DT: All Dogs Go To Heaven ~ 1989

Hello, my friends, and welcome to my next installation of Duckyworth's Thoughts.

Well, I've reviewed most of the Don Bluth movies from the 1980's, and with my 100^th review close approaching, I felt that I should review the one 1980's Don Bluth film I haven't yet reviewed. While it may not be the strongest of the Don Bluth films in my opinion, it is still pretty damn impressive. Even if it does have some... questionable uses of language... What do I mean by that? Oh, you'll see in time....

Ahem... sorry... Let us take a look at the Don Bluth film with a... debatable title...

ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN.

The last film that Don Bluth made before he started.... er, let's just say lowering the bar a bit (oh, sure, I may like Titan AE, but I'm sure all of us can agree that Don Bluth's films began dropping in quality after All Dogs Go To Heaven) this may not be my absolute favourite of the 1980's Don Bluth films, but it still has some memorable elements.

But there is a certain alligator related scene and some... language issues, as I mentioned earlier, that people tend to remember this one for... But still, it may have some of the DARKEST scenes in any Don Bluth film, and it may actually have one of the strongest messages too.... So, this may unfortunately be the last truly SPECTACULAR Don Bluth movie, but it's a great film to go out on.

Once again, if you feel I've missed something out, feel free to ask my opinion on the element you feel I've missed out in the comments below, and I'll tell you about it.

The story takes place in a Louisiana Bayou (ooh good, does that mean we'll get shadow minions, jazz artist alligators and awesome looking food? Well, we do get something music related with an alligator in this film... but we'll get back to that. ), and revolves a dog named Charlie and his friend Itchy. Charlie worked at a casino with his partner Carface – who for some reason, reminds me of the Godfather (really, why call him Carface? ) until Carface framed him for a crime, which resulted in Charlie being sent to the pound. After being rescued by his friend Itchy, Charlie heads back to the casino, where he hears that in his absence, the casino has started being run into the ground by Carface, who doesn't treat the other patrons fairly.

Trying to keep the business for himself, Carface and his nerdy minion Killer (ironic name... )  trick Charlie and actually KILL him by hitting him with a car.... Charlie goes to heaven, as all dogs, APPARANTLY, go to heaven, as a caretaker of sorts of heaven, named the Heavenly Whippet, tells him that all dogs are associated with being kind and loyal – SPECIES-IST! - while she struggles to find any records of good deeds in his 'file'... Why do I get the feeling that people have similar problems trying to find any good qualities in The Wild? Charlie steals a pocket watch that represents his life, and winds it back up... so that he can live again and get his revenge on Carface... but for rejecting paradise... he commits what could be referred to as the original sin!

When he arrives back, he comes across a new dishonest way that Carface has come up with to increase his profits – using a little girl named Ann-Marie, who has the ability to talk to animals, to find out who will win the races, fixing the races.

Charlie and Itchy save Ann-Marie, but actually intend to, at first, use her to get their own back on Carface and make a gambling business of their own.... But as time goes on, it turns out that Ann-Marie inspires a change in Charlie.... and Charlie learns that even a backwater mongrel like him can be capable of good deeds....

Yep, with elements of redemption, heaven, hell, good deeds, and the original sin.... This is probably one of the heaviest Don Bluth films with some of the most mature themes.... Haha, only in the 1980's could a film like this be made....

As with every 1980's Don Bluth film, this film has great characters, music, animation, and of course, some dark themes and elements – as Don Bluth always says, children can be able to cope with anything in a film as long as a happy ending is attached.

So, which characters are in THIS film? Let's take a look, shall we?

Can you imagine what it would be like if Bluebeard from Felidae had his voice put in a dog? Well, you don't have to! This film's main character, Charlie, is voiced by the exact same voice actor who played Bluebeard – Burt Reynolds! Charlie is a rogue German Shepherd who was apparently designed with Reynolds in mind, and was designed with some of his mannerisms in mind. At first, he is a 'never say die' kind of dog – after being rescued from the dog pound by Itchy, he seems to be a favourite among the gambler dogs because of his good luck and attitude.

