All Dogs Go to Heaven 2

All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 is a 1996 American animated musical fantasy adventure film, and a sequel to Goldcrest Films' animated film All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989).[2] Produced by MGM/UA Family Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation, it was co-directed by Paul Sabella and Larry Leker. Dom DeLuise reprises his role from the first film, alongside new cast members Charlie Sheen, Ernest Borgnine and Bebe Neuwirth, respectively. New characters are voiced by Sheena Easton, Adam Wylie and George Hearn.

All Dogs Go to Heaven 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
  • Paul Sabella
  • Co-director:
  • Larry Leker
Produced by
Screenplay by
  • Arne Olsen
  • Kelly Ward
  • Mark Young
Story by
  • Kelly Ward
  • Mark Young
Based onCharacters
by Don Bluth
and David N. Weiss
Starring
Music byMark Watters
Edited byTony Garber
Production
companies
Distributed byMGM/UA Distribution Co.
Release date
  • March 29, 1996 (1996-03-29)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$8.6 million[1]

Don Bluth, the director of the original film, had no involvement with it. It was the second of only two theatrical sequels to a film directed by Don Bluth to not involve Bluth himself, the first being An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, as 13 sequels to The Land Before Time and a single sequel to The Secret of NIMH were direct-to-video releases along with two sequels of An American Tail in 1998–2000, as well as An All Dogs Christmas Carol. This was MGM's last theatrically released animated film until Igor (2008). It had a DVD double feature release with the first one on March 14, 2006 and January 18, 2011. It was also released on Blu-ray on March 29, 2011.

The film also served as the series premiere for the All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series.

Plot

Decades after the events of the first movie, Charlie B. Barkin (Charlie Sheen) welcomes his friend, Itchy (Dom DeLuise), to Heaven, but states he is disillusioned by the afterlife. Their old nemesis, Carface Caruthers (Ernest Borgnine), steals Gabriel's Horn, but loses it somewhere over San Francisco in his attempt to escape with it. When the head angel Annabelle (Bebe Neuwirth) announces the horn's theft, Charlie submits his candidacy to retrieve it, reminding Annabelle of his familiarity with street life. Annabelle sends Charlie and Itchy to Earth to retrieve it, and gives them one miracle to use. Upon arrival in San Francisco, Charlie and Itchy attempt to indulge in their old habits, but they discover that they are ghosts, and therefore unable to interact with the physical world. At a tavern where Charlie is enchanted by a beautiful and charming Irish Setter named Sasha La Fleur (Sheena Easton), Carface appears in a corporeal form granted by a red dog collar created by Red (George Hearn), an elderly dog fortune teller who gives Charlie and Itchy equivalent collars effective for a single day. Unbeknownst to the duo, Red is actually a large demonic cat who intends to take the horn for himself with Carface's help.

Charlie and Itchy meet Sasha and an 8-year-old human boy she is looking after named David (Adam Wylie), who ran away from home to become a street magician. Charlie uses his miracle to grant Sasha the ability to converse with David, who comes to believe that Charlie is his guardian angel. Charlie sees the horn being taken into an SFPD police station and recovers it, but in his reluctance to return to Heaven, he hides it in a lobster trap. After David's street performance ends in failure, he finally reveals that he believes that his father and stepmother, who are expecting a new baby, will care less for him once it is born. Charlie persuades him otherwise and promises to return him home, but privately expresses to Sasha his doubts on being able to fulfill his promise. Charlie and Itchy's collars vanish, and they once more become ghosts.

Carface kidnaps David and orders Charlie to bring Gabriel's horn to Alcatraz Island and give it to Red in exchange for David's life. Determined to keep his word, Charlie satisfies Red's demand, and Red uses the horn to capture and imprison Heaven's canine angels in Alcatraz while opening a portal to permanently connect the human world to Hell. After a struggle against Red, Charlie regains the horn and plays it to free the angels and send Red and Carface – the latter having sold his soul for his collar – back to Hell. Charlie and Itchy are spirited away to Heaven, and Charlie gives the horn back to Anabelle in exchange for a new life. Charlie bids farewell to Itchy, who decides to remain in Heaven, and while Anabelle and Itchy return to Heaven, Charlie returns to San Francisco and happily reunites with Sasha and David. David returns home and reconciles with his relieved father and stepmother. Charlie and Sasha, who have become mates, are adopted by David's family as pets.

Voice cast

Burt Reynolds, Vic Tayback and Melba Moore are replaced by Charlie Sheen, Ernest Borgnine and Bebe Neuwirth; however, three characters were written out of the sequel. Anne-Marie was written out of the story due to the murder of Judith Barsi in July 25, 1988, while Killer and Flo were written out of the story because Charles Nelson Reilly and Loni Anderson chose not to return to their roles from the first film (although Reilly returned for the third movie and the TV series).

