AN ALL DOGS CHRISTMAS CAROL (1998)

Balladeer’s Blog’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2015 comes to a close with a look at this animated sequel to All Dogs Go To Heaven.

The dog-angel characters from that reasonably successful film use their Heavenly powers to get the dog-gangster Carface Caruthers (Ernest Borgnine) to change his ways. The portions of this direct-to- video flick dealing with the actual Christmas Carol adaptation are very good. 

Unfortunately that element takes up barely half of the story. The overall tale is about a demonic figure called Belladonna (Bebe Neuwirth) who wants to use a gigantic magic dog bone to manipulate all of Earth’s dogs in a plot to destroy Christmas. Dog-Angels Charlie Barkin (Steven Weber) and Itchy (Dom Deluise) from the previous movie need the help of canine crime-lord Carface to thwart Belladonna’s plans. Hence the plot to “Dickens” him into becoming a better man … or dog, actually.  

Charlie and Itchy get some of their other pals like Sasha (Sheena Easton) to help out as they stage visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come in their bid to reform Carface.

Charles Nelson Reilly provides the voice of Killer, Carface’s abused underling who is the Bob Cratchit stand-in and Taylor Emerson voices Timmy, the lame little puppy who fills the role of Tiny Tim in the story.  

An All Dogs Christmas Carol is a musical and, though most of the songs are unmemorable there are two definite stand-outs: I Always Get Emotional At Christmas Time is shared by Bebe Neuwirth and Charles Nelson Reilly (I’m sure Bebe was thrilled) and is good enough that it could pass as a ditty from a stage musical.   

The real show-stopper is Clean Up Your Act, sung by Steven Weber/ Charlie Barkin as the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. (Itchy and Sasha played the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, respectively, if you care.) The dog-angel is joined by a veritable Gospel Chorus of dog-angels for this butt-kicking song which you’ll wish could go on much longer than it actually does. 

That song concludes the regulation scene in the cemetery where Carface sees his own tombstone and after he is transported back to his own bed ready to help the good guys the fun is over. From there it’s back into the lame wrap-around story about a giant magic dog-bone. 

When I re-watch this little honey I always fast-forward straight to the Christmas Carol adaptation and shut it off when Clean Up Your Act finishes up. It saves time and makes me fonder of this film than I would be otherwise. 

Well, that brings this year’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon to a close! Be here next year when the 2016 edition begins on the Friday after Thanksgiving! 

FOR DOZENS MORE VERSIONS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/category/a-christmas-carol-2/

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