When Charlie goes up to the poker table and some of the gamblers tell him - (looks at the sign above the poker table that says the word – I'm not joking – CR*PS) WAIT A MINUTE!

WHAT THE HELL?! Who green-lighted the word 'cr*ps' being written on a sign in the casino?!

*Meanwhile, in the film....

Female dog: Things have changed, Charlie, since you've been gone....*

I'm sorry.... I'm sorry! I can't concentrate on what's going on with a SWEAR word being written on a sign above a poker table! I mean – what was Don Bluth THINKING?! Was someone actually looking at this scene and thinking to themselves – 'Hmm, you know what's missing in this FAMILY film? A board with another term for poop on it... That's EXACTLY what was needed..'

Anyway, moving on....

I like the way that Charlie starts off as a kind of anti-hero – at first, as well as becoming drunk as a skunk, he tries to take advantage of Ann-Marie, and he squanders the afterlife simply to get his own back on Carface – but as time goes on, he begins to warm up to the little girl, buys her some new clothes with some money he and Itchy make from their new business, and we actually see that he's not all bad when he goes to look after a group of dogs who are living in an abandoned church which I SWEAR is the church from the climax of Tim Burton's Batman... But when he's a.... less reasonable dog, he has a few funny moments out of his attempts to try to appear like he wants to help Ann-Marie – when he reads her a bedtime story (with War and Peace UPSIDE DOWN and making up the story as he goes along ) and Itchy comments on how Robin Hood doesn't take his cut from the profits... And it is pretty funny how Charlie tries to come across like he wants to help Ann-Marie but begins to become annoyed with her wanting to be tucked in, being given given a kiss and being annoyed by her praying before she goes to bed... It could be worse Charlie, she could be waking you up by praying to be saved by a prince...

Charlie actually begins to feel bad for his actions when Ann-Marie realises that he stole the wallet she finds, and then, feeling guilty for his actions, Charlie actually has a NIGHTMARE about going to HELL for his bad deeds and the fact that he escaped from heaven, committing the original sin! The depiction of hell becomes pretty damn SCARY in my opinion – I bet Evil the Cat from Earthworm Jim himself wouldn't be able to make Planet Heck this creepy! The depiction of River Styx, the ferry made out of bones, the little demons who look like Chernabog from Fantasia summoned them – this is probably one of the darkest scenes Don Bluth has ever made! And out of all the scenes he's made in his 1980's films, THAT'S saying a lot..... It's almost as disturbing as the Gregor Mendel nightmare from Felidae!

It's interesting how many hints there are to Charlie having died and come back to life – like him being told he's got cold paws by Itchy, surviving being gunned down by Carface and Killer, and even when Ann-Marie is praying saying 'God bless Charlie', Charlie cowers under the curtain in the car and looks upwards, as if God is judging him for rejecting heaven..... That last one is actually pretty subtle, and I may not be right here, but that's how I saw it... By the way, if you think you should be scared of God then, Charlie, he could watch your gambling antics instead of helping Ann-Marie find a mom and dad, and then suddenly shout out –

'GET ON WITH IT!'

By the way, can Charlie EVER make his mind up about whether to walk on two or four legs? All throughout the film, he constantly goes back and forth – one minute he's walking like a human, the next he's walking like a dog.... Perhaps it's supposed to symbolise that he's slightly more human than the other dog characters, as even though he starts off as a bit of a douche, he becomes much more three-dimensional, because although he still wanted to keep a gambling business to himself, he becomes attached to Ann-Marie – and shows that he can redeem his past crimes... He's acting a little bit like a Gromit impersonator in this sense – as Gromit also alternates between walking on four and two legs.

Speaking of dog like behaviour, I really like the way his facial expressions are drawn, and how he does things like poke his nose out of the curtain, cower under the pillows, and pout. And like Balto, when he howls, you can kind of hear Burt Reynolds in his howl... At times, he almost reminds me a little bit of Toby from Basil the Great Mouse Detective....

And in the end, Charlie sacrifices himself to save Ann-Marie, by saving her from Carface. Once again, he can't decide whether to stand on two or four legs, and gets in an awesome fist fight with Carface and his gang, and when Ann-Marie can't swim, he chooses to save himself in place of his watch, but then, when he goes down to get it, the gears in the watch become waterlogged, and he drowns....

