A VASTLY UNDERRATED FILM 9.5 OUT OF 10
Added 10/4/2009
Continuing my streak of viewing old favorites from my childhood, I watched this excellent film again and I still adored it. In this day and age I find it despairing when today's youth is raving about the likes of Happy Feet (Full Screen Edition), Chicken Little], [[ASIN:B000ROAK2W Meet the Robinsons, Madagascar (Widescreen Edition), as well as others (Just shoot me now!). Films that were absolute garbage (And some of the worst films I've ever seen) and an insult to those of us who were raised on the good films, which include this. This film was vastly underrated, but thankfully has gone down to become a cult classic. I was absolutely furious when I saw the critical response (38% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 4.9 out of 10), and my trust in critics was absolutely destroyed. I will never trust the critics ever again. Oh Don Bluth, where have you gone? Please come out of hiding from wherever you may be and please make films again. Animated films are in desperate need of rescuing.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: The film takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1939. Charlie and Itchy are best friends and essentially partners in crime. Charlie is in business relations with another dog named Carface who is pretty much a mobster, who wants to break off business relations with Charlie. So after a night of getting Charlie drunk at Marti Gras, Carface and his group of thugs blindfold Charlie and make him sit at the end of a dock, and then push a car down the dock and kill him. Then Charlie ends up in heaven, where he refuses to be and intends on getting revenge against Carface. So he grabs the watch in heaven that was life watch (A watch that would stop when he dies), and winds it backwards and goes back down to Earth, where he shocks Itchy with the news that he's still alive (Since Itchy witnessed the incident of his death, but was too far away to do anything about it). So he and Itchy begin to enact their plan to get back at Carface and start off by spying in Carface's place, where they meet a human prisoner who is a little girl named Anne Marie who is gifted with the ability to talk to animals. So Charlie and Itchy take Anne Marie for their own use in gambling so she can ask animals at different racing events which one will win, and from this earn massive amounts of money, and build their own casino. I won't reveal anything else about the story, but the morals it teaches are friendship and redemption, which is why this film is so phenomenal even in this day and age. Sure this story seems more adult-oriented for a kids film and a G-rating for such a film is baffling (I'd say hard PG-rating). Kids may not understand it so well, but it's still a fantastic film that both adults and kids should watch instead of the garbage mentioned at the beginning of this review.
MUSIC: This film has a great musical score as well as some catchy musical tunes. There were a couple of musical scenes that I didn't particularly like which damaged the potential flawless rating, but for the most part, this area is really good.
ACTION: This more a story-focused experience more than action, but for a kid's film, it can be pretty violent for a G-rating, especially since it has a mobster/revenge-esque storyline on top of moral teachings of friendship and redemption. This feels more like an experience made for adults, but smart children (Not the ones raised on the animated garbage previously mentioned) should get a good time out of this wonderful film. This film will tear at your heart strings and it does make your care about the characters (Unlike most modern animated films).
ACTING: The actors in this film were really good and I have no gripes with their performances. Burt Reynolds played the role of Charlie quite well and he seemed suited quite well for it. Dom DeLuise (R.I.P., your voice will be sorely missed from animated films) was quite funny and entertaining as Itchy. Although I didn't recognize any of the other actors, but they all performed their roles wonderfully.
OVERALL: While the film deals with issues such as mob organizations, drinking, gambling, as well as a few innuendos, this is a great film for kids and adults alike. This film also teaches great moral values and it may have emotional effects as well. If you didn't have the pleasure of seeing this superb animated film, then you owe yourself a favor to see it. Forget the critics.
THE GOOD: Great storytelling, great acting, great music, great moral teachings, and some more mature themes to appeal to adults.
THE BAD: A couple of musical scenes weren't exactly great.
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A Childhood Favorite, however...
Added 9/25/2009
I bought this DVD from the $5 bin at Wal*Mart, the film being a favorite of mine during my childhood. I am disappointed to say that the first few minutes of the film are absent from the DVD. The first sequence (in which Itchy busts Charlie from the dog pound) is nowhere to be found. I do hope that this fault is not present on all copies of the movie on DVD.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? I would like to purchase a copy of the film in its entirety.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Aside from the songs . . .
Added 8/21/2009
. . . this is yet another piece of childhood that returns. ADGTH wasn't my favorite animated film when I was young, but I did find it enjoyable and filled with meaning. Animation isn't top-notch, but it's still visually interesting. The characters were all lovable (except, of course, the vilains); I didn't even mind Anne-Marie the little girl at all. The violence and adult situations are not clearly obvious, but little kids will probably be horrified at some of the images put on screen. As one reviewer mentioned before, this isn't really for young children, so every parent is warned. The one problem I had with ADGTH was the songs. They weren't very memorable and spectacular, and sometimes it felt like they just came out of nowhere. But beside that, this is still a very good animated film from Don Bluth.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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All Dogs Go to Heaven
Added 6/23/2009
I recieved this item and it was in perfect condition, I'm positive I'll keep buying from this seller.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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DVD quality
Added 12/14/2008
I loved this movie, but when I bought it on DVD, it only came in pan-scan 4:3. Why would they not release it in widescreen? Or at least both, since they didn't even include any kind of special feature. The DVD menu looked very cheap as well.