Main characters
  • Charlie Sheen as Charles "Charlie" B. Barkin, a German Shepherd who returns from Heaven to find Gabriel's Horn. It is revealed that as a puppy, he ran away from home (which explains the absence of Charlie's parents, who were briefly shown in the original film in the records book in the song "Let Me Be Surprised"), a point he mentions to David to convince him to return home. Charlie Sheen replaced Burt Reynolds from the first film due to Reynolds participating in the 1996 films Citizen Ruth, Striptease and Mad Dog Time.
  • Dom DeLuise as Itchiford "Itchy" Dachshund, Charlie's best friend. He wants to find the horn and go straight back to Heaven. Dom DeLuise was the only original actor to reprise his role from the first film.
  • Sheena Easton as Sasha la Fleur, an attractive Irish Setter, talented lounge singer and Charlie's love interest.
  • Adam Wylie as David, a disillusioned 8-year-old human boy and Sasha's owner. He believes that Charlie and Itchy are his guardian angels sent to get him back home safely. He replaces the role of Anne-Marie from the original film.
  • George Hearn as Red, a large beast-like demonic cat from Hell and the main antagonist. His goal is to imprison the dogs of Heaven, overthrow humanity, and permanently join Hell with the mortal world. To manipulate his victims, he disguises himself as a blinded elderly dog through his ability to transform (shapeshifting).
  • Bebe Neuwirth as Annabelle, the archangel Whippet in Heaven. She summons Charlie and Itchy to retrieve Gabriel's stolen Horn.
  • Ernest Borgnine as Carface Caruthers, Charlie's arch-enemy, a Pit bull/bulldog mix, who becomes a henchman to Red through a deal between them. Contradictory to his aggressive personality in the original film, he appears quite slow-witted and timid in this film.
Supporting characters

Production

David Feiss served as an in-house supervising animator, storyboard artist and character designer for the state-side production. Much of the film's animation was outsourced to foreign studios, such as Wang Film Productions in Taipei, Taiwan (from which Yang Chih Tsang was the directing animator) and its Bangkok, Thailand-based division (from which Jov Huang and Shih-fu Liao were supervising animators), Phoenix Animation in Toronto, Ontario (from which Julian Harris was the directing animator), A-Film in Copenhagen, Denmark (from which Jorgen Lerdam was the directing animator), Dino Animation in London, England (from which Dino Athanassiou was a sequence director), Red Rover in London, England (from which Andy Knight was a directing animator), Scowling Wolf in St Leonards, Australia (from which Peter Sheehan and Richard Zaloudek were art directors), Catflap Animation in Crows Nest, Australia (from which Maurice Glacomini was a supervising animator), Franck & Franck in Paris, France (from which Emmanuel Franck was a supervising animator) and Screen Animation Ireland LTD in Dublin, Ireland.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album was released on the same day as the film's theatrical release by Angel Records, featuring music composed by Mark Watters. The track listing is as follows.

  1. Main Title: Heavenly Ceremony (instrumental)
  2. It's Too Heavenly Here (Jesse Corti)
  3. Count Me Out (Sheena Easton)
  4. My Afghan Hairless (Jim Cummings)
  5. It Feels So Good to Be Bad (George Hearn and Ernest Borgnine)
  6. On Easy Street (Jesse Corti, Adam Wylie and Dom DeLuise)
  7. I Will Always Be With You (movie - Sheena Easton and Jesse Corti)
  8. Gabriel's Horn/New Arrivals (instrumental)
  9. Carface Steals the Horn/Charlie Volunteers (instrumental)
  10. Police Chase (instrumental)
  11. Red's Transformation (instrumental)
  12. We Meet David (instrumental)
  13. Battle for Gabriel's Horn (instrumental)
  14. Family Reunion/It's Too Heavenly Here (Reprise) (instrumental)
  15. I Will Always Be With You (End Title - pop version - Helen Darling and Danny Frazier)

Release

Box office

Although the budget is unknown, the film earned $2,256,118 during its opening weekend and grossed $8,620,678 in its theatrical release. It had the worst opening weekend for an animated film playing in over 2,000 theaters until Delgo in 2008.[3][4]

Critical reception

The film has a 20% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 5 reviews.[5]

Despite the negative reception, much of the voice actors received praise. Adam Wylie was nominated for a Young Artists' Best Performance in a Voiceover by a Young Artist Award for his work in it but lost to Jonathan Taylor Thomas.[6] Sheena Easton's Sasha and George Hearn's Red in particular have been held up as examples of well-done voice acting carrying an animated film.[7] Common Sense Media, on the other hand, gave it positive reviews because of some improvement over its predecessor with the plotline and some modifications with Charlie's concept.[8]

Accolades

Young Artist Awards
  • Best Family Feature - Animation or Special Effects
  • Best New Voiceover Performance - Adam Wylie
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References
  1. All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 at Box Office Mojo
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 163. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  3. "Worst Opening at the Box Office for 2,000+ Theatre Releases". Box Office Mojo. August 16, 2009. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  4. "The Cash Registers Are Ringing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  5. "All Dogs Go To Heaven 2". Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 2, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "All Dogs' Sequel Struggles to Pick Up Scent of Adventure". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  8. "All Dogs Go To Heaven 2". Common Sense Media.
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