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Thank you Belchic. I'm glad you liked it so much and appreciate your critique. Now, for something seasonal:

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
Director: Henry Selick
Cast: Chris Sarandon (Jack Skellington), Catherine O’Hara (Sally, Shock), William Hickey (Dr. Finklestein), Glenn Shadix (Mayor of Halloween Town), Danny Elfman (Barrel, The Clown with the Tear-Away Face), Ed Ivory (Santa Claus), Ken Page (Oogie Boogie), Paul Reubens (Lock), Frank Welker (Zero)
Runtime: 76 min.
MPAA rating: PG (some scary images)

This movie is set in a world where holidays all have their respective towns. In Halloween Town, we meet Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King who is sick of doing the same thing year after year. While out walking, he discovers the trees meant to be the doors to their respective towns and he investigates the door to Christmas Town. Jack is in awe about this unfamiliar holiday but thinks he’s found the answer to his problem: this year Halloween Town will take over Christmas Town! Ignoring his lover Sally who thinks this is a terrible idea, he enlists Lock, Shock and Barrel, three troublemaking kids, to kidnap Santa Claus. Jack wants them to keep Santa under wraps, but against his wishes they take him to Oogie Boogie, the evil gambling bogeyman who plays a game with Santa’s life. So, can Jack Skellington learn the truth, find his life in the holiday towns, save Santa’s bacon and admit his feelings for Sally?

I’m very sure you have probably heard of Tim Burton. A widely-recognizable filmmaker who began his career as an animator for Disney, Tim Burton was inspired by TV specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas being such an aficionado for holidays. In the early 1980s he originally he wrote it as a short illustrated poem with the idea of it being a short film or a half-hour TV special when he pitched this idea to Henry Selick. Being that it was considered “too weird” for a movie coming from Disney, Tim Burton was fired and would go on to direct some critically acclaimed and highly profitable movies like Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman and Edward Scissorhands.

Having proved himself, Tim Burton was then lured back to Disney still looking to push the boundaries with their recent successful animated films in the midst of their Renaissance Era, with his story being turned into a stop-motion animated film, the first of its kind. The process would be extremely painstaking with so many faces for moods and lip-syncing; Jack Skellington himself had at least 400 different heads!

I didn’t originally get to see this movie when it was released mainly because I thought it was supposed to be a horror movie and I have something of an aversion to those types of movies. As time passed I became more receptive and gave it a chance and I understand the appeal. So with Halloween coming, I thought it’d be a good time to give it a review.

Keeping in tone with past holiday specials, like the ones you probably remember from Rankin-Bass, the movie has a heavy holiday flair. The movie is about the, you could say, planner of Halloween, who is bored of his routine and wants to try something new. When he discovers Christmas Town, he thinks he’s found the answer he’s looking for and as a result, puts a ghastly spin on the most festive time of year with disastrous results. One could say this is like a metaphor for despite repetition not to forget why you love what you love and taking an interest in other cultures and ideologies, which are a set of themes that I find very cool and would heavily encourage parents to teach their children.

Of course, there is some sequences that I’m aware some kids will not appreciate, like how they would be horrified at the sequence where Santa Claus is in mortal danger and could be killed. That may be a bit of deal breaker as some kids might find that upsetting. That’s not a complaint against the movie as it has plenty of positive aspects, but it may take some kids some time to warm up to it.

To go along with its themes, the movie has a dark and grisly look which I would say is appropriate, and you wouldn’t expect anything less from Tim Burton. To stop it from getting too scary everything contains enough of a dark whimsy about it to keep it somewhat lighthearted. Even though it could very well have been unintentionally horrifying the movie’s tongue is in it’s cheek and it lets you know everything is all in good humor. It may have needed a painstaking process to make everything as it was from the somewhat foreboding nature of Halloween Town to the festive nature of Christmas Town, but for all that hard labor I would say their work was well worth it!

