Recent Posts

Good to have him back in a way.

Hope to hear more from our fellow rock warrior!

All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989)

Distributor: MGM/UA Distribution Co.
Director: Don Bluth
Cast: Burt Reynolds (Charlie B. Barkin), Dom DeLuise (Itchy), Judith Barsi (Anne-Marie), Vic Tayback (Carface), Charles Nelson Reilly (Killer), Loni Anderson (Flo), Melba Moore (Annabelle), Ken Page (King Gator)
Runtime: 85 min.
MPAA rating: G (all ages admitted)

Set in 1939 New Orleans, Charlie B. Barkin and his buddy Itchy break out of the pound and return to their casino riverboat on the bayou, which is owned by Charlie and his business partner Carface. Being that plan to incarcerate Charlie failed, and wanting the money for himself, Carface and his subordinate Killer get Charlie nice and wasted before killing him through vehicular homicide. Getting into Heaven by default despite his life of drunken debauchery, Charlie cheats death by winding his pocket watch and returns back to Earth to seek revenge. The thing is though the watch is now his Soul Jar; he’s immortal as long as it runs but once it stops he’ll be sent to Hell. They kidnap Carface’s trump card, an orphan girl who can talk to animals named Anne-Marie, to form their own casino under the promise to find her some legal parents. So, with Charlie developing some feelings for Anne-Marie, can he survive long enough to prove he deserves to get into Heaven despite the imposed threat from his former partner?

There was no denying that in the field of animation during the 1980s, Don Bluth was a force to be reckoned with. During a time when animation was in a slump and even Disney could not be counted on to make a successful animated film, Don Bluth was the only hold out; he had given us powerful and highly memorable animated films that children from the time very fondly remember. Movies like The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail and The Land Before Time are all great movies that got great reviews and turned a profit. I’ll even add that despite the Video Game Crash of 1983, his work on the Laserdisc classic Dragon’s Lair was a highly successful game.

But his reign would end after a while. This movie was released by MGM instead of Universal due to Don Bluth being dissatisfied with their original terms with An American Tail and The Land Before Time. It was released on November 17, 1989, no joke, the exact same date Disney gave us The Little Mermaid, and would mark the beginning of his decline. All Dogs Go To Heaven was savaged by critics who found it to be confusing, having characters that are just not terribly likable and for a movie meant for kids, rather dark and violent especially compared to the more lighthearted Disney movie.

I will admit that when I first saw All Dogs Go To Heaven when it came out on video in 1990, I didn’t care for it. I originally thought it just seemed very cold and mean-spirited, and not completely kid-friendly; the characters just seem to engage in extremely morally questionable behavior and seemed like it was just very bad taste for a movie intended for children. Back then I felt it just didn’t strike that same chord that Don Bluth’s earlier films did; I felt this was a miss on his part and would later lead to his long decline that would be his animation career in the 1990s.

As it went though… the movie started growing on me. It may not have instantly won me over but right now I do like the movie a lot better than I once did. I even own the DVD thanks to my sister and have it on my iTunes account right now. Maybe it was one of those movies that needed time? Anyway, I guess that is what this review for right?

I guess we should start by discussing the story. A movie starts as a revenge story where Charlie wants to ruin his former partner for arranging his murder, but the events of the story cause him to develop a heart. The whole movie I felt was just extremely adult-minded and has characters engaging in behavior more than likely not appropriate for a kids’ film. It undergoes a lot of darkness getting there which probably was another factor turned me off the first time. Though not without its sweet moments and funny parts, it seemed to jump through so much of just plain dark before we get to the happy end. Not to mention some of its original ideas seemed to suggest it had some fascination with religious aspects and the occult which are definite war-starters on the Web.

In a way, I think I must have been trying to overanalyze it; Disney did include a lot more dark scenarios in their early days. Maybe this is just my predilection for a good crime film but I do think it can have a point in service to the story. The movie is about Charlie’s life as an utter scoundrel that would need to prove that everyone has some level of good in them and he’d have to do something in order to achieve some sort of redemption. People are more resilient than they think.

