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The Secret of NIMH
was Don Bluth's
first success.
The Land Before Time
was his biggest.
All dogs Go To
Heaven isn't
a disappointment,
but it's just not on
the same level with
those other two
movies. We've seen
the story of an
orphan having dogs
for companions and
nothing else. We've
seen dogs be wild
and crazy fun loving
rascals... for the
sake of being
rascals.
All Dogs Go to
Heaven isn't
a bad movie but it
still feels like
it's a film with
less heart than it
intended to have.
All dogs go to
heaven is about
Charlie B. Barkin, a
dog recently out of
the pound and in
over his head in the
world of dog
mobsters. He and his
friend Carface had
set up a club
together
that was the
hot spot for dogs in
New Orleans. But it
turns out his
partner is a bit of
a double-crosser.
Carface had
originally just
framed Charlie for a
crime he didn't
commit. But when he
escapes from the
pound Carface
decides to kill him
and get rid of him
once and for all.
Carface pulls off
the dastardly deed
and kills Charlie.
Only once in heaven,
Charlie decides that
his time on earth
isn't done and he
escapes from heaven
so he can keep
acting like a canine
degenerate. Once
back on Earth,
Charlie reunites
with his best friend
Itchy. They discover
Anne-Marie, a little
orphan girl being
kept captive by
Carface so he can
rig races. They save
Anne-Marie and the
young girl wins
Charlie over so
eventually, he stops
his selfish ways.
All Dogs Go to
Heaven
isn't Don Bluth’s
best work. It's not
due to the films
animation. Bluth’s
films have a certain
style to them and
that style is
present on
All Dogs Go to
Heaven in a
big way. That
animation style is
shown on the faces
of his characters.
Not so much the dogs
here, but the
humans. There's lots
of color in the
cheeks, that's what
he uses to convey
emotion to little
kids who don’t
always understand
dialogue and what
was going on with
the story. Color was
also key with Bluth
and his team in
designing his
locations and using
the color to create
a mood and a tone.
That’s true for all
animators but
overly-true for
Bluth. In this
story, even during
the moments when we
don't have any
characters on
screen, the color
and the design set
the tone and feel of
the story.
The animation is not
lacking, but the
story is here. I can
remember seeing this
movie when I was a
child and still
feeling like I had
seen it before. It's
redundant, hard to
follow for little
ones, and it's got
plenty of dull
moments where the
story drags instead
of flows. The
animation is great,
the story is not.
Like the recent blu-ray
release of
The Secret of the
NIMH. The
blu-ray release for
All Dogs Go to
Heaven
doesn’t have good
video quality. Lots
of age spots show up
and when there are
lots of dark colors-
there's lots of
bleeding on the
screen. That's a
problem. The audio
here is not bad. The
video is. There are
no extras on this
blu-ray; the only
thing on the disc is
the theatrical
trailer. There’s
also no custom menu.
For a blu-ray
release this needed
to have a bit more
to it than just the
feature and a
theatrical trailer.
All Dogs Go to
Heaven
isn't a bad animated
film, but it's not a
great one either.
The animation and
the voice work was
great, the story
wasn't. It's as
simple as that. Kids
will like this
movie, but they
probably won't love
it. It's worth a
watch on a family
movie night, but it
should be for the
right price. Before
picking this up, be
sure to look at the
tag.
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