What if DreamWorks Pictures/DreamWorks Animation was founded in 1934?/All Dogs Go to Heaven

All Dogs Go to Heaven is a 1989 animated musical fantasy comedy-drama film directed and produced by Don Bluth, and released by DreamWorks Pictures, United Artists and Goldcrest Films. It tells the story of Charlie B. Barkin (voiced by Burt Reynolds), a German Shepherd that is murdered by his former friend, Carface Caruthers (voiced by Vic Tayback, in his penultimate film role), but withdraws from his place in Heaven to return to Earth, where his best friend, Itchy Itchiford (voiced by Dom DeLuise) still lives, and they team up with a young orphan girl named Anne-Marie (voiced by Judith Barsi, in her final film role), who teaches them an important lesson about kindness, friendship and love.

The film is an Irish, British and American venture, produced by DreamWorks Pictures, Sullivan Bluth Studios and Goldcrest Films. On its cinema release, it competed directly with Walt Disney Feature Animation's The Little Mermaid, released on the same day. While it did not repeat the box-office success of Sullivan Bluth's previous feature films, An American Tail, and The Land Before Time and most DreamWorks Feature Animation films, it was successful on home video, becoming one of the biggest-selling VHS releases ever. It inspired a theatrical sequel (making it DreamWorks' first animated film to have a sequel) and a television series.

All Dogs Go to Heaven was released on DVD on November 17, 1998, and as an Dora Wilson's Animated Classics edition on March 6, 2001. It had a DVD double-feature release with its sequel on March 14, 2006, and January 18, 2011. The film was released in high definition for the first time on Blu-ray on March 29, 2011.

Plot
In 1939, Charlie Barkin and his best friend Itchy Itchiford are breaking out of a heavily secured dog pound, but in the process bust a water main and are discovered. The two barely escape while being shot at. Later, they make a grand entrance at an casino riverboat on the bayou, formerly run by Charlie himself and now run by his business partner, Carface Caruthers. Apparently, Carface, refusing to share the profits with Charlie, had been responsible for Charlie and Itchy getting committed at the pound. Unaware of Carface's malicious intent, Charlie returns to him expecting open arms, but Carface wants to sever ties with him, claiming that authorities searching for Charlie will discover the operation. To get Charlie out of his plans for good, Carface and his henchmen Fee, Line and Killer arrange his death. Itchy discovers this plot and attempts to warn Charlie. Carface takes Charlie to Mardi Gras in New Orleans to celebrate Charlie going into his own business. At the party, he gives Charlie a "lucky" gold watch. The drunk Charlie is then taken to the docks, while Itchy searches for him. Carface and his henchmen start a car at the end of the docks, which then rolls down and run over at Charlie.

Having long, Charlie is sent to Heaven despite never actually doing any good deeds in his life, where he meets a whippet angel (later known as Annabelle), who tells him that a gold watch representing his life has stopped. Charlie is upset and dissatisfied, having to die before his time, which the whippet angel then tells Charlie that he can return to Earth for trying to live some time, giving him the gold watch to ensure still living, telling also he needs to do an good deed to return. Charlie uses the watch to returning to Earth, but is told before that if he dies again without do a good deed, he will not return to Heaven and will end up in Hell instead. On Earth, Charlie visits Itchy at his home. Itchy is scared, believing Charlie is a ghost, but Charlie convinces him otherwise. The two then go searching for the secret to Carface's success. They crawl through the vents and discover that Carface has kidnapped a young orphaned girl named Anne-Marie, who has the ability to talk to animals and gain knowledge of a race's results beforehand, allowing Carface to rig the odds on the rat races in his favor. They rescue her, intending to use her abilities to get revenge on Carface, taking her back to Itchy's house. Upon discovering this, and outraged Carface commands Fee, Line and Killer to find her.

The next day, the trio heads to the horse track. With some difficulty, Charlie convinces Anne-Marie to talk to one of the horses, saying that any money they earn will go to the poor. A horse says that it is The Grand Chawhee's birthday, and that he will win. The group is then seen outside, looking for a way to get money to bet with. They find a couple, and Charlie tells Itchy to do "the number three." Itchy is then seen acting as though he is injured, in order to distract the couple while Charlie takes the man's wallet. After obtaining the wallet, the three leave to make the bet.