And even though at first, he was told that he was set to go to hell for his past crimes – we even see a RED fiery light come into the room (wow, that was pretty generous of the Devil to allow Charlie to come back to say goodbye... ), a heavenly light comes to Earth, destroys the hellish apparition that had originally claimed his soul, and he is allowed back into heaven for doing a good deed. I do find it pretty funny how when he goes to heaven, he still finds it a little bit drab, and tells the musician to pick up the mood a bit – 'I know we're dead up here, but so's the music!'

You know what, when I first saw this film, I never realised the references to Christian Genesis in this film... Think about it, in the film, Charlie takes a watch from heaven, which some people say represents the forbidden fruit that Adam took from the Garden of Eden, preferring free will over Heaven, and because of this, he is literally fallen from heaven, and he is set to go straight to Hell if he dies again... But, because he saves an innocent life, he has committed a good deed, and so he has redeemed himself and can go to heaven. I also like how at the start of the film, he is proven to be a very difficult individual to work with, he has one of the most interesting story arcs in any Don Bluth film, and he undergoes a very interesting development as the film goes on. But the one thing I noticed is that Carface gives him the gold watch, but the colour of it is clearly SILVER. Colour inconsistencies here – much like those in Watership Down....

Itchy is Dom DeLuise's character in this film, and is Charlie's best friend. One thing I like about Itchy is that he's the first Don Bluth character that isn't.... let's just say unnecessary. I mean, don't get me wrong – Jeremy from The Secret of NIMH DID help retrieve Mrs Brisby's medicine, and Tiger from An American Tail DID help to find Fievel's family, but as I said in my previous Don Bluth reviews, Dom DeLuise's characters seem to be mainly for comic relief... and to be fair, Itchy is mainly comic relief as well, but he does also play a pretty big role in the story. Being the secondary character in the story, he is Charlie's 'partner in crime', the one who breaks Charlie out of the pound in the beginning of the film, and he also keeps questioning Charlie's changes in morality in the film, saying he's become soft – because Charlie became more interested in Ann-Marie's safety than manning his casino, after Carface comes in and his gang actually BEATS up Itchy! While there's no blood, it still looks pretty damn painful! And you feel pretty sorry for Itchy, seen as he's been his friend all his life, and now he thinks Charlie's replaced Itchy with the girl.... But ends up pretending that he's still using the girl, RIGHT IN FRONT of her.... OOPS!

In a way, it makes the characters more three dimensional that they're not complete misunderstood heroes – Charlie and Itchy are both shown as being not the easiest individuals to work alongside. I like how Don Bluth isn't afraid to show the 'heroes' of the movie doing the wrong things – Charlie and Itchy are using Ann-Marie for the same purpose that Carface was, with the addition of promising her adoptive parents...

In the end though, Itchy does see the importance of Ann-Marie's life, as he seems to rip off 101 Dalmations and call for the help of the other dogs to help save them, and in the end, he is even taken in by Ann-Marie.

Another funny moment from him is how he makes some similar sounds to Tiger from An American Tail when he whimpers in his sleep...

Ann-Marie is played by Judith Barsi, the little girl who also played Ducky in The Land Before Time. She looks JUST like a younger Snow White, doesn't he? A mixture of Snow White and Eliza Thornberry, she's an orphan who has the ability to talk to animals. She's been captured by Carface, and it turns out that he's been using her to make his fortune while Charlie has been gone by using her ability to talk to animals to cheat by learning who will win the rat races. A really funny part with Ann-Marie is when she, Itchy and Charlie disguise themselves in a way that... well, let's just say it's a disguise that even Ruber in Quest For Camelot would question.... Do they really think that disguise won't turn a few heads? The guy's reaction when the camera zooms on him is pretty much anyone's reaction – disturbed shock.

