Title:
An All Dogs
Christmas Carol
Format:
Animated
straight-to-video feature film
Country:
USA
Production
company:
MGM
Year:
1998
Length:
73 minutes
Setting:
Background:
All Dogs Go to Heaven was a feature film
released in cinemas in 1989, not from Disney as you might usually expected but
backed by United Artists. It had the misfortune to be released at the same time
as the film which started Disney’s great renaissance in animated films, The
Little Mermaid, but although it was rather overshadowed in its cinematic
run, it became a huge hit when released on VHS. That’s certainly when I saw it
– I remember us being shown it one last day of term as a child in primary
school, perhaps even the last day of term before Christmas. All I remember
about it is a plot involving roguish dogs teaming up with a young girl to bet
on horse races. Oh, and that it made one of the younger girls in the school cry
with its sad ending.
Anyway, the
success of the film on VHS led to a sequel, a TV series and eventually the
final entry in the run, this straight-to-video effort in 1998.
 |
| Charlie and Sasha |
Cast and crew:
Ernest Borgnine,
who I once briefly met fact fans, is the biggest name in the cast – an actual
Oscar winner, for his lead role in Marty in 1955. He voices the central
character here, Carface Caruthers, having taken over for the second film after
original performer Vic Tayback had died. Carface had been a supporting
character / antagonist previously, but is the focus here.
US TV actor
Steven Weber plays Charlie, the character portrayed by Burt Reynolds in the
first film, with 1980s pop star Sheena Easton as Sasha, a character introduced
in the second film and which she had voiced since then. Don DeLuise returns as
the character he had played since the first outing, Itchy.
The film was
co-directed by Paul Sabella and Gary Selvaggio, and written by Jymn Magon. Magon
had spent 17 years working for Disney on various animated TV series, including
the likes of DuckTales and Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, before
going freelance in 1993 in which capacity he wrote this. Sabella had worked
mainly as a producer on various children’s animated TV series since the 1980s,
but had also occasionally directed, most notably with All Dogs Go to Heaven II
in 1996. Selvaggio had mostly worked on the animation side, but had directed episodes
of the All Dogs series before this.
Underdone Potato:
We begin in
heaven with dead dogs – puppies, as well, which seems especially harsh for a
children’s film, although of course it being that they don’t make too fine a
point of it. The puppies are being read a story by the implausibly pink dog,
Anabelle, and when she mentions that as well as ghosts the story involves her
cousin, an evil witch, you know early on that we’re going to be departing somewhat
from the usual formula.
Back on Earth,
Charlie and Itchy and Sasha are having a song and dance with various puppies
and other dogs as they decorate a Christmas tree and prepare for the big day.
Not being massively au fait with the All Dogs… continuity I’m not
entirely sure who’s alive and who’s not, as I was sure Charlie did actually die
at the end of the first one, but I am basing that on quarter-of-a-century-plus
old memories, so may not be entirely reliable.
Anyway, the
festivities are interrupted by the arrival of bad guy Carface, who collects
various debts of bones, then uses a hypnotic device he has been given to take
all their food and money as well. This is particularly nasty as said money was
being collected to help pay for an operation for one of the puppies, Timmy, who
has a gammy leg, as shown by the fact it’s bandaged.
After Carface has
departed, Sasha takes Timmy back to his human family, while Charlie and Itchy
try and fail to nab Christmas back off Carface and his henchman… er… henchdog. In
the process they discover that Belladonna, aforementioned evil witch dog, is
behind Carface’s activities and is going to use her hypnotic powers to get all
the pets in the city to steal their owners’ Christmas presents at midnight.
