| All Dogs Go to Heaven | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Don Bluth |
| Screenplay by | David N. Weiss |
| Story by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Edited by | John K. Carr |
| Music by | Ralph Burns |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | United Artists/MGM/UA Communications Co. (United States) Rank Film Distributors (United Kingdom/Ireland) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 84 minutes[1] |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $13 million[1] |
| Box office | $27.1 million[2] |
All Dogs Go to Heaven is a 1989 animatedmusicalfantasycomedy-drama film directed byDon Bluth and co-directed byGary Goldman (hisdirectorial debut) andDan Kuenster.[3] Set inNew Orleans in 1939, it tells the story of Charlie B. Barkin (voiced byBurt Reynolds), aGerman Shepherd that is murdered by his former friend, Carface Carruthers (voiced byVic Tayback). Charlie escapes from Heaven to return to Earth where his best friend, Itchy Itchiford (voiced byDom DeLuise), still lives, in order to take revenge on Carface. Instead, he ends up befriending a young orphan girl named Anne-Marie (voiced byJudith Barsi in her final film role). In the process, Charlie learns an important lesson about kindness, friendship and love.
The film is an Irish, British and American venture, produced byGoldcrest Films andSullivan Bluth Studios Ireland Limited. On its cinema release, it competed directly withWalt Disney Feature Animation'sThe Little Mermaid, released on the same day. While it did not repeat the box-office success of Sullivan Bluth's previous features,An American Tail andThe Land Before Time, it was successful on home video, becoming one of the biggest-sellingVHS releases ever. It was followed by atheatrical sequel, atelevision series, and aholiday direct-to-video film.
In 1939New Orleans, Charlie B. Barkin escapes from thedog pound with the help of his best friend Itchy Itchiford and returns to their casino riverboat on thebayou. His business partner, Carface Caruthers is surprised to see Charlie alive and is reluctant to share the profits with him. Carface had secretly been responsible for Charlie getting committed to the pound due to greed and decides to get rid of him for good this time by killing him with a car. Despite not having done any good lifetime deeds Charlie is automatically sent toHeaven. He is then greeted by awhippet angel who explains to him that because dogs are inherently good and loyal, all dogs go to Heaven and are entitled to paradise. Taking advantage of her kindness, Charlie cheats death by stealing a pocket watch representing his life and winding it back. As Charlie descends back to Earth, the whippet angel tells him that he can never return to Heaven.
When Charlie returns he reunites with Itchy and plots revenge in the form of a rivaling business. They soon discover that Carface's success has been from a kidnapped young orphan girl named Anne-Marie for herability to talk to animals, which proves helpful when betting on races. While Charlie rescues her and promises to feed the poor and help her find a family, he takes her to a race track the following day to gamble. Charlie steals a wallet from a couple as they talk to Anne-Marie and become concerned by her rough appearance. Charlie and Itchy use their winnings to build a successful casino in the junkyard where they live. Anne-Marie threatens to leave when she realizes she has been used, but Charlie persuade her to stay by bringing pizza to a family of poor puppies and their mother (Flo) at an abandoned church. Although initially a success, Anne-Marie becomes angry at Charlie when she discovers the stolen wallet.
As Charlie has a nightmare in which he is condemned to Hell, Anne-Marie returns the wallet to the couple who introduce themselves as Kate and Harold. As they privately discuss adopting her Charlie arrives and tricks her into leaving with him. Charlie and Anne-Marie narrowly escape an ambush by Carface and his assistant Killer and hide in an abandoned building, but the ground breaks and they fall into the lair of a giant alligator named King Gator. He and Charlie bond over a love of music and he lets them go, but Anne-Marie catchespneumonia in the process. Carface and his thugs destroy Charlie's casino and assault Itchy. Feeling abandoned, Itchy limps back to the church to confront Charlie about his relationship with Anne-Marie. Charlie retorts in exasperation that he is using her and will eventually "dump her in anorphanage". A heartbroken Anne-Marie overhears the conversation and tearfully runs away before she is kidnapped by Carface. Charlie follows them to Carface's casino, where he is ambushed by his thugs. As they fight with Charlie they inadvertently start an oil fire that soon engulfs the whole structure. Charlie's pained howls from their bites summon King Gator, who chases down and devours Carface.
During the chaos both Anne-Marie and the watch fall into the water, but Charlie is unable to rescue both at the same time. He then decides to choose Anne-Marie by placing her onto some driftwood and pushes her toward safety, but Charlie's life ends as the watch stops before he can retrieve it. As Killer finishes pushing her to shore Kate and Harold are waiting with police and medical personnel, alongside Itchy, Flo, and the other dogs from New Orleans. Sometime later, Kate and Harold adopt Anne-Marie, who has also adopted Itchy. Charlie, having sacrificed himself to save Anne-Marie, has earned back his place in Heaven, and is allowed to return inghost form to reconcile with Anne-Marie. Leaving Itchy in her care, Charlie returns to Heaven, where, in amid-credits scene, Carface finally arrives and takes his own watch, vowing revenge against King Gator. As the whippet angel chases him and warns against using it, Charlie assures the audience that "he'll be back".