I find her voice REALLY sweet in this (I still feel so bad for Judith Barsi – read on Wikipedia what happened to her, and you'll understand what I mean ), and she actually seems a little bit like Alice from Alice in Wonderland – even though she is a little child, she's still curious, and she can be still pushed to her limits, like when she gets annoyed with Charlie and doesn't trust him at times. She even comes to bring out the good nature in Charlie, and I like how Charlie keeps trying to maintain a tough guy image that he doesn't care for Ann-Marie.

By the way, in the scene where Ann-Marie eats waffles – and no, that isn't a reference to the Invader Zim episode where Zim Eats Waffles, but I can see what you mean – it just makes me SO hungry... Whenever I go on holiday in a hotel, I nearly ALWAYS have waffles, and they look just as delicious as they do in the film... Oh no, I'm getting memories of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs now!

The villain of this film is, to me at least, basically a dog version of Warren T. Rat from An American Tail.... a dog named Carface.... The only reason I can think of which explains WHY he is called Carface is because he's always emitting smoke fumes.... Yeah, I know it's not a very good reason, but it's the only reason I can think of... It's almost as confusing as to why Pippi Longstocking called her horse..... HORSE. Voiced by the late Vic Tayback, in his last film role, Carface is Charlie's old business partner, who plans to murder Charlie, so that he can keep the profits of the gambling business to himself. While I personally wish that more of Don Bluth's villains could have been more like Jenner – as he was a representation of fear to change. Carface just seems to be another classic Don Bluth style mob boss – but at least he has a pretty awesome voice, and he has a pretty creepy way of getting rid of dogs that he doesn't consider useful anymore, and when Killer suggests a way to get rid of Charlie when he is about to be eaten by Carface's piranhas, he has a pretty.. disturbing expression... Yeah, to get rid of anyone he doesn't consider useful, Carface throws them into a pit of ravenous piranhas... Worst way to bump a henchman off than de-rezzing them in Tron Legacy like CLU did with Jarvis...

While there's not a whole lot to Carface, he still makes me laugh a few times, like when Charlie says he should lay off the sweets, and when he wears an army helmet. He also has a pretty funny slogan – 'I'm surrounded by morons!' Sounds like what Garret in Quest For Camelot would say... I also find it funny just how often he loses it – he often ends up screaming in shock at things that go wrong – like when Charlie is freed by the big lipped alligator, and screams in shock... And by the way – what idiot would put oil drums DIRECTLY above an electrical generator? And it is funny seeing him chased away by the BLA (Big Lipped Alligator for short), and then he goes through the same routine Charlie did.

Killer, played by Charles Nelson Reilly (who also played the Dirty Bubble in the old SpongeBob Squarepants episodes) is the nerdy hench-dog of Carface, who is always being abused by Carface, and reminds me a little bit of a Don Bluth version of Gromit... One thing I find a bit odd is how he can have a RAY gun – er, this isn't Titan AE... So how do ray guns even EXIST in the 1930's? And at least Killer does have some decency, by pushing Ann-Marie to the shore.

The Heavenly Whippet, played by Melba Moore, is a kind of caretaker of canine heaven, who – let's be honest here – sounds as though the voice actress is reading all of her lines directly in front of her... The most emotion she seems to emit is when she SCREAMS... I also find it a tad annoying how she keeps telling Charlie 'You can never come back' because he rejected heaven.... It's basically like the annoying Three Stooges Dogs running joke in Balto... By the time I heard it a few times, I just wanted to yell out 'WE GET IT!' Now, don't get me wrong, her design IS very pretty at least, and she does look a little bit like the kind of dog you would meet in heaven... But I still find it a bit PUSHY how she just says 'Say goodbye'.

The designs of the horses are a bit odd... to say the least, especially the one with the huge lips – looks like she's trying to imitate the Genie turning into a pair of lips from Aladdin..... I also find the Grand Chawhee amusing – he looks more like a Blackpool Donkey than a racing horse, but because it's his birthday, the other horses let him win. Speaking of Chawhee, just look at Charlie's facial expressions when he tries to pronounce Chawhee correctly.... He even pulls off a chipmunk impression that I.M.Meen would be jealous of!

