''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' is a 1989 animated

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by

Don Bluth Donald Virgil Bluth ( ; born September 13, 1937) is an American filmmaker, animator, video game designer and author. He came to prominence working for Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions before creating his own film studio in ...

and co-directed by

Gary Goldman Gary Wayne Goldman (born November 17, 1944) is an American film producer, director, animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequ ...

(his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

) and Dan Kuenster. Set in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in 1939, it tells the story of Charlie B. Barkin (voiced by

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and 1980s. He became well known in television series such as ''Gunsmoke'' (1962–1965), '' Hawk'' (1966) and '' Dan Augus ...

), a

German Shepherd The German Shepherd, also known in Britain as an Alsatian, is a German Dog breed, breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various Old German herding dogs, traditional German herding dog ...

who is murdered by his former friend, Carface Carruthers (voiced by Vic Tayback). Charlie escapes from Heaven to return to Earth where his best friend, Itchy Itchiford (voiced by Dom DeLuise), still lives, in order to take revenge on Carface. Instead, he ends up befriending a young orphan girl named Anne-Marie (voiced by Judith Barsi in her final film role). In the process, Charlie learns an important lesson about kindness, friendship and love. The film is an Irish, British and American venture, produced by Goldcrest Films and Sullivan Bluth Studios Ireland Limited. On its cinema release, it competed directly with

Walt Disney Feature Animation Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...

's '' The Little Mermaid'', released on the same day. While it did not repeat the box-office success of Sullivan Bluth's previous features, '' An American Tail'' and ''

The Land Before Time ''The Land Before Time'' is a franchise consisting of American animated film, animated Adventure film, adventure Children's film, family films centered around dinosaurs, including a Movie theater, theatrical movie, various Direct-to-video, st ...

'', it was successful on home video, becoming one of the biggest-selling

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

releases ever. It was followed by a theatrical sequel, a

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

, and a holiday direct-to-video film.

Plot

In 1939

, Charlie B. Barkin escapes from the dog pound with the help of his best friend Itchy Itchiford and returns to their casino riverboat on the

bayou In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...

. His business partner, Carface Caruthers is surprised to see Charlie alive and is reluctant to share the profits with him. Carface had secretly been responsible for Charlie getting committed to the pound due to greed and decides to get rid of him for good this time by killing him with a car. Despite not having done any good lifetime deeds Charlie is automatically sent to

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

. He is then greeted by a

whippet The Whippet is a British breed of dog of sighthound type. It closely resembles the Greyhound and the smaller Italian Greyhound, and is intermediate between them in size. In the nineteenth century it was sometimes called "the poor man's raceh ...

angel who explains to him that because dogs are inherently good and loyal, all dogs go to Heaven and are entitled to paradise. Taking advantage of her kindness, Charlie cheats death by stealing a pocket watch representing his life and winding it back. As Charlie descends back to Earth, the whippet angel tells him that he can never return to Heaven. When Charlie returns he reunites with Itchy and plots revenge in the form of a rivaling business. They soon discover that Carface's success has been from a kidnapped young orphan girl named Anne-Marie for her ability to talk to animals, which proves helpful when betting on races. While Charlie rescues her and promises to feed the poor and help her find a family, he takes her to a race track the following day to gamble. Charlie steals a wallet from a couple as they talk to Anne-Marie and become concerned by her rough appearance. Charlie and Itchy use their winnings to build a successful casino in the junkyard where they live. Anne-Marie threatens to leave when she realizes she has been used, but Charlie persuade her to stay by bringing

pizza Pizza is an Italian cuisine, Italian, specifically Neapolitan cuisine, Neapolitan, dish typically consisting of a flat base of Leavening agent, leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high t ...

to a family of poor puppies and their mother (Flo) at an abandoned church. Although initially a success, Anne-Marie becomes angry at Charlie when she discovers the stolen wallet. As Charlie has a nightmare in which he is condemned to Hell, Anne-Marie returns the wallet to the couple who introduce themselves as Kate and Harold. As they privately discuss adopting her Charlie arrives and tricks her into leaving with him. Charlie and Anne-Marie narrowly escape an ambush by Carface and his assistant Killer and hide in an abandoned building, but the ground breaks and they fall into the lair of a giant alligator named King Gator. He and Charlie bond over a love of music and he lets them go, but Anne-Marie catches

