All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)

How sad is this?

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I watched this movie mainly because I read on the net that it was Barsi's last film before her tragic death, but I discovered a heart-warming tale of friendship and love too! She really is the star in this tear-jerker movie. The whole thing about heaven and sin was beautifully made with the animation combining some well made dark scenes, and some emotional ones, with generally bright colour scheme. Our main character goes through some valuable lessons, and that was brilliant, because Charlie's unlikeability may turn some people off. His transformation is slow, but exellent. The songs aren't especially memorable and to be honest, Burt Reynolds is an actor, not a singer. He and his sidekick, Itchy (Dom Deluise), do brilliant jobs, and in this movie Deluise wasn't over-the-top happy all the time. That was a delight. Carface is also a memorable and intimidating villain with a despicable agenda and matching voice of Vic Tayback. King Gator (Ken Page) was a little obnoxious, but very entertaining. But Judith Barsi is the shining star of All Dogs Go To Heaven. Her last movie, but she will always be Anne-Marie (This Movie) and Ducky (Land Before Time). All Dogs Go To Heaven is a highly recommendable animated movie with good valuable lessons in it. Maybe a little scary at times for the youngest viewers, but to hell with that! There's no harm done by showing kids movies with dark content as long as it has a purpose! And in my opinion, it has the most heart-warming ending in any Don Bluth movie! It may not be his greatest movie due to a little confusing narrative, but it is really worth watching, both for you and your kids.

I love Don Bluth's earliest films! They were some of the best animated movies to ever be made in my opinion. The Secret of NIMH, Land Before Time and An American Tail were absolutely golden! I would have to say that out of all of Bluth's films that came out in the eighties, this one was his weakest accomplishment. Don't get me wrong! I love this movie, but it doesn't have the originality of the other films mentioned. Why you ask? Because ADGTH has a glaring omission.So a little bit of the plot for any of you who haven't seen it. Charlie is a German Shepard who breaks out of prison with the help of his friend Itchy Itchiford. Voiced by the late and great Dom Deluise. They return to a club that was owned by both Charlie and Carface. Carface wants nothing to do with Charlie because he is greed and wants all thee profits made. Carface wants all the goods for himself. So long story short, Carface kills Charlie. Charlie finds out and cheats his way back to earth to take revenge on Carface. Once Charlie is back he finds out that Carface is keeping a talented girl who can speak to animals hostage. Charlie decides to kidnap the girl and make his own profit from her. During the course of the film he starts to love the girl and rights his mistakes.So here is my biggest issue with ADGTH. When Charlie ends up in heaven for the first time he is told by Annabelle the whippet, "Oh not to worry, all dogs go to heaven. Because unlike people, dogs are naturally good." Charlie wants to get revenge on Carface and sneaks back to earth but is told, "You can never come back!" Meaning a date with the devil. So the real kicker here though is that when Carface dies in the end, he ends up in heaven. Very contradicting message especially considering the nasty things Carface did including homicide.ADGTH is still a great movie though. I grew up with it and enjoy the film except for those few minor details. The scene where Charlie dreams of going to hell are really intense. Actual footage of the whole scene is kept private in one of Don's secret stashes. I would have loved to see this uncut. Not Bluth's best accomplishments but certainly not his worst.

