One of the most expensive of Don Bluths animated cartoon features, All Dogs Go to Heaven was also among the most successful. Set in late-1930s New Orleans, the story centers upon a rogueish German shepherd named Charlie B. Barkin, who is accidentally killed early in the proceedings. Since he isnt a likely candidate for heaven, Charlie is given a reprieve and sent back to Earth, there to perform at least one good deed. He gets his chance when a little orphan girl named Anne-Marie is kidnapped by his old buddies. All Dogs Go to Heaven is virtually a textbook of Don Bluths strengths and weaknesses. On the plus side, we are offered superb animation, excellent background art, appealing characters and toe-tappin songs; on the minus side, we have a plotline that doesnt hold together, characters that start out on one level and never grow, and too many extraneous sequences. All in all, however, the plusses outweigh the minuses-and besides, the film treats us to the considerable vocal skills of Burt Reynolds (as Charlie), Dom DeLuise, Charles Nelson Reilly, Vic Tayback, Melba Moore, Loni Anderson and a host of others. All Dogs Go to Heaven was the first production of the Dublin-based Sullivan Bluth Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide