FILM · 1989 · IRELAND
All Dogs Go to Heaven
45 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (45)
- #001
This was Judith Barsi's final film. She and her mother were killed by her father while the film was in production. According to director Don Bluth, after the crew heard the news, they were so upset at hearing Barsi's voice that they stopped working on her character for two weeks.
- #002
MGM shortened a scene in which Charlie is in Hell to avoid a possible PG rating. Don Bluth owns a special version of the uncut film that has never been released on home media. A low-quality bootleg recording of the uncut scene is available on video-sharing sites.
- #003
When the Heaven-like greyhound looks through Charlie's records, we see that his mother and father are named "Loni A." and "Burt R." and that they resemble the dog versions of Loni Anderson and Burt Reynolds (who were together at the time).
- #004
Steven Spielberg was to be the film's executive producer and to release it under the Amblin banner, but after The Land Before Time (1988) he left the project due to creative differences with director Don Bluth (Bluth had grown tired of Spielberg always having the final say in their collaborations).
- #005
As production neared completion, the studio held test screenings and decided that some scenes were too intense for young viewers and therefore had to be cut. Don Bluth owned a special 35 mm print of the film containing the cut scenes and planned to persuade Goldcrest Films to release a director's cut of the film after returning from Ireland in the mid-1990s, but the print was eventually stolen from Bluth's locked storage room, and hopes that this version would be released on home media faded.
- #006
The 1990 VHS release of the film opens with an introduction in which Dom DeLuise tells viewers that there is an important message at the end of the video. The message was DeLuise talking about the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and how important a role it plays in helping children survive in the world.
- #007
Charlie's birthday is September 13, 1937, which is director Don Bluth's real-life birthday.
- #008
Burt Reynolds came up with his own "dog voice" for Charlie, which Don Bluth described as a "put-on cartoon-character voice." Bluth and other directors politely tried to persuade Reynolds to use his natural speaking voice for Charlie, but Reynolds insisted he preferred the dog voice. When Dom DeLuise was brought in, he promised Bluth that he would get Reynolds to use his natural voice. When the two actors began recording their lines together, DeLuise started addressing Reynolds in the voice he was using and told him plainly: "I'm Dom, you're Burt. Don't get creative. Just say the lines, okay? Don't make me look bad." Following DeLuise's advice, Reynolds used his real voice, and as they performed opposite each other they achieved the natural rapport the animators wanted to develop. After finishing, Reynolds told Don Bluth that he had been right and that his own voice came out better.
- #009
The film was inspired by It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Little Miss Marker (1934) and A Guy Named Joe (1943).
- #010
This was the last film Vic Tayback made before his death in 1990.
- #011
The film's title came from a book Don Bluth read in his fourth-grade class at school, and he resisted suggestions to change it, saying he liked how "provocative" it sounded and how people reacted to the title alone.
- #012
Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise recorded their lines together, as did Vic Tayback and Charles Nelson Reilly.
- #013
This was the first Don Bluth film to feature a human as the main character.
- #014
The film is set in the year 1939.
- #015
In the book about Charlie's life, Charlie B. Barkin (September 13, 1937) is listed as mostly German Shepherd but also part coal mine, part Great Dane and part hound — in short, a bit of a mongrel. The rest is hard to make out, but it can be noted that he did not have much goodness or loyalty and tended toward the greedy side, though a small portion mentions strong love. This is probably a harbinger of his change from bad to good; director Don Bluth happened to be born in 1937.
- #016
The totem-pole trench coat worn by Charlie, Itchy and Anne-Marie in the film is, along with the one shown in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), one of the most widely recognized examples of this trope in popular culture.
- #017
At the beginning of the film, when Charlie and Itchy get into the act, the bowl Charlie picks up to fill with dog biscuits bears the voice actor's name ("Burt").
- #018
Anne-Marie's appearance is based on Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).
- #019
Some time before production began, animator Gary Goldman had rescued and adopted a German Shepherd; the dog was named "Burt," after Burt Reynolds. This was the inspiration for making Charlie a German Shepherd and for casting Burt Reynolds's voice.