The earliest idea was conceived by Don Bluth after finishing work onThe Secret of NIMH. Thetreatment was originally about a canineprivate eye, and one of three short stories, making up ananthology film. The character of a shaggy German Shepherd was designed specifically for Burt Reynolds. However, Bluth's first studio,Don Bluth Productions, was going through a period of financial difficulty, ultimately having to declare bankruptcy, and the idea never made it beyond rough storyboards. The concept was revived by Bluth,John Pomeroy andGary Goldman, and rewritten byDavid N. Weiss, collaborating with the producers from October through December 1987. They built around the titleAll Dogs Go to Heaven and drew inspiration from films, such asIt's a Wonderful Life,Little Miss Marker andA Guy Named Joe. The film's title came from a book read to Bluth's fourth-grade class, and he resisted suggestions to change it, stating he liked how "provocative" it sounded, and how people reacted to the title alone.
During the production of their previous feature film, Sullivan Bluth Studios had moved fromVan Nuys, California, to a state-of-the-art studio facility inDublin, Ireland, and the film was their first to begin production wholly at the Irish studio. It was also their first to be funded from sources outside of Hollywood, the previous two feature films,An American Tail andThe Land Before Time, had been backed byAmblin Entertainment andUniversal Pictures, and executive producersSteven Spielberg andGeorge Lucas (forThe Land Before Time only) exercised a degree of control over the content of the films, a situation Bluth found disagreeable.[4][5] The studio found investment from UK-based Goldcrest Films in a US$70m deal to produce three animated feature films (though only two,Rock-a-Doodle and it, were completed under the deal).[6] The three founding members of the studio, Bluth, Pomeroy, and Goldman, had all moved to Ireland to set up the new facility, but during the film's production, John Pomeroy returned to the United States to head up a satellite studio which provided some of the animation for the film. Pomeroy also used his presence in the United States to generate early publicity for the film, including a presentation at the 1987San Diego Comic-Con.[7]
The film's lead voices,Burt Reynolds andDom DeLuise, had previously appeared together in five films. For this one, they requested them to record their parts in the studio together (in American animation, actors more commonly record their parts solo). Bluth agreed and allowed the duo toad-lib extensively; Bluth later commented that "their ad-libs were often better than the original script",[8] but Reynolds was more complimentary of the draft, warmly quipping, "Great script, kid", as he left the studio. Another pair of voices, those of Carface and Killer (Vic Tayback andCharles Nelson Reilly, respectively), also recorded together.Loni Anderson, who voices Flo, was Reynolds' then-wife.[7] Child actressJudith Barsi, who voicedDucky in Bluth's previous filmThe Land Before Time, was selected to voice Anne-Marie; she was killed in an apparent murder-suicide over a year beforeAll Dogs was released.[7]
As production neared completion, the studio held test screenings and decided that some scenes were too intense for younger viewers. Pomeroy decided to shorten Charlie's nightmare about being condemned. Goldman also agreed to the cut, recognizing that the concession needed to be made in the name of commercial appeal. Bluth owned a private 35-mm print with the excised scenes and planned to convince Goldcrest on releasing a director's cut after returning from Ireland in the mid-1990s, but the print was eventually stolen from Bluth's locked storage room, diminishing hopes of this version being released on home media.[citation needed]
| All Dogs Go to Heaven Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by various artists | ||||
| Released | July 1, 1989[9] | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Length | 33:18 | |||
| Label | Curb Records | |||
| Producer | Ralph Burns | |||
| Don Bluth Music of Films chronology | ||||
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The music forAll Dogs Go to Heaven was composed byRalph Burns with lyrics byCharles Strouse, T.J. Kuenster,Joel Hirschhorn, andAl Kasha.[10] An official soundtrack was released on July 1, 1989, byCurb Records onaudio cassette andCD featuring 13 tracks, including seven vocal songs performed by various cast members.[9] The track "Let Me Be Surprised" contains aswear word in a dialogue cut from the final product.[citation needed] "Love Survives", the end credits song and overall theme, was dedicated to Anne-Marie's voice actress Judith Barsi, who was shot by her father, József, along with her mother, Maria, before the film's release on July 25, 1988.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Original songs performed in the film include:
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down" | Charles Strouse | Burt Reynolds &Dom DeLuise | |
| 2. | "Let Me Be Surprised" | Charles Strouse | Melba Moore &Burt Reynolds | |
| 3. | "What's Mine is Yours" | Charles Strouse | Burt Reynolds & Chorus | |
| 4. | "Soon You'll Come Home" | T.J. Kuenster | Lana Beeson | |
| 5. | "Let's Make Music Together" | Charles Strouse | Ken Page &Burt Reynolds | |
| 6. | "Hallelujah" | T.J. Kuenster | Candy Devine | |
| 7. | "Love Survives" | Al Kasha,Joel Hirschhorn &Michael Lloyd | Irene Cara &Freddie Jackson |
All Dogs Go to Heaven received mostly mixed reviews,[7] maintaining a 46% approval rating onRotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews,[3] and a 50 out of 100 score fromMetacritic.[11] Reviewers often drew unfavorable comparisons toThe Little Mermaid, criticizing the disjointed narrative, the quality of the animation, and the songs by Charlie Strouse and T.J. Kuenster.[12] The film received a "thumbs down" fromGene Siskel and a "thumbs up" fromRoger Ebert on a 1989 episode of their television programAt the Movies. While Siskel found it to be "surprisingly weak" given director Don Bluth's previous works, largely due to its "confusing story" and "needlessly violent" scenes, Ebert was a huge fan of the film's "rubbery and kind of flexible" animation, stating that it was a good film despite not being an "animated classic".[13]