Flo is a friend of Charlie's, and she is voiced by Loni Anderson. She looks after a bunch of puppies which, to be honest, would probably only be dwarfed by the 101 Dalmations (wow, a lot of 101 Dalmation references in this review, aren't there? )

But what I question about these puppies is that they're all completely different colours to Flo... So, are they orphans taken in by her or has she had a... questionable romance life? They do have some cute moments and I like how they bring out the better nature in Charlie, and I don't know why, but something about Flo reminds me of Jenner from Balto. But after Charlie dies... AGAIN .... do we ever see them again?! I don't think we do! Ann-Marie imagines them being taken in by the couple who eventually adopt her, but we don't see them in the new home... Do they just stay in the church afterwards? Maybe they're taking the Edward Scissorhands route to living your life to the fullest....

And of course, we have the infamous Big Lipped Alligator Moment.... Yep, and it is delivered by the big lipped alligator, played by Ken Page (Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas ). Imagine mixing together Louis from The Princess and the Frog with the lizard from Fern Gully.... He has no real purpose but to provide a really strange (to put it lightly ) song, which, to be honest, has some pretty gay overtones about him and Charlie 'making music together....'

This film is said to have been the FIRST film to have one of these moments in... So we have this film to thank for that meme. In case some of you who are reading this don't know what a Big Lipped Alligator Moment IS, it's a moment in a film that satisfies these four criteria - 

1. It comes out of nowhere

2. It has nothing to do with the story

3. It is completely over the top even when you compare it to the rest of the film

4. After it has happened, no one ever mentions it again

You know, moments like the song Cornwall and Devon sing in Quest For Camelot (in fact, MOST of the poorly written songs in that film are like that ), the Echidna in Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'Hoole, THE WILD as a whole, the scene where James Bond makes out with the woman in the hut in Skyfall (YES, a Skyfall reference! After 62 reviews, I've FINALLY made a reference to it! ), the party scene, the creepy swing scene and the Taiwanese Parliament scene in The Cat in the Hat remake, the bear in Balto, the builder being killed in Twilight, Joseph turning evil and then good again in Titan AE, Toothpick going huge in Sly 4: Thieves in Time, the Snorlax evolving in Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys, where Bugsy gets tossed into the cage where Mercury is, and when he looks up he finds a bird's skull on the ground, and we see Mercury asleep, and then he wakes up but it looks like he doesn't have any eyes in Valiant – the list goes on and on, you can probably guess by now what kinds of scenes Big Lipped Alligator Moments are.

This is a rather.... gay moment – next to the lizard from FernGully singing that disturbingly kind of sexual song about wanting to eat Zak.... Seriously, WHAT is the purpose of this part? It's almost like Don Bluth was trying to recreate that trippy song Tiger and Fievel share in An American Tail.... Five minutes of filler, and all we get of purpose in this scene is Ann-Marie getting pneumonia.... Just get Mr Ages from The Secret of NIMH to give you a cure, and you'll be fine...

But I suppose the Big-Lipped Alligator comes back to save Charlie and he DOES chase down and eat Carface.... so I suppose he does have a BIT of a purpose.... But of course, the song was completely unnecessary.... And when he comes towards the screen to save Charlie.... he looks pretty disturbing....

The transitions are a bit odd in this film too. It almost seems like they're supposed to show the ending of a cartoon show.... I like the little jokes based on gambling in this world – instead of greyhound racing, they have rat racing, and we also see all other animals EXCEPT dogs being bet on in racing in this film. Hmm, I wonder if Nicodemus would be able to help out Ann-Marie with rat races, and for that matter, if they're so tough, why don't THEY take part, they'd be bound to win them!

Nicodemus: We can no longer live as rats.... We know too much...

Hmm, you make a good point.

And as for RATIGAN taking part in races.... he'd probably rip all the other rats to shreds...

The songs in this film are also pretty nice – as we've all come to expect from Don Bluth's films in the 80's. But, I will say this – they're not perhaps AS impressive as the songs in An American Tail.... which doesn't mean they're not good, but they aren't AS strong as the songs in An American Tail.

*cowers from everyone throwing rotten vegetables at me * It's most likely due to Burt Reynolds' singing voice – no offence to him, he's a great voice actor, but I'm just not a personal fan of his singing....