- #020
The film's initial idea came from Don Bluth after he completed The Secret of NIMH (1982). The treatment was originally about a dog private detective and was one of three short stories that would have formed an anthology film. The Rough Collie character was designed specifically with Burt Reynolds in mind for the role. However, Bluth's first studio, Don Bluth Productions, was going through a period of financial difficulty and eventually had to declare bankruptcy, so the idea never progressed beyond rough story sketches.
- #021
The radio program the puppies listen to, "The Phantom", is a tribute to Orson Welles's real 1930s radio program "The Shadow".
- #022
In the scene where Charlie is nearly shot by Carface, he and Anne-Marie pass by "Bluth's Bakery", a reference to director Don Bluth.
- #023
In the illustration of the War and Peace book that Charlie "reads" to Anne-Marie, there is a caption reading "General Pomeroy is shot." This is also a reference to lead animator John Pomeroy, who is a military history enthusiast.
- #024
Additional storyboard artist and character animator T. Daniel Hofstedt sings as part of the "You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down" chorus and appears as the voice of the Crowd Walla at the Racetrack & Casino.
- #025
Carface's gang is called The Mean Street Dogs.
- #026
Itchy mentions at one point that he has back problems. Because of their long bodies, Dachshunds are the dog breed most prone to bad backs.
- #027
Charlie's use of the word "damn" was cut from the film, but Burt Reynolds remembers recording the original line.
- #028
According to one song, Charlie looks like a German Shepherd through and through, even though he is at least as mixed as the others. Itchy describes himself as a "wiener dog", and Charlie calls Itchy a dachshund during a certain song. Carface looks like an English Bulldog (although according to the DVD's back cover, Carface is a pit bull). The angel dog is a greyhound, as Charlie points out. Beyond that, some of the minor dog characters look ambiguous enough that they could be mutts, but the art style makes it a little hard to tell.
- #029
The film's rough in-betweener and intermediate artist John Eddings voiced the Chihuahua Gambler at Carface's Casino.
- #030
The book of Charlie's life read by the angel greyhound reveals that his parents were Burt R. Barkin and Loni A. Bowser, named after Burt Reynolds (who plays Charlie) and his then-wife Loni Anderson (who plays Flo).
- #031
On Charlie's first trip to heaven, a Mickey Mouse clock can be seen among the clocks.
- #032
The film's assistant director and storyboard artist Dan Kuenster voiced the Doberman Bookie at Carface's Casino.
- #033
Carface's gang members Otto, Bruiser, Yellow Beard and Scarface can later be seen in the All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996) episodes Lance the Wonder Pup (1996), Charlie's Cat-Astrophe (1997) and Magical Misery Tour (1997). Otto replaces Carface as the gang's new leader.
- #034
Charlie's records state that he was born on September 13, 1937 (Don Bluth's birthday); in real life Burt Reynolds was born a year earlier, in 1936.
- #035
Dom DeLuise and Charles Nelson Reilly both provide voices in this film.
- #036
It is the first animated film distributed by 20th Century Fox for Don Bluth, and the second animated film co-distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after The Secret of NIMH (1982).
- #037
Anne-Marie is an orphan.
- #038
Walter Matthau and Leslie Nielsen were considered for the voice of Carface.
- #039
The film's additional storyboard artist and character animator sings as part of the "You Can't Keep a Good Dog Down" chorus and appears as the voice of the Crowd Walla at the Racetrack & Casino.
- #040
Kate's (Harold's wife) entire wardrobe is pink, she wears pink nail polish, and she has a classic feminine design.
- #041
It is Don Bluth's only directorial work on a 20th Century Fox animated film, which was to be co-distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and released in the 1980s.
- #042
It is the first Don Bluth film not distributed by Universal Pictures since The Secret of NIMH (1982).
- #043
Charlie was born in 1937, meaning he was two years old in 1939 (14 in dog years). In real life, Burt Reynolds was 52 at the time.
- #044
It is the fourth animated film to use dust, after Watership Down (1978), The Secret of NIMH (1982) and The Land Before Time (1988).
- #045
It is the first Don Bluth film since The Secret of NIMH (1982) whose music was not composed by James Horner.
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