All Dogs Go to Heaven

Despite not currently making movies, Don Bluth was once considered a competitive threat to some of the biggest animation studios. While a beloved name that was instrumental in creating some of the greatest animated films like An American Tail, The Land Before Time and The Secret of Nimh, most people may not be aware that he at one point had even Disney on the ropes, with his movies often being preferred to what they were releasing at the time. The hierarchy would return to normal after Disney got some of their stride back during their renaissance, and because Bluth stopped making movies after the year 2000 following a string of lackluster features, he wasn’t universally immortalized outside of his initial golden period. It’s only fitting then that one of his most divisive pictures would come out right in-between his peak performance and his steady degradation, that being the 1989 musical comedy, All Dogs Go to Heaven.

In 1939 New Orleans, a German Shepard named Charlie (voiced by Burt Reynolds) manages to escape a dog pound with the help of his friend, Itchy (voiced by Dom DeLuise) and returns to their casino riverboat on the bayou, which Charlie runs with his business partner, a bulldog named Carface (voiced by Vic Tayback). Unbeknownst to Charlie, Carface wants to run the business solo and manages to kill Charlie during a farewell party, sending the dog to the pearly gates of heaven. Managing to trick his way back to Earth by reversing a pocket watch that physically embodies his mortality, Charlie plans to get revenge on Carface by taking away his prize possession, a young orphan named Anne-Marie (voiced by Judith Barsi) who has a unique gift of being able to speak to animals (which allowed Carface to rig all the bets in his casino). After promising to find her a home in exchange for helping him make his own business, Charlie enjoys the lavish riches but slowly starts to care for Anne-Marie and is forced to protect her once Carface discovers their location, which could result in him ending up dead all over again.

While the film didn’t pull in a lot at the box office (due to coming out around the same time as Disney’s The Little Mermaid) and critics weren’t very impressed, All Dogs Go to Heaven eventually found success through V/H/S rentals, becoming one of the highest selling releases of all time. While not comparable to Bluth’s original three and is cursed with a directionless narrative, choppy editing, and poor song numbers, the film contains enough visual niceties, memorable characters, expressive designs, and a charming centre to keep it from the bottom of the barrel.

Being an Irish, British and American co-production handled by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Goldcrest Films, who were brought in after Bluth severed ties with Amblin Entertainment (who helped create An American Tail and The Land Before Time) because he didn’t like the amount of control they had over his work, this was the first Don Bluth picture not to have any Hollywood influence. This freedom may’ve been what convinced him to return to an old idea about an anthology series centred around dogs that he had to shelve due to his original animation studio, Don Bluth Productions, filling for bankruptcy due to financial strife. With no outside interference and given Bluth’s love of animation and the strange concoctions that can come from it, it’s no surprise that his work would be a little weirder and more unpredictable, but what’s interesting is how this film compares to the ones that come after. In many ways, All Dogs Go to Heaven does feel more in line with his later entries like Rock-a-Doodle, Thumbelina, The Pebble and the Penguin, and A Troll in Central Park, but while those films get lost in their weird choices and can be a little obnoxious, this film mainly just comes across as uneven.

It clearly didn’t have an ironed-out idea, as despite being conceived as early back as 1982, the premise was drastically changed since then, and with a total of ten writers attached (including Don Bluth, Ken Cromar, Gary Goldman, Larry Leker, Linda Miller, Monica Parker, John Pomeroy, Guy Schulman, David J. Steinberg, and David N. Weiss), it’s not surprising that the narrative is all over the place and has trouble keeping focus. There’s a lot of wacky cartoonish slapstick and random interludes that takes time away from the main agenda in a film that’s only 84 mins, a lot of the story beats are reminiscent of his classic bodies of work, yet aren’t properly executed enough to feel as strong, and while the idea of a dog coming back to life to get back at the one who killed him is a pretty decent premise, it strangely doesn’t factor into the story that much (the character doesn’t even really need to be dead for most of the movie for it to function). The screenplay by Weiss results in a few memorable and charming scenes, and the directing by Bluth alongside co-directors, Dan Kuenster and Goldman (in his directorial debut) does help some of the lighter sentimental parts not feel sappy, but the story feels a little aimless, the tone can be a bit confused, and the character arcs aren’t very fulfilling.