'You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down' is sort of like 'There Are No Cats In America', both in the overall optimistic mood of the song, and the references to other cultures... Once again, I like the English bit when he drinks a cup of tea. I really like the old piano sound, and the colouring of the lights really play to the moods in the song. And for some reason, the instruments and the movement of the characters in the film reminded me of the bar song in Basil the Great Mouse Detective. But I will say that the 'bow wow wow' bits get a bit old pretty fast...

'Let Me Be Surprised' is the song where Charlie is murdered by Carface and Killer, and is sent to heaven... after a rather amusing smash into the gates of St Peter... Unlike the first song, the music in this song is all over the place, at least in my opinion... I can't even pick up the melody at times! This is almost as derived of melody or tune as Ruber's Song in Quest For Camelot – at least the visuals are very interesting and the designs are better in this song than ANY of the things in Quest For Camelot– the design of heaven almost looks like how I always envisioned it when I was younger... I especially like the creative idea of all of the clocks that represent the lifetimes of those who have passed away, and the shooting stars being lined up ready to be thrown up into the sky – those are pretty innovative ideas. By the way, if the Heavenly Whippet knows everything that will happen, truly she would have known that Charlie would steal the watch, and would therefore put it under lock and key... And another distinction this song has is that Burt Reynolds isn't the weaker singer here, as the Heavenly Whippet, as I said before, seems to be simply reading her lines as the song goes on, and some of her song lines seem a little bit.... out of place...

'What's Mine Is Yours' is the song where we learn more about Charlie actually having some likeable qualities, as he brings pizza to feed the puppies that Flo look after. The little puppies are really cute in this song, and it shows that Charlie does at least have SOME good nature. It is pretty cute seeing them tussle for pizza and-

*listens to song, just as a puppy steals a bit of pizza, then hears a certain lyric which makes me stare in shock * DID – DID HE JUST SAY 'WILL YOU PUT THAT PIZZA F***?!' As I listen to that part, I honestly think it sounds like he says 'Will you put that pizza f***.' Maybe it's because they worked in the Cr**-word in earlier, but it really shocks me that when they went through this film, they took the word 'damn' out of one song, but this kind of thing stayed..... Don Bluth, I know you were trying to make your family films more mature and dark in the 80's, but what's with the potty mouth? A few more of these and you get a 12 rating!

Moving on – the song has some pretty... saccharine sweet children singing.... And then, as soon as a cake comes along, they zoom towards it... The way Charlie shrugs says it all – what are you going to do with children, Charlie?

'Soon You'll Come Home' is probably the prettiest of the songs in the film – if it's all sung by Judith Barsi, she's got some pretty nice pipes! It revolves around Ann-Marie fantasising about her having a mom and dad, the couple whose picture is in the wallet, and it reminds me a little bit of 'Somewhere Out There' in An American Tail. Ann-Marie has some pretty interesting fantasies in this song – first of all, I know she's wishing for someone to adopt her, and seen as she's been an orphan all of her life, and she's been used by Charlie and Carface to add insult to injury, but I find it odd how she just thinks she'll be accepted by them, and wouldn't you know it, they DO – don't they have adoption agencies in Louisiana? Anyhow, one of her funny fantasies is her committing road rage in her foster parents' car. I trust Alex DeLarge with a car before I trust Ann-Marie with one!

'Let's Make Music Together' is probably the WEIRDEST and most pointless of the songs in the film.... It involves the Big Lipped Alligator – which probably says all you need to know about it. I mean, don't get me wrong, the tune has some appeal, but if the song has no... REAL purpose, it loses its value... And... why does the big lipped alligator have mice henchmen? The visuals in the song look like a mentally handicapped version of a song from The Little Mermaid... And the lights and colours look a bit like a trippy mess from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas....

I'm.... deeply confused and scared of this song now, so I'll just move on to the next one....