Now it’s time for me to tell you about the characters. The star of the whole shebang, Jack Skellington, is the hero of the story looking for a way of his Halloween slump and finds it in the more festive Christmas Town. Like I said, he is bored with the tricks and treats of Halloween and thinks spreading it to Christmas would help him. You can say this can be like wanting to come to an understanding about others and learning that making mistakes is okay. His love interest, Sally, the Frankenstein’s monster-like toxicologist, very much feels like a rock to the insanity, and one that is necessary for all the dark chaos on display. Zero, Jack Skellington’s ghostly apparition of a dog, is his most loyal friend and one could say is his Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Dr. Finklestein is the mad scientist character responsible for Sally’s creation, he is meant to be like a father figure meant to try to control Sally despite her wishes. The Mayor of Halloween Town is the politician with a rotating face, one can say this is like some sly commentary about how political figures many times have two faces. Lock, Shock and Barrel are three troublemakers from Halloween Town who are meant to be comedy relief characters, in addition to the fact they are children so they don’t fully understand their actions. Santa Claus, still the same jolly old elf you remember him as from many stories of the past, probably helps to push the idea that Christmas, for all the mayhem that can come from the seasonal festivities, is about peace, love and forgiveness. The movie’s villain, Mr. Oogie Boogie, for all his grossness is still quite a memorable antagonist. Like a living burlap sack full of bugs, he is probably meant to be like a character that never once gets sick of his job and why would he? He’s the gambling sort who takes pleasure in inflicting pain and terror and that’s something Jack isn’t supposed to be interested in, it’s all meant to be fun. There are a bunch of other characters too, but they are mainly there to give Halloween Town a sense of society. A very memorable set of characters indeed.

Another thing worth mentioning is the songs. While not being a part of the Disney Animated Film Catalog, this movie is a musical and has a very clever assortment of songs. I could certainly see this becoming a Broadway musical with it’s tone and tunes that you’d probably like to purchase for your iTunes account.

Do you wonder why The Nightmare Before Christmas remains so popular and never ever seems to leave your local Hot Topic? This movie is truly a sight to be seen. For all the work that Tim Burton had to do in order for this film to be made, it was well worth the time and energy spent! He’s made a lasting movie that will continue to appeal as long as there are the holidays. A good time to be had and for good reason, The Nightmare Before Christmas may not officially count towards Disney’s official canon, but that doesn’t stop it from being a great movie! It may not be for the youngest of kids, but that doesn’t mean they can't grow into it eventually. Like Disney himself said, adults are just kids grown-up! You’ll definitely make this a part of your seasonal viewing and I highly recommend The Nightmare Before Christmas!



The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
TreyVore rates it: A

The Lion King (1994)

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
Cast: Johnathan Taylor Thomas (Cub Simba), Matthew Broderick (Adult Simba), Niketa Calame (Cub Nala), Moira Kelly (Adult Nala), James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Jeremy Irons (Scar), Nathan Lane (Timon), Ernie Sabella (Pumbaa), Robert Guillaume (Rafiki), Rowan Atkinson (Zazu), Whoopi Goldberg (Shenzi), Cheech Marin (Banzai), Jim Cummings (Ed)
Runtime: 88 min.
MPAA rating: G (all ages admitted)

This movie is about a lion cub named Simba who is born into royalty and his father Mufasa tells him that one day his time as ruler of the Pridelands will set and rise with him. Simba can’t wait to be the one running all the fun, but his villainous uncle Scar will not stand for the fact he can’t be king as long as his brother and nephew are alive and works out a scheme to eliminate them. Arranging for Mufasa’s murder in a wildebeest stampede, Scar deceives Simba into thinking he was responsible for his father’s death and tells him to run away and never return. From there, Simba meets a pair of outcasts in the form of a meerkat named Timon and his warthog buddy Pumbaa where they teach him about their “Hakuna Matata” lifestyle. He stays with them until his childhood friend Nala, on a hunt for help finds him now grown up and romance blooms between them. Along with some wise words from the mystic shaman Rafiki, Simba learns the Pridelands are in ruins now that Scar has usurped the throne. So, with all that in mind, can Simba swallow his pride, face his past and overthrow Scar, thereby giving the Pridelands a king who will rule over with a gentle heart?

Life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for The Lion King. This was the movie that in all honesty, no one at Disney’s Animation Division wanted to touch. Everyone at Disney’s Animation Department was regarding this movie as mere ‘filler’. It was thought to be nothing more than Bambi in Africa and they thought this was going to be a movie that no one would care for. After The Little Mermaid brought them back to the forefront as an animation powerhouse, Beauty and the Beast got itself a Best Picture nomination and Aladdin was the highest grossing movie of 1992, no one wanted anything to do with this movie; they felt the world was eagerly anticipating Pocahontas.

How wrong they would turn out to be, as this movie would have the opposite effect and turn into their Renaissance Era’s apex film. This ugly duckling did not turn out to be a beautiful swan, oh no, it would turn into a phoenix that would set our hearts ablaze. Maybe it didn’t cover any new ground, and it wound up losing the top box-office spot to Forrest Gump but it did set a record for highest grossing cel-animated film that has yet to be topped.

