History YMMV / AllDogsGoToHeaven

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Despite the entire movie being about his character's death, Creator/BurtReynolds was the last of his co-stars to die. Of the main cast, at least. As of 2021, supporting actors - Ken Page, Loni Anderson, and Melba Moore are still alive. [[note]]Many sentimental fans remarked that Reynolds' death in 2018 meant that Charlie, Itchy and Anne-Marie can [[TogetherInDeath be together again]].[[/note]]

* HarsherInHindsight: A film with heavy themes of mortality and several scenes of a little girl in danger becomes a lot more difficult to watch knowing [[OffingTheOffspring the tragic fate]] of [[Creator/JudithBarsi that little girl's actress]]. Even worse, the film's plot is kicked off with a ''murder''.

* WhatAnIdiot: Situating their casino out of a half-sunken ship proves to be a serious oversight on the part of Carface and Charlie, and neither escape with their lives when the ship is inevitably set ablaze and sunk.

* AwardSnub: "A Little Heaven", the theme song for the TV series, was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 1997, but lost to ''Guiding Light''.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Bebe Newrith sounds like she's trying ''really'' hard to sound whimsical as Annabelle, reading all of her lines with an over-the-top tremolo, but it comes off less as whimsy and more like she's sitting on a washing machine.

* WhatAnIdiot: Carface's original human family, whose son is so irresponsible and lazy that Carface runs rampant around the house and inadvertently ruins his family's Christmas simply because he isn't trained to know better.\\
'''You'd Expect''': For the boy to own up to his carelessness, as he risks losing his pet over the incident.\\
'''Instead''': The ungrateful child doesn't say a thing in defense of Carface, leaving him at the mercy of his angry parents who want to get rid of him.\\
'''Compounding This''': The parents, instead of giving him up to a home for adoption or giving their kid one more chance to properly train Carface, instead kick him out onto the street to fend for himself. And bear in mind, he was just a ''puppy'', and they did this on a cold winter night when it was ''raining''. \\
'''The Result''': Carface becomes the bitter, greedy, self-serving louse he is, one bad enough to make deals with the Devil. All because they could not be bothered to be the responsible, caring owners they should have been.

* ParodyDisplacementL The "Let's Make Music Together" musical number starts out as an homage to ''Film/KingKong.'' Many people won't recognize this, because while everybody has heard of ''King Kong'', [[MainstreamObscurity many people haven't actually seen it]]. Even if you have, the song is so distracting that it's easy to forget the reference.

* WeirdAlEffect: The "Let's Make Music Together" musical number starts out as an homage to ''Film/KingKong.'' Many people won't recognize this, because while everybody has heard of ''King Kong'', [[MainstreamObscurity many people haven't actually seen it]]. Even if you have, the song is so distracting that it's easy to forget the reference.

** Teddy from the episode "Field Trip". Sure, he's a brat who hates dogs so much he deliberately sends them to the pound but he's also clearly neglected by his grandmother in favor of the dogs she takes care of. His tearful and horrified reaction when Charlie tells him about what happens to dogs at the pound is enough to make him change.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Ken Page, who voiced the {{big-lipped alligator|Moment}}, would go on to voice Oogie Boogie in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] despite being the TropeNamer, albeit [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick indirectly]]. While the character ''does'' come back a few scenes later, King Gator's bombastic, Esther Williams-style musical number is neither foreshadowed or even mentioned after it occurs (aside from King Gator singing the single word "Forever!" once). However, it ''does'' give some plot points: [[spoiler: Anne-Marie gets sick after she's been drenched in sewer water, and the alligator [[ChekhovsGunman even comes to eat Carface]] later because he liked the sound of Charlie's howl.]]
** The TropeNamer aspect comes from the fact that the movie breaks its own rules about who can talk to what to make the musical number make sense. King Gator shouldn’t be able to speak to Charlie and vice versa.[[note]]That being why Anne-Marie is so valuable; she alone can talk to ''all'' animals.[[/note]]

* CommonKnowledge: Ironically, while King Gator's out-of-place music number sticks in people's mind, they generally forget that [[spoiler:King Gator ''does'', in fact, [[ChekhovsGunman return to defeat Carface and]] ''attempt'' to save Charlie (who dies from losing his life watch, nevertheless)]]. The musical number is so distracting that it's also easy to forget that the whole thing started out as an homage to ''Film/KingKong.''

