Product Details

• Actors: Dom DeLuise, Burt Reynolds, Judith Barsi, Melba Moore, Daryl Gilley
• Directors: Dan Kuenster, Don Bluth, Gary Goldman
• Writers: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, David J. Steinberg, David N. Weiss, Guy Shulman
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: March 6, 2001
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (157 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000056H26
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,617 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "All Dogs Go to Heaven" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

All Dogs Go To Heaven is a musical, animated exploration of the fundamental conflict between good and bad and of the notions of caring and friendship. While all dogs may be welcome in heaven, the open admission policy doesn't necessarily ensure that a dog is worthy of, or even ready to accept his heavenly blessing. When criminal dog Charlie Barker (Burt Reynolds) and his sidekick Itchy (Dom DeLuise) escape from the dog pound, it isn't long before they realize that former business partner-in-crime Carface (Vic Taybak) has turned against them. Carface puts a permanent end to the partnership by killing Charlie, but Charlie ascends to heaven only to spurn his promised life devoid of surprises and fight to return to a life of vengeance, danger, and adventure on earth. When Charlie realizes that Carface has been using the animal-talking talents of young orphan girl named Anne-Marie (Judith Barsi) to further the success of his gambling business, Charlie steals her away and starts his own lucrative business venture. Charlie and Anne-Marie begin to become friends, but Anne-Marie's strong sense of what is right conflicts with Charlie's complete lack of moral standards and puts their friendship at risk. Worse, Charlie's quest for revenge threatens his own life as well as the lives of his friends Anne-Marie and Itchy. (Ages 6 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

Product Description

Set in 1939 New Orleans, this colorful, song-filled story centers on Charles B. Barkin, a roguish German Shepherd with the charm of a con man and the heart of a marshmallow. Out for revenge against his double-crossing former partner, a cigar-chomping pit bull known as Carface, Charlie finds himself guardian to a lonely little orphan named Anne-Marie. Her astounding ability to talk to animals leads this unlikely pair on an adventure packed with thrills, laughs, tears and true love.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgia trip Surprisingly Rewarded January 13, 2006

By D. Bennett

Format:DVD

I never liked dogs when I was a kid, mostly because I was a runt and they could pretty much eat me whole. Which didn't preclude me from liking the idea of dogs, or from loving this film way back when. On a nostalgia kick I bought it again and expected to have another aspect of my childhood destroyed upon being reminded of how horrible some of the things I liked back then actually are from an adult perspective (A few examples come to mind, but at least I won't have to contend with liking a few things on TV nowadays that will definitely have future adults cringing...).

Surprise, it's actually even more enjoyable now as an "adult". It's all as good as I remembered, or better.

When I was a child I never percieved it as a particularly "dark" film as so many claim it to be... Truthfully, the thing that has stuck with me over the years is the songs. They really are engaging and well written, not the squirm-fests that populate most children's films of any era. And while certain things stick out as not being acceptable in today's children's pictures (the drinking, and straightforwardness on topics such as gambling and murder), I definitely don't think that's the attitude that defines the film. To "clean up" this movie would be to suck the life from it, and make it just like any more modern children's film.

I have no qualms with showing it to my nieces and nephews. I think it's a shame that movies nowaday shelter younguns from anything resembling reality. Besides, at the core it's a great, touching story about love and friendship, and I think that's what shines through for most kids, and most adults upon watching the film. Anne Marie is absolutely adorable, and Charlie, voiced by Burt Reynolds is as likeable a scoundrel as any.... The characters are all dimensional and believable, despite being dogs. Another thing that sticks out when viewing this film in comparison to more modern children's offerings.