I will say though, that Forrest Gump did make more money, but The Lion King did sell more tickets; taking into account the fact there were a number of tickets were sold at matinee prices, and kids would not have had any interest in seeing Forrest Gump in that manner. Regardless, I’ll take The Lion King over Forrest Gump any day of the week and thrice on Sunday!

Yes, this movie that no one thought would do much of anything, would speak to us at the very core, and would continue to live on well after its box-office run was completed. It would go on to see merchandise including shirts, school supplies, party supplies, cartoon spin-offs, video games, a Broadway show, etc. The Lion King would do just the opposite of its original intention. Even in theatrical re-releases it continues to outgross new movies to become the weekend’s highest grossing movie.

When my siblings and I saw this movie back in the summer of 1994, we loved it and it stayed with us ever since. We all agree it’s been like their best movie. Maybe it didn’t get a Best Picture nomination but the way I see it, it doesn’t have any need for that award. And why would it? It doesn’t need a Best Picture nomination to prove it’s a masterpiece.

But enough with the backstory, you probably want me to tell you about the movie. It was said to have had an original story, but that claim is debatable. Some say it takes some of its cues from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and other people say there is some similarities to the Japanese anime series Kimba the White Lion. In any case, the execution is what matters and it does so amazingly well; not a single scene in this movie falls flat.

The movie begins with the start of a new day in the African Savannah, where all the animal life arrive at Pride Rock to greet and pay respects to Simba, the newborn king. This is I would say appropriate, as it lets us into the movie’s world in much the same way a baby is born. Unspoiled by life’s hardships and traumatic issues, Simba would grow up in much the same way a child is born, thinking the world is at his feet. Tragedy strikes when his treacherous uncle Scar arranges his father’s murder and suddenly, life doesn’t feel like it’s all peaches and cream. Now thinking he’s responsible for something terrible, he flees into exile and lives his life as a commoner with his friends. However, once Nala discovers he’s in fact alive, she and Rafiki are able to get him to face the skeletons in his closet and remember the ones that he is supposed to care for. It all comes together in a profound way and there’s very little to truly single out as misplaced.

There’s not any doubt that Simba is the identifiable character. He’s like your gateway into the movie’s world as he is the character that grows from thinking the world is at your beck and call, to having to face serious and real issues, make friends and a lover, all the while maturing to becoming selfless and heroic. It all comes in a very strong, cohesive package that one could say speaks for us all. The movie does play with many different emotions and the execution makes it all work so well.

They did an amazing job with the animation as well. Most of the animation is with cels, and they did a fantastic job with the atmosphere; a lot of attention to giving the movie the feel like you are actually in the African Savannah. The color set up does everything right, emphasizing the tone and moods you are supposed to feel. Even the character animation, with everything from how a lion would walk to a small lizard right down to a rhinoceros beetle, is animated with that spot-on precision. I’ll even say that in the Wildebeest Stampede, the most obvious example of the movie’s CGI use that took three years to animate, despite being such primitive CGI amazingly well and still holds up. There is no denying the animation team held nothing back regardless of the movie’s naysayers.

