It's a Giant Man-Eating Plant; What's Not to Love?

Plenty, I would say. But my brother would be inclined to disagree. While he admits that he doesn't like the mouth on that man-eating plant, he loves its physical appearance. Frank Oz of muppet fame has once again created a winning creature in the eyes of my brother, who has always had a certain fondness for carnivorous plants. I have no doubt that Nathan will soon be slaving away to create his own replica of Audrey II. He's hooked, and he has made it clear that I am obligated to be kind to Little Shop of Horrors should I choose to review it. So, setting aside my inclination to wrinkle my nose, I will comply with his demand. Maybe -- just maybe -- this movie is worth the four stars I will give it. But I must admit that I lack the strength of conviction.

The story revolves around Seymour, an accident-prone, gold-hearted nerd played endearingly by Rick Moranis. I love his character here as much as I love his character in every movie I've ever seen him in. He's just adorable. Here he is cast as a poor man working on Skid Row in a florist's shop. When a plant he is caring for begins to take on a very abnormal appearance, business picks up for the store which has been recently devoid of customers. Seymour is an instant celebrity, but only he knows the dark secret behind the plant's success.

Audrey, played by Ellen Greene, is the object of Seymour's affection. I find her to be easily the most annoying human character in the film. She looks like a Barbie doll, very unrealistically proportioned, and talks with a mousy New York accent. She may be a very nice person, but she's such an airhead that she gives me a headache whenever she speaks. Directly contrasting her is her sadistic boyfriend Orin, magnificently played by Steve Martin (with black hair!). A motorcycle-driving dentist with an Elvis complex, he gets his jollies by inflicting pain on people. He is utterly despicable, but at least it's fun to watch him. His one show-stopping number Be a Dentist easily beats out Audrey's crooning tunes.

The movie is a definite musical, with probably more words sung than spoken. It has a definite Mo-town flavor to it; Audrey II, Seymour's wonder-plant, is voiced by a member of the Four Tops. The lyrics are pretty clever and the action surrounding the songs is generally pretty entertaining, but most of the actors have mediocre singing voices. Since the whole film has a pretty cheesy feel to it, their so-so singing fits right in.

Audrey II is my other least favorite character. It is rude and vulgar, just plain obnoxious, and of course there's the small matter of its feeding on human blood. I guess that I found Orin hilarious so I liked the character even though I hated him. I really didn't find much humor in Audrey II at all.

There's some nice cameos here that provide extra laughs. Jim Belushi makes a very brief appearance as a man seeking to market the Audrey II. John Candy plays a loony disc jockey, and Bill Murray portrays a masochistic businessman who is kicked out of Orin's office because he is enjoying the torture the dentist is inflicting upon him.

There are quite a few laughs to be had from this film, but a lot of the humor is dark or perverted or simply corny. The movie finds a happy ending finally, but it's a Goosebumps happy ending. In that show, every episode resolves itself happily until the minute and a half after the commercial break and before the credits. Then they throw in a twist that messes everything up. Henry's Awful Mistake, one of my favorite children's books, wherein an unwanted houseguest who causes the destruction of Henry the duck's house moves into his new house with him, employs a similar tactic. The irony in the movie is a little too morbid for my tastes.

Go ahead and rent this movie. If you've got pre-teen boys in your house, they'll probably love it. Otherwise, milk it for all the chuckles it can give you and then return it promptly to the video store.

Remember the Dream

As the week beginning with Martin Luther King Day draws to a close, it seems an opportune time to turn the spotlight on a recent film which is a reminder of the struggles and triumphs of de-segregation efforts in the not-so-distant past. Remember the Titans, which chronicles the true story of a newly integrated high school football team in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971, is a powerful movie that demonstrates the strength to be found when unity triumphs over the stigmas of diversity.

The bulk of the movie takes place in the form of a flashback to 1971, when the death of a black student precipitated the integration of the city's two high schools. In an effort to accommodate the incoming black athletes, a new coach, Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), was hired to head up the Titans, the high school football team, much to the dismay of current head coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton), in the running for the city's Hall of Fame because of the Titans' excellent track record. The movie begins and ends in a cemetery in 1981, guided by the narration of Yoast's fiery daughter Cheryl, who was nine years old (Hayden Pannetiere) in 1971.

As new head coach, Boone faced many difficulties, the most harrowing of which was the task of convincing the white and black teammates to cooperate. The first team member to bridge the racial gap was Louis Lastik (Ethan Suplee), a gentle giant with a love for Motown music. The other teammates came around more slowly, forced to get to know one another by their relentless coach. Once star player Julius Campbell (Wood Harris) and Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) learned to work together, the others followed quickly, and by the end of football camp the team was actually acting like one.

The rest of the movie deals with the lack of understanding by the rest of the Alexandrians upon the return of the newly integrated team and the teammates' struggle to remain united in the face of their still racist town. The youths had finally learned to see past their differences, but their parents were not prepared to accept the change. Winning became more important than ever because one game would cost Boone his leadership position. For Yoast, however, a winning season for the Titans under Boone would mean the loss of his nomination to the Hall of Fame.

Because this is a true story, the struggles of its main characters are especially poignant and speak to us as we remember the dream of Martin Luther King. Life does not always provide the happiest of endings, and Remember the Titans is not without its tragedy, but the way in which the team stood together to rise above it ends the movie on a victorious note. This marvelous movie is a powerful reminder of how far we've come and how far we have yet to go before all people are "judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."