Little Shop of Horrors

I have a confession to make... I like musical films, especially those with music created by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman. Menken and Ashman use the songs they write for their productions as a method of progressing the story. Matter of fact, all of the films they have worked on (whether together or separately) are known for their music! Beauty and the Beast would not be as well-known if not for its musical score and Broadway-style songs! It is the same result with Aladdin's score, as well as the deleted score for the film written by Ashman before his unfortunate passing. (If you wish to learn more about Howard's passing and the events leading up to it, I encourage you to read History of Aladdin: Part 4) It is also no exception to Menken and Ashman's 1986 masterpiece, Little Shop of Horrors. I must admit, this musical film is a guilty pleasure of mine, not because of the musical score or its production history (which I will discuss in greater detail later on), but because it is an amazing film overall. The cast lead by Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene is spectacular, and it is this film where Moranis became one of my favorite actors. He embodies the role of Seymour Krelborn and is an excellent singer, his take on the songs Suddenly Seymour, Grow For Me, and Feed Me are my favorite interpretations of those musical numbers. However, there is an actor in this film I do not particularly care for, Steve Martin. I must honestly say that I have never been a huge fan of this actor, and this film is no exception. I do not mean to offend, but I find Steve Martin to be somewhat obnoxious in the roles he plays, and in Little Shop his obnoxious level is unbearably high. His role as the sadistic dentist and the female protagonist Audrey's boyfriend is one I do not look forward to whenever I watch the movie. The song Dentist has always made me cringe, but the film's version in particular is one I usually skip. The puppetry and voice for the alien plant, Audrey II is spectacular, and I applaud the many hours of work the puppeteers put into animating all of the plant puppets. According to various featurettes and news articles, the puppets were animated using stop motion. As a result, the actors had to sing slowly so the footage would look normal in conjunction with the puppet's animation when the footage's speed was increased. Overall, this is a film I would highly recommend that you should check out for yourself. This is the reason that I have left the plot out of the review so you could enjoy the movie with "fresh eyes".