Now to give details to the characters. I’ve already described Simba, being the identifiable character and the one you want to see succeed. Johnathan Taylor Thomas in the role was a great choice as he was best known as playing Randy Taylor on Home Improvement at the time, and he delivers the spunk and sass we would probably think he should have. As an adult lion, Matthew Broderick takes over and does a terrific job balancing knowing when he should be unsure of himself when he knows he must confront his past and being assertive in the right moments. Nala, his classic love interest, goes through his same life changes that he does, in thinking she will become queen, to having to face hardships, to feeling like something needs to be done, to becoming the love of Simba’s life. Mufasa is Simba’s wise and powerful father, who is the benevolent king of Pride Rock. Voiced by the one and only James Earl Jones, there is no denying he was a great choice for a father figure. He gives a very warm presence when Mufasa would need to be receptive, to being stern when he needs to discipline Simba. You are in no doubt you can see a little bit of your real-life father in Mufasa, which makes it all the more tragic when he is murdered in cold blood. Rafiki is the wise mystic shaman and his delivery by Robert Guillaume was very inspired; he does his lines with such heart and appeal that he is a very strong teacher. Zazu, while only a minor character, is appropriately voiced by Rowan Atkinson, making Zazu a stuffy royal advisor who delivers a lot of comedy. You could say that he’s an appropriate support as he gives you reason to side with Simba, much like how if you are watching The Simpsons, that would mean if Simba is Bart Simpson, then Zazu is Principal Skinner. Now Timon and Pumbaa, unquestionably the movie’s darkhorses who you knew you wanted to see more of the moment they appeared onscreen, are a pair of slackers who also have no real direction in life which changes after they meet Simba. They easily could have Scrappies with how they are supposed to be comedic characters in a mostly serious movie, but they are always likable and deliver lots of laughs, keeping a very strong balance between comedy and tragedy. With voices by Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, they have an amazing comedic chemistry and could very well be Disney’s greatest comic sidekick characters; no wonder they are considered to be Simba’s co-stars despite the fact they are introduced only when the movie is half-over. They also prove that for all the movie’s artistry they can still deliver fart jokes and make it work naturally, much like how Back to the Future could be artistically a solid movie but still have room to have characters fall victim to jokes like crashing into a manure truck. Now on the villain side of things, Scar is truly a menacing villain as he schemes to kill his brother and his nephew to become king. His voice from Jeremy Irons makes him like a faux Brit and lends him to sound charming yet simultaneously devious. Under his reign, Scar basically becomes what Simba probably would be had he never been faced with any sort of trouble or hardship. Sure he is still under the royal family, but is craving power; once he becomes king, he starts to become selfish and greedy with his power and that causes the Pridelands to fall into ruin. Appropriately, he goes back to making a point made earlier that because he is king he can do whatever he wants and feels the world owes him a favor. His henchmen, the hyena trio of Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, you can say are like Scar’s three children. Shenzi can be seen as the oldest, Banzai the middle child and Ed is the baby. With their comedic voices done by Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings, they carry out their father’s work and are endlessly loyal to him, but they are too stupid, lazy and unmotivated to have any sort of impact on what their father figure wants them to do. I’m well aware they are not actually his children but their ties to him most certainly suggest that type of relationship they have with him, like how in one sequence they want Scar to give them a meal despite not having done their job, or how after Simba returns Scar looks at them as if to say “Okay, I will do my own dirty work, but once this is over you three are grounded forever!” Not a single character is wasted here.

Now for the songs. They definitely had their work cut out for them here. For The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, these movie’s musical scores were done by Howard Ashman, who had a god-given talent of writing songs with memorable lyrics you could remember and sing long after the movie was finished. He died from AIDS before the release of Beauty and the Beast. With Howard Ashman gone, they called on Sir Elton John and Tim Rice for the musical score. “Circle of Life” stands as a truly majestic introductory song that is one of the best. “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” is the song that helps define Simba as a character and proves to be a fun ride. “Be Prepared” is the movie’s Villain Song that defines Scar’s evil intentions. “Hakuna Matata” could have been just another “Bare Necessities” but still stands on its own as the song that Timon and Pumbaa use to give Simba the emotional support that he would need. “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” is the sentimental song used to ignite the promotion that Simba and Nala go from friendship to love. They may have needed some time and were not immediately singable, but with time that changed and now songs are like a part of our popular lexicon.

Side note is, the movie’s original promotional spots said there would be 7 songs, not 5. There was the “Morning Report” song done by Zazu that was cut probably because it interrupted the flow of the movie, and thankfully you can still watch the movie without it. Then there was “Warthog Rhapsody”, which was recorded but not in the movie itself, I imagine this was sung during it’s planning stages but made it onto the “Rhythm of the Pridelands” CD. The other song we would have gotten was “To Be King” which was done early in the movie, performed by Mufasa to teach Simba about the responsibilities of kingship. This song easily would have been a dud as it makes its points too blatant and the idea of Mufasa singing would have just been ridiculous.

To be honest, The Lion King is nowadays more than just a mere movie. It’s not just the pinnacle of the Disney Renaissance nor is it just my personal favorite, a memorable animated movie, or pop culture from the 90s. It’s pretty much a way of life. I even remember reading that the Library of Congress has included this movie for preservation for being “artistically, historically, or aesthetically significant”. That would mean it can stand alongside other cinematic masterpieces like Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, North by Northwest, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather, Jaws, Star Wars, The Shining, Ghostbusters, Platoon, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and even it’s Disney Animated Film Catalog brethren Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Beauty and the Beast! That “filler” label now seems incredibly silly; this movie defied every sort of odd to achieve its success and is a movie that you need to see at some point in your life. Walt himself would be proud. See The Lion King and see it now!