Some also found the darker subject material objectionable in a family film,[14][15] given the film's depictions of death, violence, theft, drinking, smoking, gambling, murder, demons, and images of Hell. Other reviews were mostly positive, with critics praising the film's emotional qualities, humor, and vibrant color palette.[16][17] Roger Ebert, who was unimpressed with Bluth's previous filmAn American Tail, gave it three out of four stars, remarking that the animation "permits such a voluptuous use of color that the movie is an invigorating bath for the eyes" and that although he preferredThe Little Mermaid, which opened on the same day, he still foundDogs to be bright and inventive.[16] In contrast, film criticLeonard Maltin gave it one-and-a-half out of four stars, due to unappealing characters, confusing storytelling, and forgettable songs.[18]Common Sense Media was concerned about the depictions of illegal drug usage and excessive dark thematic elements in a family oriented movie.[19]
Dissatisfied with the terms imposed byUniversal Pictures, which had distributed their previous two films, the studio found an alternative distributor inUnited Artists. Somewhat unusually, production investors Goldcrest Films covered the cost of therelease prints and the promotional campaign, in return for a greatly reduced distribution fee from UA. This was similar to the arrangement with United Artists when they distributed Bluth's first feature film,The Secret of NIMH. Goldcrest Films invested $15 million in print and promotion. Due to contractual issues, very little tie-in merchandise accompanied the film's theatrical release;[7]a computer game adaptation for theCommodore Amiga system (with a free software package) was released, and restaurant chainWendy's offered toys with their Kids' Meals or regular fries.[20]
The film opened in North America on November 17, 1989, concurrent with Disney's 28th full-length animated motion pictureThe Little Mermaid; once again, Sullivan Bluth would be vying for box-office receipts with Disney, just as their last two films (An American Tail andThe Land Before Time) had. On its theatrical release, the film was only moderately successful as its performance fell short of the studio's previous box-office successes, grossing $27 million in North America alone, just over half of whatAn American Tail andThe Land Before Time each took.[21]
This would be Bluth's final box office hit untilAnastasia was released eight years later in 1997, which ended up becoming his highest-grossing film.
All Dogs Go to Heaven received a nomination for "Best Family Motion Picture: Adventure or Cartoon" at the11th Annual Youth in Film Awards ceremony, being beaten by Disney'sThe Little Mermaid.[22] The home video release received an Award of Excellence from theFilm Advisory Board.[23]All Dogs Go to Heaven was nominated for Best Family Motion Picture: Adventure or Cartoon at theYouth in Film Awards.
All Dogs Go to Heaven was released onVHS,S-VHS,8mm video andLaserDisc in both regular[24] and specialCAV standard play editions[25] byMGM/UA Home Video on August 28, 1990.[26] The film became asleeper hit due to its home video release; a strong promotional campaign helped it become one of the top-selling VHS releases of all time, selling over 3 million copies in its first month.[27] The film was followed by another VHS release under the MGM/UA Family Entertainment label in 1994, which was available exclusively throughWarner Home Video.
ADVD was made available for the first time on March 6, 2001, under the MGM Kids label[28] and was later released as a double feature withAll Dogs Go to Heaven 2 on March 14, 2006.[29] On March 29, 2011, the film made its debut onBlu-ray,[30] which was later included as a bundle with its sequel on October 7, 2014,[31] along with a re-release of the compilation on DVD.[32] The Blu-ray version was also packaged with another Don Bluth film,The Pebble and the Penguin, on October 8, 2013,[33] and again with eight other MGM films as part of the company's 90th anniversary "Best of Family Collection" on February 4, 2014.[34]
Avideo game based on the film, also titledAll Dogs Go To Heaven, was released in 1989 forDOS and in 1990 forAmiga. The game features ten mini-games loosely tied together to form a story mode, with three difficulty levels. The game's minigames include rat racing, watch catching, horizontal ball and paddle, maze navigating, shape stacking, maze running, hangman, jigsaw puzzle, street navigating and dog fighting.[35] An activity center game based on the film, titledAll Dogs Go To Heaven Activity Center, was released forWindows PC in 1997.[36]
The success of the film, particularly its performance on home video, prompted several follow-up productions. A theatrical sequel,All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996), a television series,All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996–1998), andAn All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998), a Christmas television film based on Charles Dickens'A Christmas Carol, were made. Bluth and his studio had no involvement with any of them, and Reynolds did not reprise his role as Charlie after the first film; he was replaced in the sequel film and television series byCharlie Sheen andSteven Weber, respectively. Reilly declined to return for the sequel film, but voiced Killer for the television productions. DeLuise played Itchy through the entire franchise.
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