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

in the process. Carface and his thugs destroy Charlie's casino and assault Itchy. Feeling abandoned, Itchy limps back to the church to confront Charlie about his relationship with Anne-Marie. Charlie retorts in exasperation that he is using her and will eventually "dump her in an orphanage". A heartbroken Anne-Marie overhears the conversation and tearfully runs away before she is kidnapped by Carface. Charlie follows them to Carface's casino, where he is ambushed by his thugs. As they fight with Charlie they inadvertently start an oil fire that soon engulfs the whole structure. Charlie's pained howls from their bites summon King Gator, who chases down and devours Carface. During the chaos both Anne-Marie and the watch fall into the water, but Charlie is unable to rescue both at the same time. He then decides to choose Anne-Marie by placing her onto some driftwood and pushes her toward safety, but Charlie's life ends as the watch stops before he can retrieve it. As Killer finishes pushing her to shore Kate and Harold are waiting with police and medical personnel, alongside Itchy, Flo, and the other dogs from New Orleans. Sometime later, Kate and Harold adopt Anne-Marie, who has also adopted Itchy. Charlie, having sacrificed himself to save Anne-Marie, has earned back his place in Heaven, and is allowed to return in

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

form to reconcile with Anne-Marie. Leaving Itchy in her care, Charlie returns to Heaven, where, in a

mid-credits scene A post-credits scene (also known as a stinger, end tag, or credit cookie) is a short teaser clip that appears after the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV show, or video game has run. It is usually i ...

, Carface finally arrives and takes his own watch, vowing revenge against King Gator. As the whippet angel chases him and warns against using it, Charlie assures the audience that "he'll be back".

Voice cast

as Charlie B. Barkin, a brash

and a former

con artist A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibi ...

. * Dom DeLuise as Itchy Itchiford, a paranoid, anxious but loyal

Dachshund The dachshund ( or ; German: 'badger dog'), also known as the wiener dog or sausage dog, badger dog, doxen and doxie, is a short-legged, long-bodied, hound-type dog breed. The dog may be smooth-haired, wire-haired, or long-haired, with varie ...

and Charlie's best friend. * Judith Barsi (Lana Beeson, singing voice) as Anne-Marie, a 7-year-old orphan girl with the ability to talk to and understand animals. This was Barsi's final film role before her murder in 1988; the end credits song "Love Survives" was dedicated in her memory. * Vic Tayback as Carface Carruthers, a violent, sadistic

Bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

gangster. This was Tayback's final film role before his death in 1990. * Charles Nelson Reilly as Killer, a misnamed, fidgety, neurotic and spectacles-wearing Schnoodle who is Carface's

comic relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

sidekick. *

Loni Anderson Loni Anderson (born August 5, 1945) is an American actress. She played receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS sitcom ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–1982), which earned her three Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Award nominations. Early life ...

as Flo, a female Rough Collie and one of Charlie's friends. *

Melba Moore Beatrice Melba Smith (born October 29, 1945) known by her stage name Melba Moore, is an American singer and actress. Biography Early life and education Moore was born Beatrice Melba Smith on October 29, 1945, in New York City to Gertrude Melba ...

as a

Whippet The Whippet is a British breed of dog of sighthound type. It closely resembles the Greyhound and the smaller Italian Greyhound, and is intermediate between them in size. In the nineteenth century it was sometimes called "the poor man's raceh ...

angel who welcomes deceased dogs into Heaven. * Ken Page as King Gator, an American alligator and voodoo

witch doctor A witch doctor (also spelled witch-doctor), or witchcraft doctor, is a kind of magical healer who treats ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. The term is often misunderstood, and they could more accurately be called "anti-witch doctors ...

living below the streets of

. * Rob Fuller and Earleen Carey as Kate and Harold, a kindly married couple who later become Anne-Marie's adoptive parents. * Godfrey Quigley as

Terrier Terrier () is a Dog type, type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many Dog breed, breeds or landraces of the terrier Dog type, type, which are typically small, wiry, Gameness, game, and fearless. There are fi ...

