All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)

[6]

Don Bluth’s films (The Land Before Time, The Secret of NIMH) tend to be too mature for children and too immature for adults. Consider All Dogs Go to Heaven, where one moment you have cutsey critters singing a cringe-worthy song about sharing, and then you have a dog literally escaping hell to say goodbye to the little orphan girl he betrayed. At least All Dogs Go to Heaven isn’t your average formulaic kiddie flick. I mean, first the dog gets run over, then he escapes heaven, then he uses the little orphan girl to get rich at gambling (!?!), and then out of nowhere, there’s an Ethel Merman musical number with a big gay alligator? The movie’s a mish-mash of tone and style, and the musical numbers are absolutely dreadful, but there’s a place for All Dogs Go to Heaven. It’s on the trippy Pink Elephants side of the animated movie spectrum, and that’s always a good thing.

With the voices of Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise.

Share Button