Bluth is pretty good at creating identifiable leading characters who are made stronger by struggling through adverse situations, and yet even though this movie features adult characters in a seemingly more aggressive environment, it strangely feels less oppressive than the ones that focus on kids. There is still prevalent danger featured (the lead literally dies in the first few minutes), but it doesn’t feel as stressful or connectable because the characters don’t feel as relatable and the journey to the end doesn’t feel as impactful. The movie is more chill and has a story that’s strangely more common-place and like a traditional gangster film, making the threats feel more grassroots and by extension, the roles a little more basic. They still have very good designs, and Bluth’s style is all over this movie with how some of these animals are drawn, but in terms of their personalities and their goals, they’re a little one-note. Charlie isn’t a bad character, as his design is likeably scruffy and fitting of his nature, Burt Reynolds is surprisingly decent as the voice despite outward appearances, and while basic, seeing his character change from a fraudulent figure who cheated fate to continue taking life for granted, to someone who’d sacrifice his life for a child who he originally was just using, is pretty sweet and leads to a nice solemn ending. It’s not an amazing role, but one that works for this idea and has more going for it than the rest of the cast.

This film sadly had to deal with an unimaginable tragedy as Judith Barsi was murdered by her abusive father alongside her mother in a murder-suicide around the time the film was wrapping up completion. Knowing this was her last movie is absolutely devasting (and makes the final goodbye so much more harrowing), but one positive takeaway from such a disgusting act is that Barsi does a very nice job as the character of Anne-Marie. With a voice that seems prime for being too cutesy, she had previously proven by voicing Ducky in The Land Before Time, that she could take these kinds of characters and still bring a lot of character to them, and it’s no different here. She’s part of a lot of pleasant scenes, she and Reynolds work well off each other, and it’s just tragic to know that she could’ve been one heck of a great child talent if given more time, it’s very sad. Carface is a pretty standard anger-prone mob-boss character and outside of his look, isn’t that interesting, Dom DeLuise was a mainstay of Bluth’s movies and while not as interesting as his other roles, still brings his usual charm, and while some of the other dogs and animals have memorable designs, they don’t have very memorable personalities.

The distinctive style of animation Don Bluth created was a wonderfully raw and aggressive take on what would otherwise be a very friendly Disney-esque look (Bluth did work for Disney originally, so he would know what elements to hold onto and what components to twist around to create his own identity), and it got him a lot of praise, yet one of the major criticisms of this film was ironically how it looked. While it had the designs, backgrounds and color palette of traditional Bluth, critics and even some audiences noticed things looked a little more simple and even softer than his other films, which led some scenes to look a little more traditional and even sometimes not entirely finished. It does feel more standard against his previous films, and with the number of wacky sequences and big bombastic musical sequences on display, it feels more like experimenting with the artistry rather than deliberate creative decisions that’ll benefit the story.

Even with that said, the designs are still good, the backgrounds are still pretty, and the colors, even while muted, always builds the atmosphere and has a calming, even ‘’heavenly’’ component to them, so it isn’t all bad. This is a film that feels pretty choppy and awkwardly edited, with some of that coming from censors fearing the subject matter and imagery would be too extreme for kids (there is a scene where Charlie goes to hell, so it’s a little understandable), but it also features some odd transitions, random cuts, and strange visual choices that editor, John K. Carr, randomly decided to put in, so it can’t all be easily ignored. The musical numbers were also heavily criticized and that does feel like an appropriate call-out, as the songs by Charlie Strouse and T. J. Keunster are not very good. They have bad lyrics, the melodies are all over the place, the singing isn’t usually that strong, and they don’t impact the story in any way, it just feels like a decision to compete with Disney rather than in any service of what they’re doing.

All Dogs Go to Heaven doesn’t seem to be as bad as many critics painted it out to be, but it’s understandable why some were taken aback by a stark drop in quality from Bluth’s three crowning achievements, so it’s almost a case of being overqualified. On its own, it can feel like a dog without a lease at times, jumping from random scene to random scene with only an occasional drop of plot progression, but when it does remember to sit, it has a sentimental charm that makes it hard to dislike. The characters are okay, the heartfelt moments are few, but work when they show up, and while the script, animation and songs aren’t up to normal standard, they don’t detract from the moments that do legitimately work. Another Bluth film that failed to escape the sequel-itis curse (and one that decides to literally try and backpaddle death a second time), watch for yourself if you think this movie deserved the hate it received.