, a dog that appears when Itchy tells everyone Anne-Marie is in danger. * Anna Manahan as Stella Dallas, a horse that appears when Anne-Marie, Charlie and Itchy are at the derby. * Candy Devine as Vera, a female gambling dog. * Dan Molina (uncredited) as the hellhound in Charlie's nightmare and at the finale.

Production

The earliest idea was conceived by Don Bluth after finishing work on ''

The Secret of NIMH ''The Secret of NIMH'' is a 1982 American animated Fantasy film, fantasy adventure film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut and based on Robert C. O'Brien (author), Robert C. O'Brien's children's novel, ''Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N ...

''. The treatment was originally about a canine

private eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

, and one of three short stories, making up an

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

. The character of a shaggy German Shepherd was designed specifically for Burt Reynolds. However, Bluth's first studio,

Don Bluth Productions Don Bluth Entertainment (formerly Sullivan Bluth Studios) was an Irish-American animation studio established in 1979 by animator Don Bluth. Bluth and several colleagues, all of whom were former Disney animators, left Disney on September 13, 1979, ...

, was going through a period of financial difficulty, ultimately having to declare bankruptcy, and the idea never made it beyond rough storyboards. The concept was revived by Bluth,

John Pomeroy John Foster Pomeroy (born March 26, 1951) is an American animator who has worked for several major studios, including Walt Disney Animation Studios and Sullivan Bluth Studios. He has also worked as producer, and screenwriter on several animated ...

and

, and rewritten by David N. Weiss, collaborating with the producers from October through December 1987. They built around the title ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' and drew inspiration from films, such as '' It's a Wonderful Life'', '' Little Miss Marker'' and '' A Guy Named Joe''. The film's title came from a book read to Bluth's fourth-grade class, and he resisted suggestions to change it, stating he liked how "provocative" it sounded, and how people reacted to the title alone. During the production of their previous feature film, Sullivan Bluth Studios had moved from

Van Nuys, California Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Van Nuys City Hall, Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley ...

, to a state-of-the-art studio facility in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland, and the film was their first to begin production wholly at the Irish studio. It was also their first to be funded from sources outside of Hollywood, the previous two feature films, ''An American Tail'' and ''The Land Before Time'', had been backed by

Amblin Entertainment Amblin' Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1980. Its headquarters are lo ...

and

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

, and executive producers

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

and

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

(for ''The Land Before Time'' only) exercised a degree of control over the content of the films, a situation Bluth found disagreeable.Cawley,
The Land Before Time
'' The studio found investment from UK-based Goldcrest Films in a US$70m deal to produce three animated feature films (though only two, '' Rock-a-Doodle'' and it, were completed under the deal).Cawley,
At Home in Ireland
'' The three founding members of the studio, Bluth, Pomeroy, and Goldman, had all moved to Ireland to set up the new facility, but during the film's production, John Pomeroy returned to the United States to head up a satellite studio which provided some of the animation for the film. Pomeroy also used his presence in the United States to generate early publicity for the film, including a presentation at the 1987

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

. The film's lead voices,

and Dom DeLuise, had previously appeared together in five films. For this one, they requested them to record their parts in the studio together (in American animation, actors more commonly record their parts solo). Bluth agreed and allowed the duo to ad-lib extensively; Bluth later commented that "their ad-libs were often better than the original script",* p.14 but Reynolds was more complimentary of the draft, warmly quipping, "Great script, kid", as he left the studio. Another pair of voices, those of Carface and Killer ( Vic Tayback and Charles Nelson Reilly, respectively), also recorded together.

, who voices Flo, was Reynolds' then-wife. Child actress Judith Barsi, who voiced Ducky in Bluth's previous film ''The Land Before Time'', was selected to voice Anne-Marie; she was killed in an apparent murder-suicide over a year before ''All Dogs'' was released. As production neared completion, the studio held test screenings and decided that some scenes were too intense for younger viewers. Pomeroy decided to shorten Charlie's nightmare about being condemned. Goldman also agreed to the cut, recognizing that the concession needed to be made in the name of commercial appeal. Bluth owned a private 35-mm print with the excised scenes and planned to convince Goldcrest on releasing a director's cut after returning from Ireland in the mid-1990s, but the print was eventually stolen from Bluth's locked storage room, diminishing hopes of this version being released on home media.

Music

The music for ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' was composed by Ralph Burns with lyrics by

Charles Strouse Charles Louis Strouse (June 7, 1928 – May 15, 2025) was an American composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to the Broadway musicals ''Bye Bye Birdie'', ''Applause (musical), Applause'', and ''Annie (musical), Annie''. Backgrou ...

, T.J. Kuenster, Joel Hirschhorn, and

Al Kasha Alfred Kasha (January 22, 1937 – September 14, 2020) was an American songwriter, whose songs include "The Morning After (Maureen McGovern song), The Morning After" from ''The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film), The Poseidon Adventure'' and "We May ...

. An official soundtrack was released on July 1, 1989, by Curb Records on

audio cassette The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

and CD featuring 13 tracks, including seven vocal songs performed by various cast members. The track "Let Me Be Surprised" contains a swear word in a dialogue cut from the final product. "Love Survives", the end credits song and overall theme, was dedicated to Anne-Marie's voice actress Judith Barsi, who was shot by her father, József, along with her mother, Maria, before the film's release on July 25, 1988.

Songs

Original songs performed in the film include:

Reception and legacy

Critical response

''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' received mostly mixed reviews, maintaining a 46% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on 28 reviews, and a 50 out of 100 score from

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. 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 Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

and a "thumbs up" from

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

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, largely due to its "confusing story" and "needlessly violent" scenes, Ebert was a huge fan of the film's "rubbery and kind of flexible" animation, stating that 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, theft, 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 ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' to be bright and inventive. In contrast, film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

gave it one-and-a-half out of four stars, due to unappealing characters, confusing storytelling, and forgettable songs.

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

was concerned about the depictions of illegal drug usage and excessive dark thematic elements in a family oriented movie.

Box office

Dissatisfied with the terms imposed by

, which had distributed their previous two films, the studio found an alternative distributor in

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. Somewhat unusually, production investors Goldcrest Films covered the cost of the

release print A release print is a copy of a film that is provided to a movie theater for exhibition. Definitions Release prints are not to be confused with other types of prints used in the photochemical post-production process: * Rush prints, or dailies, ...

s and the promotional campaign, in return for a greatly reduced distribution fee from UA. This was similar to the arrangement with United Artists when they distributed Bluth's first feature film, ''The Secret of NIMH''. Goldcrest Films invested $15 million in print and promotion. Due to contractual issues, very little tie-in merchandise accompanied the film's theatrical release; a computer game adaptation for the Commodore Amiga system (with a free software package) was released, and restaurant chain

Wendy's Wendy's International, LLC, is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (businessman), Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of D ...

offered toys with their Kids' Meals or regular fries. The film opened in North America on November 17, 1989, concurrent with Disney's 28th full-length animated motion picture ''The Little Mermaid''; once again, Sullivan Bluth would be vying for box-office receipts with Disney, just as their last two films (''An American Tail'' and ''The Land Before Time'') had. On its theatrical release, the film was only moderately successful as its performance fell short of the studio's previous box-office successes, grossing $27 million in North America alone, just over half of what ''An American Tail'' and ''The Land Before Time'' each took. This would be Bluth's final box office hit until ''Anastasia'' was released eight years later in 1997, which ended up becoming his highest-grossing film.

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 The Film Advisory Board (FAB) is a member-supported organization founded in 1975 by Elayne Blythe (1919–2005). The FAB's "Award of Excellence" was developed to award quality family-oriented and children's entertainment in both print and elec ...

. ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' was nominated for Best Family Motion Picture: Adventure or Cartoon at the Youth in Film Awards.

Home media

''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' was released on

S-VHS S-VHS, the common initialism for Super VHS, is an analog video cassette format introduced by JVC in 1987 as an improved version of the VHS (Video Home System) format. S-VHS improved image quality by increasing the bandwidth of the luminance ...

, 8mm video and

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

in both regular and special CAV standard play editions by MGM/UA Home Video on August 28, 1990. The film became a

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit refers to a film, television series, music release, video game or other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release, but eventually became a surprise success. A sleeper hit may have ...

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.Lenburg, p.32 The film was followed by another VHS release under the MGM/UA Family Entertainment label in 1994, which was available exclusively through

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

. A

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

was made available for the first time on March 6, 2001, under the MGM Kids label and was later released as a double feature with '' All Dogs Go to Heaven 2'' on March 14, 2006. On March 29, 2011, the film made its debut on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

, 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 another Don Bluth film, '' The Pebble and the Penguin'', on October 8, 2013, and again with eight other MGM films as part of the company's 90th anniversary "Best of Family Collection" on February 4, 2014. A

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

based on the film, also titled ''All Dogs Go To Heaven'', was released in 1989 for

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

and in 1990 for

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

. The game features ten mini-games loosely tied together to form a story mode, with three difficulty levels. The game's minigames include rat racing, watch catching, horizontal ball and paddle, maze navigating, shape stacking, maze running, hangman, jigsaw puzzle, street navigating and dog fighting. An activity center game based on the film, titled ''All Dogs Go To Heaven Activity Center'', was released for Windows PC in 1997.

Sequels

The success of the film, particularly its performance on home video, prompted several follow-up productions. A theatrical sequel, '' All Dogs Go to Heaven 2'' (1996), a television series, '' All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series'' (1996–1998), and '' An All Dogs Christmas Carol'' (1998), a Christmas television film based on Charles Dickens' ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

'', were made. Bluth and his studio had no involvement with any of them, and Reynolds did not reprise his role as Charlie after the first film; he was replaced in the sequel film and television series by

Charlie Sheen Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He is known as a leading man in film and television. Sheen has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award as well as ...

and

Steven Weber Steven Robert Weber (born March 4, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Brian Hackett on the television series '' Wings'', and as Dr. Dean Archer on NBC’s Chicago Med. He also voiced Charlie B. Barkin in '' ...

, respectively. Reilly declined to return for the sequel film, but voiced Killer for the television productions. DeLuise played Itchy through the entire franchise.

References

External links

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All Dogs Go To Heaven Activity Center
{{Authority control 1980s British films 1980s buddy comedy-drama films 1980s children's animated films 1980s children's fantasy films 1980s English-language films 1980s fantasy comedy-drama films 1980s musical comedy-drama films 1980s musical fantasy films 1989 American animated films 1989 children's films 1989 comedy-drama films 1989 directorial debut films 1989 films American animated musical films American animated films about revenge American buddy comedy-drama films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated comedy films American children's animated fantasy films American children's animated musical films American fantasy comedy-drama films American independent films American musical comedy-drama films Animated buddy films Animated films about dogs Animated films about friendship Animated films about orphans Animated films about talking animals Animated films set in Louisiana Animated films set in the 1930s Animated musical films British animated comedy films British animated fantasy films British buddy comedy-drama films British children's animated films British children's fantasy films British fantasy adventure films British independent films British musical comedy-drama films Dogs in religion Films about angels Animated films about the afterlife Films adapted into television shows Films directed by Dan Kuenster Films directed by Don Bluth Films directed by Gary Goldman Films produced by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman Films produced by John Pomeroy Films scored by Ralph Burns Films set in 1939 Films set in New Orleans Films with screenplays by David N. Weiss Films with screenplays by Don Bluth Films with screenplays by Gary Goldman Films with screenplays by John Pomeroy Goldcrest Films films Heaven and hell films Independent animated films Irish animated fantasy films Irish independent films Irish musical comedy-drama films Mardi Gras in New Orleans Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Rotoscoped films Southern Gothic films Sullivan Bluth Studios films United Artists animated films United Artists films 1989 in American cinema English-language musical comedy-drama films English-language musical fantasy films English-language buddy comedy-drama films English-language fantasy comedy-drama films 1989 musical films 1989 independent films