In the next scene, the three are seen stacked up under a pink overcoat. They make their bet and go to their seats. When the race starts, Chawhee is seen exiting his starting pen backward. However, the other horses allow him to win. Charlie, Itchy and Anne-Marie collect their earnings and are seen winning bets on numerous other races. However, Anne-Marie is unhappy, and the trio goes out and buys her pretty new clothes. Itchy then builds a casino, which the two run successfully. Charlie then spots Anne-Marie attempting to leave, unhappy because none of the money has gone to helping the poor, or to finding Anne-Marie new parents, both of which were promised by Charlie. In order to convince her to stay, Charlie decides to go "help the poor".

Meanwhile, Carface is about to lower Fee, Line and Killer into a pit of pirahnnas, after realizing Charlie is still alive and he have Anne-Marie. While they are being lowered, Killer asks Carface to spare them, saying he has a gun. Carface pulls him up and asks what type of gun it is, to which Killer replies "a Flash-Gordon Thermo-Atomic Ray Gun." Carface appears to be pleased before the scene cuts to Charlie and Anne-Marie bringing pizza to a family of poor puppies and their mother, Flo, at an church. While there, Anne-Marie becomes upset at Charlie for stealing the wallet. She goes to the attic and wishes to live with the couple in the future. After a nightmare in which he is sent to Hell for eternity, Charlie wakes up in the room, only to find Anne-Marie gone.

The couple welcome Anne-Marie into their home, serving waffles. They also forgive Charlie for taking their wallet. Anne Marie tells the couple that she lives with Charlie, and that she has no parents. The couple exits the room to talk about her. While they are talking, Charlie shows up and convinces Anne-Marie to leave with him. The two then pass through the market on their way home. Fee, Line and Killer are also there with the ray gun. The trio shoot Charlie several times, but he survives, due to as long as he’s wearing the life watch, he’s immortal. As he and Anne-Marie run away, a confused Killer starts to fire in random directions while the rhino he, Fee and Line are riding runs off.

Charlie and Anne-Marie are then seen hiding in an abandoned building. The two fall through the floor, and Charlie loses his watch. In the flooded area beneath, he tries to find it. He sees it, but it starts floating away. Charlie and Anne-Marie are then picked up and moved in the same direction by an unseen force. They are then seen in cages being carried by rats. Charlie asks Anne-Marie to talk to them, but she cannot understand them. Charlie attempts to grab his watch, but loses it again when he is dropped onto an island with Anne-Marie. A moving object in the water circles the island before coming ashore, revealing it to be a giant alligator named King Gator. The alligator places Charlie in its mouth, despite Anne-Marie’s plea to not eat Charlie, and he howls. King Gator decides not to eat Charlie because to him, it sounds like Charlie, and begins singing, during which Charlie recovers the watch, the less water sickening Anne-Marie. Charlie picks up Anne-Marie, who has is sick, and the two ride King Gator back into New Orleans.

Back at Charlie's Casino, Itchy is closing up, while Carface sneaks up on him and asks where Anne-Marie is. Itchy does not know, and Carface attacks him. At the church, Charlie is talking to Flo about Anne-Marie when Itchy limps in, presumably beaten up by Carface’s thugs. He tells Charlie what happened, and shows him the burning casino, suggesting the two leave Anne-Marie behind and go someplace else. Charlie tells him that they need to start over, and need her more than ever. Itchy tells Charlie that he knows he seems to care about Anne-Marie. Charlie, realizing Itchy is right, tries to lying about it, saying that he doesn't care about her, that he is just using her, and when they are done with her, he'll put her in an orphanage. Unbeknownst to them, Itchy notices Anne-Marie, who was overhearing their conversation. Not knowing Charlie was lying, she tells him that he is a bad dog, and runs away, crying. Charlie runs after her, and stops at the entrance, where she has left her stuffed rabbit. Anne-Marie begins crying about her bad fortune and decides to go to the couple's home, but is captured by Fee, Line and Killer. Charlie hears her scream and runs after her. Itchy reaches the entrance, and Flo tells him to take the stuffed rabbit to 402 Maple Street. Itchy goes into town and asks other dogs where it is. These dogs tell him and spread the word to others. Itchy and many other animals (mainly dogs) reach the house and give the stuffed rabbit to the couple, alerting them that Anne-Marie is in danger.