'Hallelujah' is the Sister-Act-esque ending song of the film where Charlie picks up the mood of heaven. I like how in this song, we see that Carface goes through the same routine that Charlie went through – wanting revenge and stealing a clock to relive his life – and Charlie says 'He'll be back' being sure that Carface will learn the same lesson he did. By the way, I wonder if the Heavenly Whippet is getting a bit tired of telling dogs not to take clocks... Heaven can't really be that great if so few dogs stay, can it? As for the song itself, it reminds me a little bit of 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now' in Cats Don't Dance.

And of course, 'Love Survives' is probably the most pleasant song in the film.... It's just.... such a pretty song.... Reminding me of the cover of 'Somewhere Out There' in An American Tail... The song is basically saying how love can survive after everything else has passed – probably saying how Charlie and Ann-Marie still have an affection for each other even after Charlie has passed away... This is pretty deep, in my opinion... As it is pretty true, after a dearly loved one of yours has sadly lost his/her life, you still feel love for them...

Of course, the animation is brilliant – as we've come to expect from Don Bluth. As always, I really love the designs of the characters and the settings in the film. The sets I especially love are the sets of the casinos, the church that Flo and the puppies live in, and the ship that the climax takes part in. The designs of heaven and hell, are, as I said before, probably what most children think when they think of those settings, and as I said earlier, I really like the pretty set off heaven and the eerily impressive design of hell – especially the Chernabog-esque devils that come to attack Charlie. But as for the heaven design, I will say this – I get why SHEEP are in heaven, most likely referring to the fact that you try to count sheep to get to sleep, but.. why is a LION there? Is it trying to symbolise that all races and creeds are allowed a peaceful afterlife in heaven if they've shown themselves to be good souls?

Even the design of the set in the.... sigh... BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR scene is pretty impressive, and I do like all the bright colours, and the shaky underwater effect. I also like how the design of the car dump is done – it reminds me a lot of the similar setting in The Brave Little Toast – minus the traumatising magnet and song.

And of course, one of the most powerful elements of this film is the moral – even the lowest lowlife can receive redemption. Charlie starts off as a no-good dog, but as the film goes on, he becomes more and more affectionate towards Ann-Marie, and even saves her from drowning, forfeiting his own life.... And of course, adding the idea of the original sin makes it all the more powerful a moral.

I never liked this movie as a child, but I saw it last year during my Christmas break.

I really enjoyed it afterwards. Nice movie basically, lol.

Charlie may have started out as some kind of bad dog, but his feelings for the girl soon changed him, especially at the end where he said goodbye to her

it made me both frightened and scared as a child, in an ironic twist my family also kept lots of cats

I never understood this movie as a kid, but watching it again, I now realize how dark it was.

But still a very beautiful movie. I love Charlie. I love his development through the movie. And I love Anne Marie.

Ah, that Big-Lipped Alligator Moment. My most favorite Nostalgia Critic meme ever

I like that movie. It's got some songs, some visuals, some characters, and a story, all of which are very great.

I'm excited. It's my fav Don Bluth film and one of my childhood favorites.

So, once again, even though this isn't my absolute favourite of the Don Bluth movies, it is still a pretty effective film, and once again, with the elements of the original sin and redemption, it has some pretty powerful mature elements in it – sure, some bits do seem a bit questionable, especially a certain alligator scene, but still – it is proof that 1989 was a pretty powerful year for animation – The Little Mermaid, Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out, and All Dogs Go To Heaven – this was a  pretty great way to end the wonderful decade for family films that was the 1980's. And of course, even though Don Bluth began slipping in quality after this decade, All Dogs Go To Heaven was a great film for him to end on in his prime run.

Well, stay tuned, folks, for the 100^th Duckyworth's Thoughts review is on the way, and after this one, it will be time for the next instalment of the Horrendously Horrific Hallowe'en of Horrendous Horror!

If you noticed all of the hints in the review, you may be able to tell which film the 100^th review will be of, but if not, stay tuned.... It's one I've been meaning to review for a while – and it will be a great surprise for you all!

COMING DUCKYWORTH'S THOUGHTS –

Basil The Great Mouse Detective

Something Wicked This Way Comes

We're Back - A Dinosaur Story

The Princess and the Goblin

Stan Helsing ()

Twilight – New Moon ()

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