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] despite being the TropeNamer, albeit [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick indirectly]]. While the character ''does'' come back a few scenes later, King Gator's bombastic, Esther Williams-style musical number is neither foreshadowed or even mentioned after it occurs. However, it ''does'' give some plot points: [[spoiler: Anne-Marie gets sick after she's been drenched in sewer water, and the alligator [[ChekhovsGunman even comes to eat Carface]] later because he liked the sound of Charlie's howl.]]

* SpecialEffectsFailure: In the shot where Killer is bringing Anne-Marie to the shore at the end, we can see the fire-consumed boat sinking into the water. Problem is, the perspective of the water on the background combined with the placement of the boat completely ruins the foreshortening, accidentally making it look like the boat is a really tiny object sinking right next to Anne-Marie and Killer.

** The TropeNamer aspect comes from the fact that the movie breaks its own rules about who can talk to what to make the musical number make sense. King Gator shouldn’t be able to speak to Charlie and Vice versa.
* CommonKnowledge: Ironically, while King Gator's out of place music number sticks in people's mind, they generally forget that [[spoiler:King Gator ''does'', in fact, [[ChekhovsGunman return to defeat Carface and]] ''attempt'' to save Charlie (who dies from losing his life watch, nevertheless)]]. The musical number is so distracting that it's also easy to forget that the whole thing started out as an homage to ''Film/KingKong.''

** Itchy is also well liked by fans; helps that he's voiced by Creator/DomDeLuise (and was the only character to retain his original actor across the whole series).

* FirstInstallmentWins: While the sequel and TV show have their fans and are agreed to have more memorable characters and interesting stories, the first movie is generally agreed to be the only one that works as a whole move rather than a bunch of decent, disjointed ideas.

** Creator/BurtReynolds' acting is also an example. Most of his dialogue was ad libbed, giving it a certain restraint and sincerity not often heard in animation, not to mention providing the animators with a very natural performance to work with.

** Related, one of the supporting characters in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' is a musically inclined big lipped alligator who lives in the Louisiana bayou.
* IdiotPlot: The mainspring of the plot is kicked off when Charlie, who is handed a spot in Heaven on a silver platter despite ''clearly'' not deserving it, decides he wants to take his cake and eat it too, and makes a [[TooDumbToLive profoundly stupid decision]] by deciding to forsake his place in Heaven to return to his life on Earth, and he nearly winds up in Hell as a result. While there's an argument to be made that he didn't know going back would damn him, after he finds out, he decides to spend his remaining time on Earth gambling, seeking revenge, manipulating an orphan, and generally doing everything possible to tarnish his soul. To say nothing of the fact that Heaven leaves the means to returning back to Earth laying right out in the open for anyone to use.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Ken Page, who voiced the {{big lipped alligator|Moment}}, would go on to voice Oogie Boogie in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: In the shot where Killer is bringing Ann Marie to the shore at the end, we can see the fire consumed boat sinking into the water. Problem is, the perspective of the water on the background combined with the placement of the boat completely ruins the foreshortening, accidentally making it look like the boat is a really tiny object sinking right next to Ann Marie and Killer.

* UncannyValley: Anne-Marie sometimes falls into this (keep in mind that, video games notwithstanding, this was Don Bluth's first time animating a major human character). Of particular note is that close-up shot of her close to the end, where she looks more like a porcelain doll that a human being.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Undoubtedly Creator/DonBluth's least kid-friendly film, despite a few scenes that are obviously for kids. Not only does a murder-revenge gangster story include a lot of "inappropriate" stuff like first degree murder, theft and drinking but the movie plays it totally straight. That's not to mention the terrifying images of {{Hell}} and {{Satan}}, and the real clincher, [[spoiler:killing the protagonist permanently]], which is unheard of in Western animation for children.