Charlie reaches Carface's casino and attempts to rescue Anne-Marie, who realizes Charlie truly does cares about her, but Carface is expecting him and has his thugs attack. Charlie is captured and tied to an anchor. While this is happening, a weasel bites Charlie's foot, and he howls, summoning King Gator (who he and Anne-Marie met earlier). When Charlie is lowered, King Gator sets him free. While this is happening, Itchy is bringing a large group of animals to the site. The alligator's attacks makes Fee and Line to run away. Carface tries to ambush Charlie from behind, but Anne-Marie hits him off the place with a tree branch, knocking Carface into the water to be chased away by King Gator, and Charlie dives in to save Anne-Marie, who falls into the water when the wood crumbles beneath her. Charlie grabs her and pulls her up, but his watch falls in. Charlie puts Anne-Marie on a piece of debris and pushes her outside, and dives in to get the watch, despite Anne-Marie trying to convice him to escape with her. The watch, now at the bottom, floods and stops before Charlie reaches his watch. Charlie drops his watch into the water, however, he pushes Anne-Marie to safety onto some debris, and dives into the water to retrieve it, but it stops before he can get to it. Anne-Marie and a redeemed Killer are discovered by Itchy, Flo, the couple, and the authorities, as the boat sinks into the water.

Sometime later, the couple adopt Anne-Marie, who recovered from her disease and has also adopted Itchy. Charlie returns in ghost form to apologize to Anne-Marie. The whippet angel appears and tells him that because he sacrificed his life for Anne-Marie, Charlie made a good deed and has earned his place in Heaven. Anne-Marie awakens, and they reconcile. Charlie asks her to take care of Itchy, and bids his sleeping friend goodbye. When Anne-Marie goes to sleep again, Charlie reluctantly leaves and returns to Heaven where Carface finally arrives, having been caught and eaten by King Gator. During the credits, it shows Carface ripping off his angel wings and halo while planning to get his revenge against King Gator by taking one of the clocks; until he warned by the whippet angel that if he takes the clock, he can "never come back" before being chased by her. The film ends with Charlie watching Carface getting chased away, until he looks at the audience and says "He'll be back" before winking and retrieving his halo (ending the film).

Voice cast

 * Burt Reynolds as Charlie B. Barkin
 * Dom DeLuise as Itchy Itchiford
 * Judith Barsi as Anne-Marie
 * Vic Tayback as Carface Caruthers
 * Charles Nelson Reilly as Killer
 * Loni Anderson as Flo
 * Melba Moore as a Whippet angel/Annabelle
 * Ken Page as King Gator
 * Rob Fuller and Earleen Carey as Kate and Harold, a married couple and later Anne-Marie's adoptive parents.
 * Godfrey Quigley as Terrier
 * Anna Manahan as Stella Dallas
 * Candy Devine as Vera

Production
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Soundtrack
The music for All Dogs Go to Heaven was composed by Ralph Burns with lyrics by Charles Strouse, T.J. Kuenster, Joel Hirschhorn, and Al Kasha. An official soundtrack was released on July 1, 1989, by Curb Records on audio cassette and CD featuring 13 tracks, including seven vocal songs performed by various cast members. The end credits theme "Love Survives" was dedicated to Anne-Marie's voice actress Judith Barsi, who died before the film's release.

Track listing
 * 1) "Love Survives" - Irene Cara and Freddie Jackson - Length: 3:25
 * 2) "Mardi Gras" - Music Score - Length: 1:17
 * 3) "You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down" - Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise - Length: 2:30
 * 4) "Hellhound" - Music Score - Length: 2:09
 * 5) "What's Mine Is Yours" - Burt Reynolds - Length: 1:48
 * 6) "At the Race Track" - Music Score - Length: 1:49
 * 7) "Let Me Be Surprised" - Melba Moore and Burt Reynolds - Length: 4:54
 * 8) "Soon You'll Come Home" (Anne-Marie's Theme) - Lana Beeson - Length: 2:38
 * 9) "Money Montage" - Music Score - Length: 3:43
 * 10) "Dogs to the Rescue" - Music Score - Length: 3:10
 * 11) "Let's Make Music Together" - Ken Page and Burt Reynolds - Length: 2:24
 * 12) "Goodbye Anne-Marie" - Music Score - Length: 2:10
 * 13) "Hallelujah" - Candy Devine - 1:21