It can now be seen, unfortunately, as a throwback to when kids movies didn't need to rely on flashy graphics or super-hip characters and settings to be entertaining. Current studios could use a dose of this adventurousness. Read more ›

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A childhood favorite December 8, 2000

By Alanna Evans

Format:DVD

I have not seen the DVD of this movie, but will comment on the movie itself:

With a movie based around dogs running a gambling (rat races) and bar joint, it already earns coolness factor among children's fare. As a child of about 9 when this movie was originally released (ten years ago) these references went straight over my head. Strangely the movie is still entertaining, although slipping a bit into typical heartwarming stuff after the introduction of the little girl into the mix (who is being held by Charlie's - the German Shephard-like lead dog voiced wonderfully by Burt Reynolds - nemesis, Carface because she can talk to animals and thus know who will win the day's race.)

Set in New Orleans, the main plot (which the rest is filler really) is Charlie and his partner Itchy return to the joint that Charlie and Carface used to run together (up until Charlie was thrown into the clinker - the dog pound - until Itchy got him out, the great escape is where the movie begins) and under the guise of helping Charlie set up his own place, Carface holds a party at Mardi Gras where Charlie gets a little too sloshed and makes him an easy target for a cleancut murder. All dogs go to heaven of course despite the fact there's little record of our lead actually doing any good in his earthly canine life, but heaven wasn't good enough for Charlie, he wants revenge, so he steals his watch of life, winds it back up and heads back down for Vengeance upon the ones who has done him wrong.... That's when his life gets entangled with the little orphan girl (called "Squeaker" by him through most of the movie after a rather cute scene which I won't spoil here), who he 'rescues' for 'using' her for his own selfish purposes instead of helping the child realize her dreams, but his coming to care for her in turn ends up leading to his own true salvation.

A very 'dark' film, in lighting and sometimes even in story, there's many morals to be found underneath, the biggest being that even imperfect people (or animals) have goodness in their heart, they only have to reach out and open their hearts to find it. The badguys are truly bad although the lead villan's Chihuahua looking scrapgoat shows a kinder side sometimes, and are played out kind of like mobsters and not too over-the-top. There are no ridiculous ambitions, simply the doing in of Charlie so that his claim to the business is his void (he'd be dead afterall), which is a refreshing pace from superhero movies. The voice acting is very good in most cases, and a couple of the songs don't even make adults cringe too much (especially the one in heaven is quite nice).

A well done film throughout, which spawned a mediocre sequel and animated series. However, there's no substitute for the original, which is one of the best animated movies to come out of the 90s period. Children will love it, and adults will be able to watch it without feeling too ill or out of place, and those that grew up on it, probably still hold it close to their hearts. Read more ›

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Great movie, poor presentation April 1, 2011

By baolong

Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a huge fan of this movie and I was looking forward to the Blu-ray release, especially since the DVD transfer is pretty lousy. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray isn't much of an improvement, and in some ways is worse than the DVD.

First off, the Blu-ray is totally bare-bones. The only extra is the theatrical trailer. There's no top menu, only a pop-up menu which lets you select scenes and toggle audio/subtitles while the film is in progress. This makes setup a real pain, since you have to start the movie, choose your settings, and then restart the movie. There's no recall function, so if you need to stop the film partway through, you'll have to restart it when you return. In addition, you'll need to manually skip through the 20th Century Fox logo and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" ad every time, since there's no top menu to jump to.

As for the film itself, the jumpiness/flicker from the DVD version is gone and the colors are bolder. However, there's still a lot of digital noise--graininess, specks on the screen, etc. Overall the picture looks like something that would be found on a DVD, and compared to the crystal clear Disney Blu-rays, it's extremely disappointing. The bigger problem is that the Blu-ray is presented in widescreen format, despite "All Dogs" being filmed in 1.33:1 aspect. So, the top and bottom of the screen are cut off, and large segments of the background art are lost. Granted, people have always complained about black bars on their screens, and including a cropped-in option isn't a bad idea. But why isn't a matted version there as well? Surely there's enough room on the disc for both?...

If you need to get a copy of this film right now, I recommend the DVD version: the picture quality isn't quite as good, but it's in the correct aspect ratio and it has a top menu. Otherwise, hold off until Fox releases a true high-def restoration. Read more ›