** Itchy, after his run-in with Carface near the end of the movie. The animated series ups his Woobie status even further, showing him as being the victim of an abusive owner and in the episode "Fearless Fido", he has a PTSD reaction to ferris wheels due to a traumatic event he had as a pup.

'''Compounding This''': The parents, instead of giving him up to a home for adoption or giving their kid one more chance to properly train Carface, instead kick him out onto the street to fend for himself. And bear in mind, he was just a ''puppy'', and they did this on a cold winter night when it was ''raining''.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Undoubtedly Creator/DonBluth's least kid-friendly film, despite a few scenes that are obviously for kids. Not only does a murder-revenge gangster story include a lot of "inappropriate" stuff like first degree murder, theft and drinking but the movie plays it totally straight. That's not to mention the terrifying images of {{Hell}} and {{Satan}}, and the real clincher, [[spoiler:killing the protagonist]], which is unheard of in Western animation for children.

* ValuesDissonance: Itchy's stereotypical "Chinaman" gag in "You Can't Keep A Good Dog Down." The film was released in 1989, the last time a joke like this was socially acceptable.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Despite the entire movie being about his character's death, Creator/BurtReynolds was the last of his co-stars to die. Of the main cast, at least. [[note]]Many sentimental fans remarked that Reynolds' death in 2018 meant that Charlie, Itchy and Anne-Marie can [[TogetherInDeath be together again]].[[/note]]

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Despite the entire movie being about his character's death, Creator/BurtReynolds was the last of his co-stars to die.[[note]]Many sentimental fans remarked that Reynolds' death in 2018 meant that Charlie, Itchy and Anne-Marie can [[TogetherInDeath be together again]].[[/note]]

* HarsherInHindsight: Like the first film, the show's focus on mortality and the afterlife gets more poignant as we lose more voice actors. In a bit of tragic irony, all three of the actors who played Charlie, who's death kicks off the plot of the first installment, outlived every single one of their co-stars (save Sheena Easton).
* HilariousInHindsight: Ernest Borgnine and Charles Nelson Riely play the BigBad and his [[PunchClockVillain incompetent sidekick]], respective. Two years after the series ended, they'd appear in en episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' with the roles reversed, Borgnine as [[HeroWithAnFInGood an incompetent superhero]] and Riely as one of his many nemeses.[[note]]And like the sequel, Borgnine is playing a character who is "EEEEEE-VILLLLL!!!"[[/note]]

* WhatAnIdiot: Carface's original human family, who's son is so irresponsible and lazy that Carface runs rampant around the house and inadvertently ruins his family's Christmas simply because he isn't trained to know better.\\

* {{Moe}}: Anne-Marie. She is a sweet, orphaned little girl who just wants a family, and refers to Charlie as her best friend. For a good many folks who grew up during the Renaissance Age, she was THE HeartwarmingOrphan.

* {{Moe}}: Anne-Marie. She is a sweet, orphaned little girl who just wants a family, and refers to Charlie as her best friend. For a good many folks who grew up during the [[RenaissanceAge]], she was THE HeartwarmingOrphan.

* {{Moe}}: Anne-Marie. She is a sweet, orphaned little girl who just wants a family, and refers to Charlie as her best friend. For a good many folks who grew up during the {{RenaissanceAge}}, she was THE HeartwarmingOrphan.

* {{Moe}}: Anne-Marie. She is a sweet, orphaned little girl who just wants a family, and refers to Charlie as her best friend. For a good many folks who grew up during the RenaissanceAge, she was THE HeartwarmingOrphan.

%%* {{Moe}}: Anne-Marie.

* VindicatedByHistory: While it got mixed reviews and didn't make much money at the time of its release, the first movie has since garnered a cult following, along with a lot of viewers who see it as Don Bluth's last good movie before his DorkAge.

* JerkassWoobie: Charlie Barkin. He's a con artist and a compulsive liar, but he literally goes to hell and back for the people he loves. After having to say goodbye to Anne-Marie with tears rolling down his face, he most definitely needs a hug.

** Burt Reynolds singing being weird or not, "Let Me Be Surprised" is pretty good, and works for Reynolds' singing voice rather than against it. It helps that it's a duet with gospel singer Melba Moore.