All Dogs Go to Heaven
(1989)
G | 84 mins | Children's works | 17 November 1989
Cast:
Dom DeLuise, Burt Reynolds, Daryl Gilley [ More ]Director:
Don BluthWriters:
David N. Weiss, Don Bluth, Ken Cromar, Gary Goldman, Larry Leker, Linda Miller, Monica Parker, John Pomeroy, Guy Schulman, David Steinberg, David N. WeissProducers:
Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, John PomeroyEditor:
John K. CarrProduction Designers:
Don Bluth, Larry LekerProduction Companies:
Goldcrest, Sullivan-Bluth Studios Ireland Ltd.
A 25 Feb 1988 DV article announced that United Kingdom-based Goldcrest Film & Television would team with Dublin, Ireland-based Sullivan Bluth Studios Ireland Ltd. (SBSI) to co-finance a slate of three animated feature films for $70 million, with Goldcrest providing $40 million in production funds and SBSI contributing $30 million for prints, advertising, and merchandising consignment. Director Don Bluth’s All Dogs Go to Heaven was set to be the first project, with a budget of $13 million.
According to a 22 May 1990 HR news item, the crew included 350 Irish workers. Executive producer Morris F. Sullivan, also executive chairman and managing director of SBSI, stated in the 25 Feb 1988 DV that although SBSI was an American company, they had shifted operations entirely to Dublin, where they occupied a six-story, 42,000 square-foot building, due to animation’s “high labor factor” and Ireland’s high unemployment rate. Sullivan noted SBSI’s aversion to the practice of hiring more affordable crew from Asia, stating that animators needed a familiarity with the English language to create nuanced gesticulations, facial gestures and mannerisms, especially since they were striving for a classical animation style, producing twenty-four frames-per-second instead of the present trend of 6-8 frames-per-second. Partially funded by the Irish government and through public and private Irish consortiums, SBSI had endured two bouts of bankruptcy and two halted productions before moving overseas, according to a 12 Nov 1989 LAT article.
Production began Nov 1987, as noted in the 25 Feb 1988 DV. According to production notes in AMPAS library files, the film required a total of nineteen months to complete, including six ...
More
Less
A 25 Feb 1988 DV article announced that United Kingdom-based Goldcrest Film & Television would team with Dublin, Ireland-based Sullivan Bluth Studios Ireland Ltd. (SBSI) to co-finance a slate of three animated feature films for $70 million, with Goldcrest providing $40 million in production funds and SBSI contributing $30 million for prints, advertising, and merchandising consignment. Director Don Bluth’s All Dogs Go to Heaven was set to be the first project, with a budget of $13 million.
According to a 22 May 1990 HR news item, the crew included 350 Irish workers. Executive producer Morris F. Sullivan, also executive chairman and managing director of SBSI, stated in the 25 Feb 1988 DV that although SBSI was an American company, they had shifted operations entirely to Dublin, where they occupied a six-story, 42,000 square-foot building, due to animation’s “high labor factor” and Ireland’s high unemployment rate. Sullivan noted SBSI’s aversion to the practice of hiring more affordable crew from Asia, stating that animators needed a familiarity with the English language to create nuanced gesticulations, facial gestures and mannerisms, especially since they were striving for a classical animation style, producing twenty-four frames-per-second instead of the present trend of 6-8 frames-per-second. Partially funded by the Irish government and through public and private Irish consortiums, SBSI had endured two bouts of bankruptcy and two halted productions before moving overseas, according to a 12 Nov 1989 LAT article.
Production began Nov 1987, as noted in the 25 Feb 1988 DV. According to production notes in AMPAS library files, the film required a total of nineteen months to complete, including six months of pre-production, research, and character development. By Feb 1988, the majority of voice performances by Dom De Luise, Burt Reynolds, Loni Anderson, and Charles Nelson Reilly had been completed. For the character of “Anne-Marie,” voiced by Judith Barsi, a live action reference technique was used to animate the live performance of a six-year-old Irish girl. Over 1,500,000 individual drawings were produced for the film, with 130,000 appearing in the final edit.
A 26 Jun 1989 DV article announced that all foreign territories except Japan had been sold for a total of $7 million, while domestic distribution rights went to United Artists (UA) for a planned 17 Nov 1989 release of 1000-1300 prints. Instead of relying on UA for prints and advertising, Goldcrest provided the $10 million prints and advertising budget to “protect the ancillaries and get better points.” In turn, UA received a twenty percent distribution fee instead of the standard thirty percent, and agreed to pay Goldcrest at least $8 million from home video sales if the film took in over $35 million at the box office. Contracting with several U.S. companies, Goldcrest arranged $20-30 million worth of advertising deals and promotional tie-ins, including promotions at Wendy’s fast food chain, coloring contests at supermarkets in various regions, and stuffed toy offers from Hines pet food, as stated in a 12 Nov 1989 LAT article.
