All Dogs Go to Heaven
A casino-owning dog was killed by his rival but managed to get back to earth to take revenge. With the help of an orphan girl. And, in the end, went to paradise because All Dogs go to Heaven.
Which was what this movie was all about. Using a cartoon format to present some universal values about life. Simple things like “Virtue is it’s own reward”. And, of course, “You can’t keep a good dog down” just like the way it was sung in the movie.
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All Dogs go to Heaven was produced in 1989 by Goldcrest Films International together with Sullivan Bluth Studios under the direction of Don Bluth with the assistance of co-directors Gary Goldman and Dan Kuenster. It was an animated musical with dogs as the main protagonists.
Charlie, the main character, was a German Shepherd with a definitely wolfish look. His close friend, Itchy, was depicted as a floppy-eared doleful Beagle while the villain, Carface, was a big, fat, snarling Bulldog. Playing opposite Charlie was a little orphan girl named Ann-Marie.
The movie began with Charlie and Itchy making an escape from the dog pound. Keeping barely a step ahead of the spotlights and potshots, they made it back to their lair. Charlie used to own a casino but it was now taken over by Carface who was the one responsible for Charlie being incarcerated in the dog pound in the first place. Seeing that Charlie refused to stay out of the game, Carface arranged a car accident to remove Charlie permanently.
That’s how Charlie arrived in heaven the first time. However, he refused to accept his fate and found a way to get back to earth. The only caveat being he would only be alive as long as his watch kept ticking. The first thing he did was look up his friend, Itchy. Then Ann-Marie came into the story and presented Charlie with the perfect tool to make the money to get back into the gambling game again. As owner not punter. Ann-Marie had the gift of being able to speak to animals and soon Charlie was getting all the money he wanted, betting on all kinds of animals races after getting the insider tip through Ann-Marie, so to say.
Somehow Charlie and Ann-Marie reminded me of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Charlie definitely looked more like a wolf than a dog. Ann-Marie, with her little-girl-lost voice, was so cute and innocent. Very naïve, too. Which was exactly the way Charlie liked it. His actual plan was just to exploit Ann-Marie’s talent and use her for his own selfish ends.
The movie All Dogs Go to Heaven went along at a goodly pace. Although it was in cartoon format, there was nothing cartoonish about the story-line. The movie revolved around the question of morals and questionable morals. In the beginning, Charlie was shown as totally heartless in taking undue advantage of a poor orphan girl. As the movie progressed, his better self began to exert it’s influence. Finally, at the end, he sacrificed his own precious life to save Ann-Marie. And ended up in heaven. As a reward.
That part was a little bit dodgy because the original premise was that all dogs went to heaven anyhow. So to have Charlie having to make the ultimate sacrifice to qualify for entry was not quite in consonance with the original idea.
The closing scene was very touching. Charlie came back as a ghost to say good bye to Ann-Marie. If only the departed ones we loved so deeply would be able to do so in real life.
Did I mention that a goodly supply of tissues is mandatory for the proper viewing of the All Dogs Go to Heaven DVD?
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