ironhorse_iv Review of All Dogs Go to Heaven

All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)

Dog-Gone it! All Dogs go to Heaven is a pretty good movie.

[7/10 · 27 June 2014]

In the 1980s former Disney animator Don Bluth gave Disney a run for its money with such hits as 1982's The Secret of NIMH, 1986's American Tail, & 1988's Land Before Time. Then in 1989, All Dogs Go to Heaven came out on the same weekend as Disney's Little Mermaid to try to put the death blow to Disney. What Bluth didn't know, is that Little Mermaid would spark the Disney Renaissance and he would find himself, for the next several years, playing second fiddle at the animation box office, with one last hoorah with 1997's Anastasia. While, Mermaid was indeed a blockbuster success, All Dogs Go to Heaven wasn't a failure. It had a good opening at theaters, but better sell in VCRs tapes than Disney that year. The movie tells the story of 1939's criminal dog, Charlie B. Barkin (voiced by Burt Reynolds) whom finds himself getting murdered by his business partner, Carface AKA the dog version of 'Scarface' Al Capone (Voiced by Vic Tacback). When Charlie to find himself in bored in heaven, he steals a magic life-watch and rewind it, so that he can relive his life, from the point of his murder. He goes back to earth to seek his revenge on Carface, with help from his best friend Itchy (voiced by Dom DeLuise) & a young gifted orphan girl, Anne-Marie (voiced by Judith Barsi) who has the power to speak to animals. The movie's title come from the movie concept, but could had derived from quotes ranging from Robert Louis Stevenson to Mark Twain about what life is in heaven in which Bluth got the idea from. The movie plot is similar to 1934's Little Miss Marker, also known as The Girl in Pawn. After all, Anne-Marie doe looks like an mix between Snow White & Shirley Temple with a lot of Barsi added to it. The movie has a lot of crazy violence, language, drinking, and dark frighten hell imagery that might be not for all children. The movie was actually supposed to be a little darker but they cut the hell scenes and change a tommy gun into a ray gun to get the G rating. It does have some great moral lessons, here about being honest, loyal and understanding love. The movie also has a great spiritual message that some people might love. The idea of heaven here is pretty open to all faiths as it doesn't single out, any one type of religion. Still, some people do believe that All Dogs go to Heaven is about the spiritual journey of humanity through all the stages from the book of Genesis to the New Testament. Let me example it, like Adam, the original man, he was born without original sin and able to live in Paradise. Since dogs are virtue in nature based of the movie, Charlie is able to live in Heaven. Like Adam, Charlie is cast out of heaven, when he steals the watch, which in this case, represent life or the apple in the bible. It wasn't until, he choose to be more Christ-like; he was able to come back to heaven. While, I do believe it's an interesting concept. There are some plot-holes in this interpretation. One might point that that Dogs in the film, already had free-will, and the whole argument of dogs being like original man isn't well-framed. Also, some people believe animals don't have souls, so there isn't a heaven for animals. Other has point that, animals would exist in the Kingdom of Heaven based on scriptures of Isaiah 11:6-9. Still, this really does make it, more complex, when the bible has a lot of negative things to say about dogs. The reason why dogs signify unclean in the bible is due to the fact that dogs eat unclean things. From this, others religions or cultural tradition outside the church control were often deems as evil dogs. To make it worst, bits of the bible also deem homosexual, women and other races as evil dogs. To some Christians, people that are deem dogs would never go to heaven in the bible. What I love about this movie is saying that all dogs go to heaven. If dogs are an allegory to human in this film, than that means nearly everybody should go to heaven. Even murderers like Carface got to go to heaven. Still, it was a bit odd, to see dog's hell play a big part in the film, when it barely has any dogs going there. While, most people might deem the Big Lip Alligator Moment as little to no bearing whatsoever on the plot. In an odd way, some people might see this as a symbol of homosexuality being welcome by new beliefs of Christians. Some view it, as homage to 1933's King Kong. Other view it, as Voodoo Witch doctor falling in love with a zombie. What-ever. It's just there. Another theme that seem to be running around is child abuse. Carface routinely mistreat Anne-Marie. It's really hard to watch, when you find out how much Barsi was physical and mental abuse in real life, before getting shot by her father before this movie came out. The voicing acting is alright. Reynolds & DeLuise really have chemistry, due to them previously appeared together in a number of films. The singing and music numbers weren't that great. 'Let Me Be Surprised' & 'What's Mine Is Yours' proves that Reynolds isn't a good singer. 'You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down" & Let's Make Music Together" was fun, but mediocre. "Love Survives" dedicated in Barsi's memory was pretty beautiful. The film inspired a theatrical sequel, a television series, and a holiday direct-to-video film, that weren't that good. Overall: The animation is beautifully done, but the overall style is grotesque and disturbing. The bittersweet ending didn't help at all. From an artistic standpoint, I think it's a pretty amazing example of animation, but it's not something for all children. Still, it's worth watching.