The film was released two days after The Little Mermaid (1989, see entry), an animated picture from Walt Disney Studios, where Don Bluth had worked as an animator until 1979. According to the 19 Nov 1989 LAT, Bluth, along with fellow filmmakers John Pomeroy and Gary Goldman, left the studio for artistic reasons, believing that Disney’s animation had degenerated into “something quite inane.” Critics made frequent mention of the competition between All Dogs Go to Heaven and The Little Mermaid, and a negative review in the 17 Nov 1989 NYT suggested Bluth’s film should “roll over and play dead” after the “formidable wake” of The Little Mermaid’s opening two days. NYT went on to accuse David N. Weiss’s screenplay of being “unfocused and overcomplicated,” while the 17 Nov 1989 LAT review criticized Charles Strouse’s songs as being “eminently unhummable.” The 15 Nov 1989 HR reviewed the film more favorably, predicting it would be a box-office success, praising its expressive character animation, and stating that the film “comes closer than any other recent animated feature in recapturing the depth and scale of classic works.” According to the 2 Feb 1990 LAT, the film had taken in $23,893,398 in box-office receipts to that time.
All Dogs Go to Heaven marked child actress Judith Barsi’s last feature film role before she and her mother were murdered by her father in a double homicide-suicide in 1988.
End credits include the statement: “Special thanks to the Industrial Development Authority of Ireland.”
More
Less
A Sullivan Bluth Studios Ireland Ltd. Production
A Don Bluth Film
In 1939 Louisiana, a dachshund named Itchy helps his dog friend, Charlie, escape from the pound. Charlie seeks out his business partner, a corrupt bulldog named Carface, at their casino on an abandoned ship on the edge of a bayou. Although Carface pretends to welcome him back, he tells Killer, his neurotic assistant, that Charlie must die. After a celebratory dinner held by Carface, a drunken Charlie is dragged to the edge of a dock, blindfolded, and run over by an unmanned automobile. Charlie drowns and goes to heaven, where a whippet angel shows him a stopped pocket watch that represents his lifespan. Although Charlie is not ready to die, the angel tells him no one is ever allowed to return to Earth. Learning there are no surprises in heaven, Charlie sings about his desire for surprise and dances with the angel to distract her, then steals his “life watch” and winds it backward, plummeting back to Earth. With the life watch around his neck, Charlie finds Itchy, who thinks his friend is a ghost and tries to run away. Assuring Itchy he is still alive, Charlie announces plans to take revenge against Carface. Itchy tries to discourage him by insisting that Carface keeps a monster in “the basement” of the ship. The dogs crawl into an airshaft to spy on the monster, and discover a little girl dressed in rags. They watch as Carface pays a visit, urging the girl to converse with a caged rat. The girl, Anne-Marie, addresses the rat as “Mr. Longtail” and asks which rat will win the race at the casino that night. Once she relays the predicted winner, Carface orders Killer to ... + −
In 1939 Louisiana, a dachshund named Itchy helps his dog friend, Charlie, escape from the pound. Charlie seeks out his business partner, a corrupt bulldog named Carface, at their casino on an abandoned ship on the edge of a bayou. Although Carface pretends to welcome him back, he tells Killer, his neurotic assistant, that Charlie must die. After a celebratory dinner held by Carface, a drunken Charlie is dragged to the edge of a dock, blindfolded, and run over by an unmanned automobile. Charlie drowns and goes to heaven, where a whippet angel shows him a stopped pocket watch that represents his lifespan. Although Charlie is not ready to die, the angel tells him no one is ever allowed to return to Earth. Learning there are no surprises in heaven, Charlie sings about his desire for surprise and dances with the angel to distract her, then steals his “life watch” and winds it backward, plummeting back to Earth. With the life watch around his neck, Charlie finds Itchy, who thinks his friend is a ghost and tries to run away. Assuring Itchy he is still alive, Charlie announces plans to take revenge against Carface. Itchy tries to discourage him by insisting that Carface keeps a monster in “the basement” of the ship. The dogs crawl into an airshaft to spy on the monster, and discover a little girl dressed in rags. They watch as Carface pays a visit, urging the girl to converse with a caged rat. The girl, Anne-Marie, addresses the rat as “Mr. Longtail” and asks which rat will win the race at the casino that night. Once she relays the predicted winner, Carface orders Killer to change the odds and leaves Anne-Marie trapped in the room despite his promise to let her outside. Recognizing the girl’s ability to talk to animals as a business opportunity, Charlie approaches and learns she is an orphan. Quickly gaining her trust, he and Itchy steal her away. When Carface realizes the girl is gone, he rages at Killer and demands her return. Charlie takes Anne-Marie home with him to an old taxicab in a junkyard. He reads her a bedtime story and reluctantly obliges her request for a goodnight kiss. She keeps him awake by tossing and turning, then praying out loud for a mommy and daddy. Anne-Marie asks Charlie to help her find parents, and he agrees as long as she goes to sleep. The next day, Itchy and Charlie take Anne-Marie to a race track and ask her to speak to