81
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThis is the kind of movie that cults are made of, and after Little Shop finishes its first run, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it develop into a successor to "Rocky Horror Show," as one of those movies that fans want to include in their lives.
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThis is the kind of charming motion picture that can be viewed repeatedly without ever wearing out its welcome. With several triumphant musical numbers, an original villain, a smart and witty script, a cute romance, and a new, upbeat ending, this Little Shop of Horrors offers countless delights during its 94-minute running time.
- 88Chicago TribuneGene SiskelChicago TribuneGene SiskelThe songs are joyful, and the plant is a foul-mouthed wonder when it begins to talk. Director Frank Oz deserves credit for staging a musical in classic form, creating nothing less than one of the year's most entertaining films. [19 Dec 1986, p.A]
- The pleasures of Little Shop carry you past its dull stretches -- you enjoy its quick-witted wordplay, inventive sketch comedy and the Broadway- and Motown-influenced music (by Alan Menken). And most of all, you enjoy watching a story told through song, as the Hollywood musical, with its glitz and sass, is reborn.
- 80Chicago ReaderChicago ReaderRick Moranis is properly nerdish as the flower-shop attendant who keeps his carnivorous charge supplied with a steady stream of human plasma, and Ellen Greene makes a good scatterbrained innocent in the ersatz Broadway mold, but the best moments in this 1987 release belong to Dr. Steve Martin as a dentist with a professional yen for pain.
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineAlthough an impressive technical achievement, the film itself is a rather overblown and overhyped affair--which, for all its expensive excess, fails to recapture the spirit of the original.
- 70VarietyVarietyLittle Shop of Horrors is a fractured, funny production transported rather reluctantly from the stage to the screen.
- 70The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinLittle Shop of Horrors isn't uniformly entertaining, nor is its score always entirely audible; the musical dubbing is at times very awkward. But its best moments are delightful enough to make the slow stretches unimportant.
- 63Boston GlobeBoston GlobeObviously, it wasn't the plot that has given Little Shop such a long life. In the case of this film, it's the music, the sets and the comic sketches that make this remake mostly successful. [19 Dec 1986, p.77]
- 40EmpireEmpireSome of the slower tunes tend to grind but the sort of musical/ retro irony is still amusing in places. Not if you don't like dentists though.