All Dogs Go to Heaven

Cast

 * Burt Reynolds as Charlie B. Barkin, a roguish German Shepherd/Collie hybrid and the main protagonist of the film.
 * Dom DeLuise as Itchy Itchiford, a paranoid, nervous, and cowardly Dachshund who has long been best friends with Charlie.
 * Judith Barsi as Anne-Marie, an orphan human girl with the ability to talk to and understand animals.
 * Vic Tayback as Carface Carruthers, a shifty, psychotic American Pit Bull Terrier/Bulldog hybrid gangster and the main antagonist of the film.
 * Charles Nelson Reilly as Killer, a misnamed, cowardly, neurotic, spectacles-wearing Schnauzer/Poodle hybrid who serves as Carface's sidekick.
 * Loni Anderson as Flo, a female Rough Collie and friend of Charlie's.
 * Melba Moore as a Whippet Angel, who welcomes deceased dogs into Heaven.
 * Ken Page as King Gator, Charlie's new friend; a gigantic and flamboyant American Alligator living below the streets of New Orleans.
 * Rob Puller and Earleen Carey as Harold and Kate, a married couple who later become Anne-Marie's new parents.
 * Frank Welker as the Devil Dog, the Hellhound from Charlie's nightmare.

End Credits
A DON BLUTH PRESENTATION

Plot
Charlie B. Barkin is a roguish Mongrel with a mixture of a German Shepherd voiced by Burt Reynolds, working at a casino with his business partner, Carface Carruthers, the Pit Bull/Bulldog mix. Carface however has Charlie locked away at the city pound in order to avoid having to share their joint earnings. He is broken free from the pound by his best friend, Itchy Itchiford, the Dachshund, and proceeds to return to their business with big changes and dreams in mind. Carface decides to get him drunk and kill him with the pretext of taking him out for a celebratory drink. He is taken to a Mardi Gras celebration, and when he is sufficiently drunk, he is blind folded and violently run over by a red car and forced off a pier into a river.

Charlie goes to Heaven and meets a heavenly Whippet, who said, "All dogs go to Heaven, because unlike people, dogs are naturally good and loyal and kind." But he is dissatisfied with the predictability of heaven and rewinds the watch of his life, returning himself to Earth. Unfortunately this now means that he cannot return to Heaven because he has forsaken his place. While he is on earth, he cannot die as long as his life watch continues ticking. Back on earth hie reunites with Itchy and shares with him his plans for revenge against Carface. Rather than get revenge, he decides to set up a rival business 'Charlie's Place' and steal Carface's customers. He discovers a young orphaned girl named Anne Marie that Carface has been harbouring because of her gift to communicate with animals, and from this know which of the animals will win the races that Carface's customers bet on.

Charlie decides that this girl and her gift could be valuable to him and takes her with him, buying her dresses, promising her a family, and telling her that all the money they earn from her gift will go towards helping the poor. When she exposes his true intentions, she runs away. Carface and his sidekick, Killer the Schnauzer/Poodle mix, stormed into Charlie's Place with his thugs and assault Itchy, leaving him for dead. He then torches the rival casino and abducts Anne Marie. She becomes very sick and Charlie discovers that Itchy has been beaten up and their place has been destroyed. He then discovers that Anne Marie has been taken by Carface. He sets off to get his revenge and save her.

Charlie confronts Carface in his casino, and the two fight. Carface attempts to drown Anne Marie as he knocks her into the river. Charlie leaves Carface and rushes to save his friend. He succeeds in saving her and gets her to safety, then he goes after Carface. He returns to the platform in which the previous fight took place but Carface is nowhere to be seen. Carface jumps from a higher platform onto him, and attacks him. However as Carface attacks his foe, he slips from the high platform, falls into the water, and is eaten by King Gator the gigantic Alligator. Charlie goes to fetch Anne Marie but she has fallen back into the water. He dives down and saves her, but in doing so he loses his watch. He places her on a block of wood and sets her on her way out of the casino. She is saved and Charlie dives down to find his watch. However the watch stops, ending his life. Because of his self-sacrifice, his spirit is allowed to visit Anne Marie (who is now living with a caring family and Itchy as her dog) to say goodbye and apologize for using her. Charlie's spirit ascends into Heaven because he gave his life to save Anne Marie.

Some see the movie as a retelling of Charles Dickens classic, "Great Expectations".

Sequels
This film has generated one theatrical sequel, All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, a television series All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series, and a Christmas special, An All Dogs Christmas Carol.

Trivia

 * In the heaven scene after Charlie's original death, the whippet angel shows Charlie his book of deeds. The pages include Charlie's father and mother "Loni & Burt", a reference to Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson, who were together at the time.
 * This was originally rated PG by the MPAA, so to make it more family friendly, several cuts were made to reduce the rating to a G.
 * Judith Barsi's last film. She died a year prior to the release of the film.
 * While Charlie is in heaven, where they keep all the clocks, one of them is a Mickey Mouse wristwatch. Don Bluth, the director, was a former Disney animator.