This movie does have Don Bluth’s masterful animation style in the beautiful painterly backgrounds and the surprisingly very real-looking animation on the human characters. Oddly though, the non-human animals, the dog characters in particular, have kind of an odd animation style to them. Maybe this is because The Secret of NIMH and An American Tail had mice and The Land Before Time had dinosaurs and you could make the argument that you could use some imagination on them, but this movie features dogs, which you probably see on a very routine basis. They seem to have an animation style that fluctuates between being a feral dog (like when they are on all four legs) and being a ‘toon (like how they can stand upright on their rear legs and morph their paws into hands). Strangely enough, the movie makes it work. Maybe this is because it has some bizarre balance of realism and non-realism but they work together. The movie does have musical numbers that can be very pleasant to listen to but you wouldn’t expect less from a Don Bluth movie.

Now for the characters, which are probably the movie’s deal breaker. The movie’s hero, Charlie B. Barkin, is an utter scumbag that needs to prove to us all that he would deserve the right to be in Heaven. Despite what he had done in his life, he’s able to redeem himself through his sudden heart that he’s able to gain thanks to Anne-Marie. He’s supposed to be doing what he does to get revenge on his former partner and what helps him gain his redemption is when he’s forced to choose between saving Anne-Marie or himself. Anne-Marie is the cutesy and precocious girl who can talk to animals and wants to get a family but she has to learn about Charlie’s true intentions. Charlie’s buddy Itchy is a Dachshund that you could argue is Charlie’s better half; he’s meant to be a comedy relief but remains loyal no matter what to his boss. The movie’s villain Carface is like what Charlie probably was before the start of the movie. He’s a sadistic, greedy, violent crime lord that does whatever he needs to do in order to get what he wants. His subordinate Killer can be judged as if Itchy was more of a dork than a wiener. Ultimately the movie doesn’t have any positive role models. Despite that they do have a level of charm that makes them appealing regardless of how awful they might seem.

I will say that All Dogs Go To Heaven is not a masterpiece; however it’s still a worthy movie to see and appreciate. The other thing I took from All Dogs Go To Heaven is the fact that while the movie may not have been all that successful at first, it’s not its original critical reception and box-office gross that are the beginning and end of everything; what matters is that if the movie can find a voice and live on regardless of how people felt about it at first. The movie did indeed find a voice and go on to become a franchise in the 90s, and enjoys a much nicer reception nowadays. I still think it pales next to Don Bluth’s earlier movies and the Disney Renaissance, but it is a good movie and I am happy to say I’m a fan.



All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989)
TreyVore rates it: B+

Random Fact #4344:

As of 3/21/2021, The Simpsons just saw episode #700!

The Lego Movie (2014)

Distributor: Warner Bros.
Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Cast: Chris Pratt (Emmet Brickowski), Will Ferrell (Lord Business), Elizabeth Banks (Lucy Wyldstyle), Will Arnett (Batman), Nick Offerman (Capt. Metal Beard), Alison Brie (Princess UniKitty), Liam Neeson (Good Cop/Bad Cop), Charlie Day (Benny), Morgan Freeman (Vitruvius)
Runtime: 100 min.
MPAA rating: PG (mild action, rude humor)

This movie is about a LEGO construction worker named Emmet Brickowski, who enjoys his mundane life as a LEGO figure in a LEGO world. That all changes though, when he meets a Master Builder named Wyldstyle and her boyfriend Batman, who are on a hunt to save the LEGO verse from Lord Business and his vision of perfection, making his point with the ultimate superweapon known as the “Kragle”. Mistaking him for the “special” that will save everyone, Emmet now has to travel through various LEGO worlds to foil attacks from agents on the call from Lord Business. Befriending other LEGO Master Builders like the seafaring Capt. Metal Beard, the 80s-era spaceman Benny and the Cuckoocloudlander Princess UniKitty, can this band of heroes utilize their unique talents to end the threat from Lord Business and protect the LEGO universe?

I am sure you probably remember playing with LEGOs. These universally recognizable construction toys, known for encouraging creativity and world building since 1949, have been a toy that everyone and their grandfather remembers playing with alongside friends and family. That said though, what do you do to make a movie about LEGO bricks? We had several movies about toys in the past and not every single one nailed it; a majority of which was nothing more than a soulless advertisement for its product. This was going to be a challenge, and we could use a great animated movie from 2014 especially after the listless, uneventful year that was 2013—don’t get me wrong, we had movies like Frozen and Despicable Me 2 from that year but everything else had quality that ranged from “okay” to “awful”. So how does this movie fare?