As Charlie and
Itchy despondently trudge away, Anabelle gives them a magic amulet to help
them – but irritatingly, if conveniently for dramatic purposes, there is “a
limit to what she can go,” so she can’t just tell them where Bella’s hypnosis
machine is and how to stop it, but they can work magic on Carface to try
and get him to change his ways and help them out. So after a chance remark from
Itchy, Charlies comes up with the idea of doing a Scrooge on Carface.
 |
| Carface and Timmy. |
Past:
After a brief introduction
from Charlie, styling himself as ‘Jacob Charlie’, Itchy functions as the Ghost
of Christmas Past, as Carface is pulled into the world of visions through his
television set. We see him with his mother as a puppy, and then with his first
human owner, a boy who was devoted to him. However, we then see how it all
turned sour for Carface, as he was chucked out after having weed on the floor –
which seems a bit harsh, if you’ve got a puppy surely it rather comes with the
territory?
Present:
For the second
set of visions, it’s the radio which functions as the portal through which
Carface is pulled. Sasha is the spirit this time, although she looks rather
more like depictions of Christmas Past than she does Christmas Present. She
shows Carface how his right-hand-man… dog… actually really enjoys Christmas,
and also a vision of little Timmy, happy at home with his owner.
Timmy accidentally
breaks a plate, and Carface is sure the puppy will be chucked out as he was,
but his young owner takes the blame to her mother. However, when Timmy is then
able to own up to actually being the one who broke it, all is well, and Carface
is surprised by the tender way in which he puppy is treated, and saddened that
unless he gets his operation he may not see another Christmas.
Yet to Come:
This time it’s a comic
book into which Carface is pulled, quite a nice little running theme of it
being a different medium each time. The Ghost here initially appears as a very
traditional version, albeit pretty obviously with Charlie’s hands / paws, but
quickly the robes are thrown off and for the rest of the sequence Charlies plays
the ghost as an homage to Jim Carrey’s eponymous character in The Mask.
It’s a very usual
glimpse into a world in which Carface is dead and gone and very much not
missed, complete with a touch of the ‘descent into hell’ which the 1970 musical
had. Speaking of musicals, this is sort-of-one, with the very occasional songs
scattered through it, including here a big gospel-style number.
 |
| Carface begs Charlie-as-the-Ghost-of-Christmas-Yet-to-Come-as-The-Mask for forgiveness. |
What’s To-Day:
After Carface is
returned to the real world, he initially goes along with Belladonna’s plan and
the hypnosis machine is activated. However, his new conscience gets the better
of him, and he decides he can’t go through with it, sabotaging the operation. A
furious Bella then turns on him, but Anabelle now decides she can be bothered
to get her paws dirty directly after all, saves him and sends Bella packing.
Sometime later on
Christmas morning, Carface turns up at wherever the hell Charlie and the others
live or gather with their Christmas tree, and returns all of the money and
presents, with more added to both. He refuses the invitation to stay, however,
as he’s heading off to see his mother – in a break from the norm, he also warns
that his transformation may not be permanent.
The film ends
with Annabelle finishing reading the story to the heavenly pups, as Charlie and
Itchy watch on. This only further adds to the confusion for one-off viewers about
whether they’re actually supposed to be alive or dead or something in between.
Review:
This was one of those
Carols that I wasn’t expecting very much from. Let’s face it, a
straight-to-video sequel to an animated film which wasn’t itself in the Premier
League of the genre doesn’t exactly auger much. But in the end I rather enjoyed
it.
The production
values are high, with slick traditional animation. The performances are good,
and even the songs aren’t as irritating as they could be. It manages to stay just
this side of the saccharine, and even has a little bit of wit and style to
it at times.
I know I have
criticised the presence of cutesy animals elsewhere in other versions, but I
think that’s only a problem when it’s a distracting or irritating addition in
versions where you don’t need them. If you accept that this is a version entirely
based around cutesy animals, then I think you have to take it on its own
merits and what it’s trying to do. And in that respect, it’s certainly in no
way awful.
In a nutshell:
Probably most enjoyable
if you’re already familiar with All Dogs Go to Heaven, but certainly far
from being the worst animated version of the story ever made.
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