The Lion King (1994)
TreyVore rates it: A+

Um, Big Hero 6 is a good movie. I suppose giving Ron's Gone Wrong a chance is out of the question?

If AniMat does like it then it will come down to whether or not Sing 2 is a dud.

This one was a lot of work, but it was well worth it! Enjoy your Sweetest Day present everyone!

www.deviantart.com/trey-vore/art/Can-Swifty-and-Jade-Feel-the-Love-Tonight-895214661?ga_changes=1&ga_submit_new=10%3A1634533150&ga_type=edit

d**n, those are big ones.

I'll also add he was the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoons and was half of the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises team that he formed with Friz Freleng.

RIP to all three, Rutie Thompson, Brian D. Goldner and David H. DePatie

All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 (1996)

Distributor: MGM/UA Distributor Co.
Director: Paul Sabella, Larry Leker
Cast: Charlie Sheen (Charlie B. Barkin), Dom DeLuise (Itchy), Sheena Easton (Sasha LaFleur), Adam Wylie (David), George Hearn (Red), Bebe Neuwirth (Annabelle), Ernest Borgnine (Carface Caruthers)
Runtime: 84 min.
MPAA rating: G (all ages admitted)

When we return to Heaven, we find Charlie is not particularly happy with his place in Heaven even after Itchy just makes it in. However, after Carface steals Gabriel’s Horn from it’s resting place and loses it on accident, it’s now up to Charlie and Itchy to find the Horn and recover it so it can be back in it’s rightful place, thereby allowing Heaven’s gates to reopen. Once arriving, Charlie gets sidetracked and falls for a beautiful Irish Setter named Sasha, and later learns she’s acting as a parent for a human boy who ran away from home named David. After Carface helps him become visible thanks to a fortune teller dog, it turns out that Carface is now working for Red, a Satanic figure who wants Gabriel’s Horn to seize control of Heaven. So with time running out on his new deal, can Charlie and Itchy prove they deserve their status as angelic dogs by retrieving Gabriel’s Horn, winning Sasha over, help David learn his place and stop Red and Carface from destroying Heaven?

If you are not familiar, I am a former non-fan, now fan, of Don Bluth’s 1989 movie All Dogs Go To Heaven. I may have needed some time, but I now see it as worthy of it’s current status and will support it. Sure I don’t think it’s Don Bluth’s finest movie, but I like it a lot better than I previously did.

The public felt the same way too, as it was originally a dud, but it would go on to become a franchise in the 1990s. It would receive this sequel as testament to its new franchise status, and it would lead us into All Dogs Go To Heaven: the Series, which ran from 1996-1998. Don’t underestimate the power of home media.

This movie would also be the second sequel to a Don Bluth movie, after An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. Well, theatrically released sequel, as there are all those Land Before Time sequels and one for The Secret of NIMH too among others, but none of them were released in theatres. What they all had in common though, was the fact that Don Bluth himself had nothing to do with them. Funny thing was, I’m just seeing this movie for the first time. At the time, I was in high school and didn’t see it as a top priority being I still didn’t care for the original movie at the time. But now that I have finally seen this movie, it’s time for me to go ahead and give my thoughts on this sequel that I only remember truly reading about in one issue of Entertainment Weekly that like the original movie was a dud, having been badly-reviewed and only made $8 million.

I think it’s probably best to just see the movie as a loose sequel. I say this because it feels like this movie has very little to do with the 1989 original. In this movie, Charlie is back and now feeling like he wants to get out of Heaven for a while to return to Earth feeling like he’s missing something and jumps at the opportunity to retrieve Gabriel’s Horn. However, it feels very much like beyond the return of Charlie and Itchy, there’s almost nothing to make this film feel like a proper sequel. For starters, the original movie was set in 1939 New Orleans and this sequel sends Charlie and Itchy to San Francisco in the 1990s. I can accept they’d be capable of fitting in with the times being angels and all, but one thing that does not make sense is the fact Itchy just now arrived in Heaven and suddenly has to accompany Charlie to retrieve Gabriel’s Horn. So what does that mean, did Itchy live to be 60? Plus, what became of Anne-Marie? I know she was not included just to pay respects to Judith Barsi (she was tragically murdered by her father along with her mom before the original movie’s release) but you’d think she would deserve a passing reference or something. Not only that, but other characters like Killer and Flo, Carface’s subordinate and the Collie mom from the original movie, do not return either and are not mentioned. The only explanation is that Charles Nelson Reilly and Loni Anderson simply chose not to reprise their roles. It also doesn’t feel quite as mature as the original, being that Charlie seems to have Aesop Amnesia and forgotten that it’s important to put others’ feelings first but it adds nothing to Charlie’s story. Then there is also the fact that the dogs don’t truly seem like dogs but rather like humans in dogs’ bodies many times. Now sure it does still contain some nice messages, like how it tells kids that parents can love more than just one child and running away does not solve problems. It does maintain some ideas that the original movie had, but continuity is not its forte.

