don't hate. I'm thinking really hard right now, but aside from Disney movies, the only ones I tolerate are In the Heights, Singin' in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, and, like, recordings of the Broadway productions (Newsies, Hamilton, Into the Woods). The rest are varying degrees of mediocre (The Greatest Showman) to interesting but overlong (Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera).
That's because most musicals share the same problems - either they have too many songs that sound the same and don't really advance the plot (Dear Evan Hansen) or they're fine but overlong (In the Heights). Musicals are sooo long. Little Shop of Horrors, however, expertly dodged all of those problems by having a runtime of an hour and thirty-four minutes.
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken wrote the songs for this and, as usual, their work is top-notch (Their other credits are The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin). The lyrics are hilariously irreverent, deceivingly catchy tunes about convincing impoverished and underpaid workers to brutally chop up domestic abusers. Only one song really slows everything down, and, as per usual, it is the love song between the main characters towards the end of the film (Suddenly Seymour, Reprise).
But I'm not gonna lie, I was really vibing with this musical (The vibe is very important, guys). Some of the songs (Little Shop of Horrors, Skid Row, and Mean Green Mother from Outer Space) were stuck in my head for days. The others were, for the most part, perfectly adequate (Prologue, Da-Doo), entertaining (Grow for Me, Dentist!, Some Fun Now, and Feed Me), and then the others at least advance the plot or were relatively short (Somewhere That's Green, Suddenly, Seymour, Suppertime, The Meek Shall Inherit).
I also loved the cast. Rick Moranis was really nailing the "hot loser" trope 20 years before the CW came along. His intro in Skid Row was just perfect. Chills all over, man. Several times while watching I thought to myself "What a charming dude." And he is, I miss seeing him in movies.
The rest of the cast was pretty great too. I have questions about Ellen Greene as Audrey though (A role she originated in the original show). For one I'm not used to seeing that amount of cleavage on actors after a decade of Marvel sanitizing mainstream cinema, for two her voice was so high it bordered on over-the-top (Perfect for the stage but not necessarily film), and three, sometimes she'd sing and her voice would change.
At first, I thought it was dubbing or something, but I think it's just some notes causing her to drop the faux voice. Moranis also had this problem, where he'd open his mouth and the singing would either be way lower or way higher than you're expecting. It takes you out of it. But hey, I can hardly sing for crap so who am I to judge? I just knew it threw me for a loop every now and then.
But aside from the leads, the standouts were easily Steve Martin and Bill Murray as a sadistic dentist and his masochist patient. They complimented each other's chaotic energy very well. It's also the first thing I've ever seen with Steve Martin that didn't make me hate him (Granted, those movies are Father of the Bride, Cheaper by the Dozen, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action, none of which are that great).
But yeah, I really liked Little Shop of Horrors. The questionable aspects of the lead character (Murder is generally frowned upon) are largely overshadowed by the humor and shorter and more energetic runtime.
Overall, I give Little Shop of Horrors an 8/10. "Nice and short, Little Shop of Horrors is a sharply irreverent and catchy musical, led by the ever-delightful Rick Moranis."
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| Loved the puppetry. |
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