The least I want is the full version of this movie, not a pan-scan version.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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A VASTLY UNDERRATED FILM 9.5 OUT OF 10
Added 10/4/2009
Continuing my streak of viewing old favorites from my childhood, I watched this excellent film again and I still adored it. In this day and age I find it despairing when today's youth is raving about the likes of Happy Feet (Full Screen Edition), Chicken Little], [[ASIN:B000ROAK2W Meet the Robinsons, Madagascar (Widescreen Edition), as well as others (Just shoot me now!). Films that were absolute garbage (And some of the worst films I've ever seen) and an insult to those of us who were raised on the good films, which include this. This film was vastly underrated, but thankfully has gone down to become a cult classic. I was absolutely furious when I saw the critical response (38% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 4.9 out of 10), and my trust in critics was absolutely destroyed. I will never trust the critics ever again. Oh Don Bluth, where have you gone? Please come out of hiding from wherever you may be and please make films again. Animated films are in desperate need of rescuing.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: The film takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1939. Charlie and Itchy are best friends and essentially partners in crime. Charlie is in business relations with another dog named Carface who is pretty much a mobster, who wants to break off business relations with Charlie. So after a night of getting Charlie drunk at Marti Gras, Carface and his group of thugs blindfold Charlie and make him sit at the end of a dock, and then push a car down the dock and kill him. Then Charlie ends up in heaven, where he refuses to be and intends on getting revenge against Carface. So he grabs the watch in heaven that was life watch (A watch that would stop when he dies), and winds it backwards and goes back down to Earth, where he shocks Itchy with the news that he's still alive (Since Itchy witnessed the incident of his death, but was too far away to do anything about it). So he and Itchy begin to enact their plan to get back at Carface and start off by spying in Carface's place, where they meet a human prisoner who is a little girl named Anne Marie who is gifted with the ability to talk to animals. So Charlie and Itchy take Anne Marie for their own use in gambling so she can ask animals at different racing events which one will win, and from this earn massive amounts of money, and build their own casino. I won't reveal anything else about the story, but the morals it teaches are friendship and redemption, which is why this film is so phenomenal even in this day and age. Sure this story seems more adult-oriented for a kids film and a G-rating for such a film is baffling (I'd say hard PG-rating). Kids may not understand it so well, but it's still a fantastic film that both adults and kids should watch instead of the garbage mentioned at the beginning of this review.
MUSIC: This film has a great musical score as well as some catchy musical tunes. There were a couple of musical scenes that I didn't particularly like which damaged the potential flawless rating, but for the most part, this area is really good.
ACTION: This more a story-focused experience more than action, but for a kid's film, it can be pretty violent for a G-rating, especially since it has a mobster/revenge-esque storyline on top of moral teachings of friendship and redemption. This feels more like an experience made for adults, but smart children (Not the ones raised on the animated garbage previously mentioned) should get a good time out of this wonderful film. This film will tear at your heart strings and it does make your care about the characters (Unlike most modern animated films).
ACTING: The actors in this film were really good and I have no gripes with their performances. Burt Reynolds played the role of Charlie quite well and he seemed suited quite well for it. Dom DeLuise (R.I.P., your voice will be sorely missed from animated films) was quite funny and entertaining as Itchy. Although I didn't recognize any of the other actors, but they all performed their roles wonderfully.
OVERALL: While the film deals with issues such as mob organizations, drinking, gambling, as well as a few innuendos, this is a great film for kids and adults alike. This film also teaches great moral values and it may have emotional effects as well. If you didn't have the pleasure of seeing this superb animated film, then you owe yourself a favor to see it. Forget the critics.
THE GOOD: Great storytelling, great acting, great music, great moral teachings, and some more mature themes to appeal to adults.
THE BAD: A couple of musical scenes weren't exactly great.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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A Childhood Favorite, however...
Added 9/25/2009
I bought this DVD from the $5 bin at Wal*Mart, the film being a favorite of mine during my childhood. I am disappointed to say that the first few minutes of the film are absent from the DVD. The first sequence (in which Itchy busts Charlie from the dog pound) is nowhere to be found. I do hope that this fault is not present on all copies of the movie on DVD.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? I would like to purchase a copy of the film in its entirety.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Aside from the songs . . .
Added 8/21/2009
. . . this is yet another piece of childhood that returns. ADGTH wasn't my favorite animated film when I was young, but I did find it enjoyable and filled with meaning. Animation isn't top-notch, but it's still visually interesting. The characters were all lovable (except, of course, the vilains); I didn't even mind Anne-Marie the little girl at all. The violence and adult situations are not clearly obvious, but little kids will probably be horrified at some of the images put on screen. As one reviewer mentioned before, this isn't really for young children, so every parent is warned. The one problem I had with ADGTH was the songs. They weren't very memorable and spectacular, and sometimes it felt like they just came out of nowhere. But beside that, this is still a very good animated film from Don Bluth.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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