With the original movie, it had the master animator Don Bluth and his amazing artistic draftsmanship that was truly a sight to be seen. But because he had nothing to do with this movie, his absence is sore. Characters like Charlie and Itchy are still on-model for the most part despite the lower budget but they are about the only things consistent with the first movie. The humans and dogs alike now look a lot more cartoony and exaggerated rather than the more realistically-proportioned ones in the last movie. There’s also animation sequences where it doesn’t feel like the characters are truly flowing with the background, creating something of a chaotic feel. The movie also has musical numbers that feel like they were only done for the fact that first movie was a musical and this one had to be as well, plus the Disney Renaissance was just killing it because their movies did them so well. Probably the worst offender as I saw it was “On Easy Street”, where the images don’t always fit the tone. The other songs, like “It’s Too Heavenly Here” and “It Feels So Good to be Bad” are nothing noteworthy, but for reasons I will address, I didn’t mind “Count Me Out” or “I Will Always Be With You”.

Now… I think it’s time to address the characters. You know how in the last movie, the characters were something of a deal-breaker? Well, that’s even stronger here. I’ll start with Charlie. He has returned to do something good for another kid but without Don Bluth’s direction he’s a lot less charming than before. In fact, he’s probably more despicable this time in that he uses Annabelle’s errand to go back to Earth and at one point throws Gabriel’s Horn in a lobster trap before kicking it into the ocean to keep it safe! Plus I know that Burt Reynolds was preoccupied with movies like Citizen Ruth, Striptease and Mad Dog Time but it needs to be said: Charlie Sheen was not a good replacement as not only do they sound nothing alike but Charlie Sheen just playing himself makes him inconsistent with the first movie. Itchy, being the only character to still have his original voice actor, does little more than act as Charlie’s better half, which was only partly true of his character in the original movie. He does get a new running joke about him having short legs. That work? Okay, moving on. Annabelle, the whippet angel dog, I remember having at least some feminine flair to her but now just sounds like a whiny parrot. For the newer characters, I will say that David is the runaway kid that needs to understand that family is important and running away does not fix problems, I didn’t have problems with him, but it’s safe to say he is no Anne-Marie. Sasha, I will honestly admit that I liked as a character. She does have these ultra-feminine characteristics that would make Charlie fall for her and in all honesty she helps make Charlie more tolerable despite his inconsistences with his previous movie characterization. They honestly work nicely as a couple and the love ballad they share together I will admit I liked; maybe this is because I happen to really get into a good love duet. If I took nothing else from this movie I will take Sasha as a character. The movie’s villain, Red, is a feline-like Satanic-figure who’s pretty forgettable, but at least his voice actor was having a good time.

Now the way I see it, the worst character by a long shot was Carface. Do you remember how he was originally characterized to be a violent, dangerous crime lord who was very imposing whenever he was onscreen? Well that was completely jettisoned out the window as a result of Villain Decay and now he’s just a dumb, cowardly bumbler that kisses up to Red. This is just a total insult to his character as he now plays Ma-Mutt to Red being Mumm-Ra. Also, I understand that Vic Tayback was dead by the time of this movie’s release, but Ernest Borgnine, again, sounds nothing like his original voice and now is just supposed to be comedy relief. At least he had fun? Also, he seems to get himself a human butt, for the purpose of comedy. Again, the movie's worst character.

The original movie may not have been an immediate hit, but it did find a voice and achieved success. However this sequel was a dud and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. In the end, I could say that All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 feels like it’s really supposed to be a made-for-TV movie which is supposed to help be the pilot for All Dogs Go To Heaven: the Series that for some reason found its way into theatres. I didn’t hate this movie as I did find redeemable qualities in it, but I would advise just to stick with the first movie or maybe take the series as a sidestory, because this sequel just is not worthy to bear the All Dogs Go To Heaven name.



All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 (1996)
TreyVore rates it: D+