the horses. She accuses Charlie of acting just like Carface, but he promises they will donate their winnings to the poor and use it to buy her new clothes so she can attract parents. A horse named Stella tells Anne-Marie that a notoriously slow horse, the Grand Chawhee, will win because it is his birthday. Using Itchy as a decoy, Charlie steals a young man’s wallet for betting money. The man’s wife takes an interest in Anne-Marie, asking about her parents, but the orphan rushes off with her canine friends. To place a bet, Anne-Marie stands on top of Itchy and Charlie under a large coat and pretends to be a man. Grand Chawhee’s odds are 1000 to 1, but the other horses allow him to win for his birthday, as planned. Over time, Itchy and Charlie use Anne-Marie to win more money at various events, including turtle races and kangaroo boxing matches. She disapproves when Charlie and Itchy open a new casino and threatens to leave, but Charlie takes her with him to distribute food to the poor. At the home of his friend, Flo, Charlie delivers several pizzas to her puppies, who call him “Uncle Charlie.” Carface learns about Charlie’s re-emergence and new casino and plots his murder, for which Killer procures an atomic ray gun. Meanwhile, Charlie sings a song to Flo’s puppies to encourage sharing and presents them with a cake. When Anne-Marie discovers the wallet Charlie stole, she finds a picture of the couple inside and imagines life with the two of them as her parents. That night, Charlie has a nightmare that he is sent to hell after his life clock stops. When he awakens, Anne-Marie is gone, and the puppies inform him that she went to return the stolen wallet. At the home of the couple, Harold and Kate, Anne-Marie enjoys breakfast and explains that she lives with Charlie in a junkyard. Kate pulls Harold aside and insists they keep the girl, while Charlie appears at the window and tells Anne-Marie she is the best friend he ever had. Unable to part ways with the dog, Anne-Marie escapes out the window. Shortly after, Carface and Killer pursue Charlie and Anne-Marie with the ray gun. However, when Charlie is shot, he remains alive because his life clock is still ticking. Charlie and Anne-Marie reach a hideout but fall through a hole in the floor and drop into the bayou, where a tribe of rodents takes them captive. Their leader, a large alligator named King Gator, arrives and begins to eat Charlie but stops when he hears the dog’s howl. Declaring that Charlie has a lovely singing voice, King Gator suggests they perform a duet, and the two sing “Let’s Make Music Together.” Later, a wounded Itchy finds Charlie and says he was beaten by Carface and his thugs, who also burned down their casino. Itchy begs Charlie to leave town with him and accuses him of being in love with Anne-Marie. Charlie denies it, saying he was only pretending to be her friend. The girl overhears and runs away in tears, leaving her stuffed bunny behind, and Carface kidnaps her once again. Flo finds the stuffed bunny and tells Itchy to take it to 402 Maple Street, where Harold and Kate live. Waking up to the sound of dogs barking on their front porch, Harold and Kate open the door to find a pack of dogs led by Itchy, who carries Anne-Marie’s bunny in his mouth. Meanwhile, Carface’s thugs catch Charlie, tie him to an anchor, and throw him into the bayou. King Gator hears his cry and comes to the rescue, releasing Charlie. Kate and Harold follow Itchy and his friends to Carface’s casino, where Anne-Marie has fallen into the bayou in the middle of a fiery gasoline spill. Charlie dives into the water to save her and, in the process, loses his life watch. As the hands of the watch come to a stop, he places Anne-Marie on a floating cargo box, then drowns. Killer pushes Anne-Marie to shore, where Harold and Kate await her. Sometime later, Itchy joins Anne-Marie in bed in their new home at Harold and Kate’s. Charlie’s ghost emerges from an ominous red cloud and apologizes to a sleeping Anne-Marie. Just then, a white orb of light appears, banishing the red dragon that awaited his doomed soul. The whippet angel calls out to Charlie, announcing he has earned back his place in heaven. Before he floats away, Anne-Marie wakes up and shares a tearful goodbye with Charlie. Later, Carface arrives in heaven and, like Charlie once did, ignores the whippet angel by stealing his life watch, turning it back, and plummeting back to Earth. + −
Viewed by AFI
Partially Viewed
Offscreen Credit
Name Occurs Before Title
AFI Life Achievement AwardTOP SEARCHES
CASABLANCA
During World War II, Casablanca, Morocco is a waiting point for throngs of desperate refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Exit visas, which are necessary to leave the country, are at ... >>
CITIZEN KANE
Seventy-year-old newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane dies in his palatial Florida home, Xanadu, after uttering the single word “Rosebud.” While watching a newsreel summarizing the years during which Kane ... >>
REAR WINDOW
Laid up with a broken leg during the height of summer, renowned New York magazine photographer L. B. “Jeff” Jeffries enters his last week of home confinement, bored and ... >>
RAGING BULL
In 1941, at a boxing match in Cleveland, Ohio, pandemonium breaks out when Jake La Motta, an up-and-coming young boxer, loses a decision to Jimmy Reeves, suffering his first ... >>
CITY LIGHTS
At an outdoor dedication ceremony, a tramp is discovered sleeping in the arms of a statue as it is being unveiled before a crowd. He is chased into ... >>