I will admit, this movie was a very pleasant and fun adventure.

At the start of the movie, I see it as you are supposed to be gravitating towards Emmet, being the everyman that seems like he has a very specific role in this world and everything is supposed to have a rigid purpose. Everyone is happy in ignorance of the lack of creativity and imagination; if the song with the repeated mantra of “Everything is Awesome” is supposed to mean anything, it suggests that everyone is happy with mindless conformity and the lack of any real surprises. That all changes as the movie goes as Emmet meets Wyldstyle and Batman and his purpose in the world is called into question.

Even though the movie does have what seems like random world hopping to travel through different scenarios, its purpose is that it supposed to help encourage children to use their imaginations. If the Master Builder theme is supposed to suggest something, it’s that the movie’s heroes are freedom fighters against the oppression that Lord Business stands for; the Kragle, while meant to be a tube of “Krazy Glue”, is supposed to fuse the LEGO bricks together; nothing more than brute force (and potential damage) will separate them. The movie’s underlying theme of everyone is special and the importance of having an imagination are important themes that kids would need to understand and appreciate.

This does feel like it is a very “right-brained” approach, as one would use their right-side of their brain to differate colors and shapes. I do think that if they used more structure with their plotline, the movie’s themes may not have been all that effective; if you are expecting a more organized adventure this may feel like a mess.

The movie’s characters, I feel are all worthy of attention even if they feel like they could be fleshed out a little more. I do feel like I understand Emmet as the movie’s gravitational pull, Wyldstyle is the potential love interest, Batman is the friendly rival that you would need to put differences aside with to make matters work, Vitruvius is the mentor figure that guides the hero on his adventure and Lord Business is the tyrant that wants to eliminate freedoms for his perfect utopia. For the rest of the characters, they don’t seem to be all that well-defined; I would have loved a little more light shed on them. My favorite was UniKitty which is probably because I love cats. I’m serious, before the pandemic hit I would do volunteer work at my local pet shelter where they knew they could trust me to pet the kitties they would have for adoption.

On the upside, the animation used is truly special. Each and everything looks like it was made entirely of LEGO bricks which is very impressive, there’s no doubt the animation is amazing.

The movie’s climax, which is cut with live-action footage, was something I felt was befitting for it’s theme; the whole movie is essentially a human boy playing with his dad’s collection of LEGOs. The son clearly wants to be creative, while the dad just wants things to be in perfect working order; a clear metaphor for the movie’s events on display. When the dad sees his son’s ideas, it causes him to see the world his son created a bit differently.  Refresh my memory, Lord Business is voiced by Will Ferrell and who is playing the dad here?

This movie proved to be a major hit for the WB; they now had a major animated hit on their hands which they had not seen since Happy Feet. In a controversial decision, it was not even nominated for the 2014 award for Best Animated Feature, but it’s box-office haul, making over $450 million against a budget of $60-65 million meant you could only complain so much.

In the end, I’m very happy that I took the time to see The Lego Movie. Still proving to be fun and creative, we needed this movie after the drought that was the year 2013. Sure I do feel it may have been outdone in later projects—I personally would rather take The Lego Batman Movie or the UniKitty! series over this film but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. The Lego Movie is special and well worth seeing.

Everything is awesome indeed.



The Lego Movie (2014)
TreyVore rates it: B+

Lou Ottens, the Dutch creator of the original cassette tape and helped with the creation of the compact disc, just died at 94.

consequenceofsound.net/2021/03/rip-lou-ottens-cassette-dead/?fbclid=IwAR2mKGoAvmCC5NZYg-wY_MLVtnvO7kuizgyaQOHq-_uVrVB-zAS9VXRnUhE

I have some bad news guys.

It turns out we are not getting Minions: Rise of Gru this year; it was delayed to 2022.

They say it will be worth waiting for, I just hope that turns out to be true.

Hey guys. I know they might be trying to make the new show different from the original series and the Looney Tunes of the past, and I think I would be okay with that. I will say this though:

It kinda seems they are exiling Pepe Le Pew from future Looney Tunes productions, he's not going to appear in Space Jam: A New Legacy.