Personnel

 * Irene Cara - vocals (track 1)
 * Freddie Jackson - vocals (track 1)

Critical response
All Dogs Go to Heaven received mixed reviews from critics, maintaining a 55% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 11 reviews, and a 50 out of 100 score from Metacritic. Reviewers often drew unfavorable comparisons to The Little Mermaid, criticizing the disjointed narrative, the quality of the animation, and the songs by Charlie Strouse and T.J. Kuenster. The film received a "thumbs down" from Gene Siskel and a "thumbs up" from Roger Ebert on a 1989 episode of their television program At the Movies. While Siskel found it to be "surprisingly weak" given director Don Bluth's previous works, due largely to its "confusing story" and "needlessly violent" scenes, Ebert was a fan of the movie's "rubbery and kind of flexible" animation, stating he felt it was a good film despite not being an "animated classic".

Some also found the darker subject material objectionable in a family film, given the film's depictions of death, violence, drinking, smoking, gambling, murder, demons, and images of Hell. Other reviews were mostly positive, with critics praising the film's emotional qualities, humor, and vibrant color palette. Roger Ebert, who was unimpressed with Bluth's previous film An American Tail, gave it three out of four stars, remarking that the animation "permits such a voluptuous use of color that the movie is an invigorating bath for the eyes," and that although he preferred The Little Mermaid, which opened on the same day, he still found Dogs to be "bright and inventive." However, film critic Leonard Maltin gave it one-and-a-half out of four stars, due to "unappealing characters, confusing storytelling, and forgettable songs."

Today, however, All Dogs Go to Heaven is viewed as a classic and was more successful in home video releases. Some critics call the film "DreamWorks Animation's hand-drawn crowning achievement".

Box office
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Awards and honors
All Dogs Go to Heaven received a nomination for "Best Family Motion Picture: Adventure or Cartoon" at the 11th annual Youth in Film Awards ceremony, being beaten by Disney's The Little Mermaid. The home video release received an Award of Excellence from the Film Advisory Board.

Home media
All Dogs Go to Heaven was released on VHS, S-VHS, 8mm video and LaserDisc in both regular and special CAV standard play editions by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on August 28, 1990. The film became a sleeper hit due to its home video release; a strong promotional campaign helped it become one of the top-selling VHS releases of all time, selling over 3 million copies in its first month.

A DVD version was made available for the first time on March 6, 2001, under the DreamWorks Classics label and was later released as a double feature with All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (as part of the Dora Wilson's Animated Classics DVD line-up) on March 14, 2006. On March 29, 2011, the film made its debut on Blu-ray, which was later included as a bundle with its sequel on October 7, 2014, along with a re-release of the compilation on DVD. The Blu-ray version was also packaged with Wonderland, on October 8, 2013, and again with Headin' South, Kung Fu Panda, Wonderland, Friendly, The Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful World of Mr. Wonderful, Trolls, A Thousand Attempts and One Invention, Hail Arthur, Mouse in the House, Swan Lake, Elefriend, The Bre'r Rabbit Tale, Manuelita, Little Audrey, Sparky and the Talking Piano, Paulie, The Prince of Egypt, Shrek, The Cat in the Hat, Bee Movie, A Series of Unforntunate Events, Hotel for Dogs, Puss in Boots and other DreamWorks family films as part of the company's 80th anniversary "Best of Family Collection" DVD boxset on February 4, 2014.

Sequel and spin-off TV series
The success of the film, particularly its performance on home video, prompted a theatrical sequel, All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, which was followed by a spin-off television series aired from 1996 to 1998 and a series of television specials who aired from 1997 to 1998. Don Bluth and his studio had no involvement with any of them. Burt Reynolds reprised his role as Charlie in the sequel while Steven Weber voiced him in the TV series. Tara Strong replaced Judith Barsi for the role of Anne-Marie in both the sequel and the TV series. Charles Nelson Reilly declined to return for the sequel film, but voiced Killer for the TV series. Dom DeLuise played Itchy through the entire franchise.

Charlie, Itchy and Anne-Marie later appeared as main characters in the Netflix series Animal Stories, where Charlie is voiced by Michael Gough, Itchy is voiced by Dean Edwards and Tara Strong repises her role as Anne-Marie.