In 1939 New Orleans, Charlie Barkin, a roguish German Shepherd (voiced by Burt Reynolds), is working with his gangster business partner, a smoking bulldog named Carface (voiced by Vic Tayback), at a casino fashioned out of a derelict oil tanker. Wanting to take all the earnings for himself, Carface frames Charlie and has him sent to a pound, but Charlie escapes with the help of his best friend Itchy, a nervous Dachshund (voiced by Dom Deluise at his funniest). The two of them arrive back at the casino in the middle of a rat race, and celebrate their breakout with the catchy as heck musical number "You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down".But Charlie still believes that he and Carface are partners. Eager for 100% of the profit, Carface and his neurotic sidekick Killer (voiced by Charles Nelson Reilly) get Charlie drunk and then kill him by running an automobile over him. Charlie shoots straight into the sky and lands at the pearly gates. He arrives in what appears to be the sort of Heaven that a child might imagine, located in the clouds, where everyone floats around and is dressed in a robe with halos above their heads, and where lions are resting with lambs. A Whippet Angel there explains to Charlie that all dogs naturally go to heaven because they are inherently good, unlike humans. But because Charlie has spent his life being a gambler and drinker, he is unimpressed with heaven and how everything is orderly and pre-planned. He sings "Let Me be Surprised", in which he complains that he wants to go back to earth where he doesn't know what's going to come. He cheats his death by stealing his life watch, a glowing pocket watch, and winds it up, allowing him to return to earth. For a place that knows everything that is to come, they sure didn't see that coming. Through the rest of the movie, the angel's voice coming from the watch says "You can never come back", a very haunting and unsettling line. Back on earth again, Charlie reunites with Itchy and plots his revenge on Carface to "ruin him and make him suffer slowly and painfully."You know, for kids!So as Charlie sneaks into an air vent to enter Carface's basement, he finds him there talking to a young girl named Anne-Marie (the voice of this character was Judith Barsi's last performance). It turns out she has a rare ability to speak to animals. Carface has her held against her will so she can talk to rats, giving him an advantage when betting on races, which are apparently rigged so that those who speak the rats' language can know in advance of the outcome. Carface keeps making promises to Anne-Marie that she can go outside the basement, but breaks them. Being an orphan, Anne-Marie is sad and lonely.When Carface leaves, Charlie rescues Anne-Marie and plans to use her in the same way Carface does. He says that in return he would help her find a mom and dad, though he has no intention of doing so. A memorable seen takes place the following evening when Charlie, Anne- Marie, and Itchy sleep inside a taxi at a landfill. Charlie is eager to get Anne-Marie to fall asleep so he can talk privately about his plan with Itchy, but she keeps getting up and asking him things such as "Can I sleep here?" or "May I have a goodnight kiss?", to which Charlie is annoyed and more smacks her with is tongue than kisses her. She also prays to God, thanking Him for Charlie and Itchy, which is a bit confusing since the Heaven we see in this movie appears to be nondenominational. So the next day, they go out to the park to grab a few bucks from someone's wallet to start their betting, while Anne-Marie is just searching for a pair who might adopt her. As she introduces herself to a young couple, Charlie snags the man's wallet and takes Anne-Marie away. And before long, Charlie makes out like a bandit at horse races and other events including---kangaroo boxing?Soon, Charlie has his own bar and casino built. But when Anne-Marie becomes upset that he hasn't used any money for the poor, Charlie decides to stay to true to the promise. So he brings pizza to an abandoned church where a litter of a puppies are cared for by a collie named Flo (voiced by Loni Anderson). The pups start fighting over the pizza, leading to Charlie singing a sort of Jamaican song about the values of sharing. I guess the writers had to add in a message for young children, as the main theme of the movie is more adult.So Anne-Marie finds the wallet that Charlie stole from the man and sees the couple's wedding photo inside. She goes up to the church's attic to sleep, and sings a "Somewhere Out There"-like song, in an audibly different voice I might add, about how soon she will find a mom and dad.Though this movie isn't as dear to my heart as "The Land Before Time" (I admit I watched this one fairly recently), it's pretty good. Burt Reynolds was awesome as the voice of Charlie, giving him the charm of a con man, and in fact all the voice acting is excellent. The animation has the dark texture of "The Secret of NIMH" and the outstanding background details of "The Land Before Time". The pacing does grow slow in the middle, but it all builds to the movie's truly moving conclusion. Young children may be confused and disturbed by the movie, but with the subject material, Don Bluth always respected them (in the 80s, that is). If you have the time, certainly consider the watch.7/10 for "All Dogs Go To Heaven".

It's a real shame that this was essentially the end of Don Bluth's steak as a great director of animation, going from animation classics such as Secret of Nimh to rather oddly created ones like Rock-a-Doodle. The thing that makes this film a children's classic is a mixture of Atmosphere, Character, Brilliant animation and Plot. You'd think a film about a dog that has conned his way into a second chance at life to claim his revenge would be a rather single minded plot like similar films of that context, but in fact, this film is unique in the way it executes this. The ending is my most memorable part of this movie, how for a moment Charlie comes back from the ether to give his final goodbye to Anne-Marie and his faithful companion Itchy before he has to finally disappear into the night to face his fear. It's a real tear jerker that comes about with many people who have witnessed death first hand, with visions in the night and visits from anon, it's something you can relate to and I feel it is the best way to conclude such a magnificent film.Another point with the film is that it adds a bit of Noire to it, tales of conning, murder and other threatening themes does make this movie different from most mushy kid films which try to dampen down the violence and other adult themes to the point of non-existence. Here Bluth has taken it almost to the limit of the PG rating but does it in a way that makes it acceptable. Also there are some really good musical numbers in here which (if you've watched Bluth's later works), are probably his last. Overall, this film is a grand piece of work and a real high note for a great animation director, although what followed next was much more disappointing. But as long as Bluth's better years as a director are summed up with films like this and Secret of Nimh, then the useless films that followed can be put in the cellar with the rest of those bad movies.