Charles B. "Charlie" Barkin is the main protagonist of the All Dogs Go to Heaven franchise. He is a German Shepherd/Border Collie mix with parents named Burt and Loni.
In All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, it is revealed that Charlie left home at a young age. He is best friends with Itchy and becomes enemies with Carface Carruthers within the plot. He meets Anne Marie in the first film. He meets David and Sasha La Fleur in the second film, along with various other characters throughout the franchise. He becomes romantically involved with Sasha La Fleur.
Background[]
Charlie's early life is unknown. He was born to Burt R. Barkin and Loni A. Bowzer on September 13, 1937.
At some point in his childhood, he ran away from home and his parents never saw him again.
Eventually, he meets Itchy Itchiford and the two have been best friends ever since.
All Dogs Go to Heaven[]
Charlie and Carface Carruthers became good friends and opened up a casino together called Charlie and Carface's.
Charlie left the business, but returns after escaping from the New Orleans Dog Pound. Carface tells him it is time to part ways in the business, and eventually convinces him. Carface and his associates throw a party for him during Mardi Gras wishing him happiness and success in future endeavors. Charlie is taken to a dock where Killer, Carface's weak-willed accomplice, puts a blindfold on him while drunk claiming they have an ultimate surprise for him. As the surprise, they end up murdering him afterwards by hitting him with a vehicle pushed off the dock. He is immediately sent to heaven and meets Annabelle, a Purple / Pink Whippet angel, and the head of Heaven. He tricks her and rewinds his "life watch" and is sent back to Earth with the intentions to seek revenge on Carface.
With Charlie alive and well and reunited back with his friend Itchy, he tells him of the dangers he faces trying to exact revenge upon Carface saying he has thugs with knives and a "monster" in his basement. Charlie becomes curious, only to find out that this "monster" is a little orphan girl named Anne Marie, who can speak to animals. Charlie uses his "gift of gab" to sway Anne Marie into living with him (which was not hard for him to win her over due to Carface's constantly mistreating of her).
The next day, she was taken to the horse stables to asked one of the horses who will win the race. At first, she refuses by saying Charlie is just like "Mr. Carface" because he keeps asking her to ask the horse. However, when he said they would use the money to help the poor like Robin Hood in the bedtime story, she gets excited and asks the girl horse about who will win, which turns out to be a horse called the Grand Cha-he.
Charlie sees using her talent to win animal races as both revenge on Carface and a financial advantage. Anne Marie spots a couple named Harold and Kate seeing them as potentially perfect parents which Charlie and Itchy see as a perfect financial source to begin their bets. Itchy plans as an injured dog to get their attention while Charlie takes their wallet. During the scheme, Anne Marie is becoming acquainted with them. While she begins to talk to Kate, she is taken by Charlie to the race to view the outcome, much to her dismay. They experience their first win when Anne Marie predicted from a horse that the horse with a birthday would win. The prediction comes true and they celebrate their win. After some time, Anne Marie watches Charlie and Itchy celebrate the success without her and falls discontent. They begin to buy her the dresses and various accessories she needs for adoption.
When Anne Marie finds out Charlie is gambling and not even looking for parents, she packs up and tells Charlie she is leaving. Trying to keep her happy, they go around the city helping the poor. Upon their winnings and giving to the unfortunate around the city of New Orleans, he goes to a female friend's residence at the church, deeming she is the poorest person he knows. They feed Flo and her puppies pizza and cake. She finds out Charlie has stolen money from the couple she was fond of to create their winnings. She is disappointed in his wrong doings and goes upstairs upset and sings herself to sleep contemplating being united to the happy couple.
Charlie has grown to care for Anne Marie as his guilty conscience led to the nightmare after Anne Marie found out about the wallet. In the nightmare, he reflects on what Annabelle says he can never come back, meaning he is a doomed soul. At once in the dream, he is banished to hell and is tormented by various beasts. The Hellhound appears during Charlie's nightmare, in which he is flying through space and gets sucked into hell by a tornado in a wasteland; suddenly, a skeleton boat emerges from the lava and catches him and a skeleton demon hisses at him. Later, he emerges from the lava breathing out little imps that attack Charlie. One of the demonic creatures are biting him in the dream, which turns out to be one of Flo's puppies biting him in attempt to wake him up from his nightmare. Filled with guilt and worry, Charlie looks for Anne Marie at the residence. One of Flo's puppies tells him that she went to see the wallet family.
He makes his way there to find she has gained a rapport with the family and begs her to stay with them, but her love for Charlie, she leaves with him. During their outing, they are spending quality time together at which they have been pursuit by Carface in his attempt to kill Charlie and re-kidnap Anne Marie. Charlie survives the assassination attempt by Carface and the two escape to temporary safety, but taken captive by a hoard of smaller animals.
Upon the escape, they find themselves on the undercurrents of New Orleans. The King Gator tries to eat Charlie and Anne Marie. When Charlie lets out a fearful howl, at which King Gator thinks he was singing, and decides not to eat them refusing to eat someone with a singing ability. Instead, he sings a musical number called "Let's Make Music Together."
Later, Anne Marie falls sick with a fever, so Charlie and Flo are caring for her. Itchy comes to the residence angry, upset, and beat up from Carface's invasion of their club that Carface has causing trouble, and questions Charlie's loyalty towards him over Anne Marie only makes Charlie also used anger on Itchy. Anne-Marie overhears Charlie's arguing and venting to Itchy about the burden she has caused them. Filled with heavy guilt of what he said, Charlie runs after her. As she is distant, she screams as she is being kidnapped once more by Carface and his henchmen.
Charlie finds Anne Marie confined and in deep sleep. He saves Anne Marie from Carface and nearly drowning by sacrificing his own life. Killer pushes her to the shore as the ship has nearly fully sunk. She is medically and taken in by the Wallet Family, Harold and Kate. By sacrificing his life, Charlie has once again earned a place in Heaven. He returns to Anne Marie with his final goodbye, and apologizes for what he put her through, and even cries tears with a personality fully developed into a certain fatherly care for her.
In the finale of the film, Annabelle defeats the evil spirit that tries to claim Charlie after he drowned saving Anne Marie. Charlie claims, "You said, I..." She quickly contrast his former disposition in her angelic voice, "Charlie, you gave your life for her... Come home." He begs her, "What about Anne Marie?" She says gracefully, "Say goodbye, Charlie." Shortly after, Anne Marie wakes up happy to see Charlie. Charlie lets her know he is going on a little trip and to take care of Itchy. Anne Marie sadly says, "Charlie, will I ever see you again?" In a final consideration, he says "Sure... Sure you will, kid. You know, Goodbye isn't forever." indicating his heart will always be with her and there for her in spirit. As she says her goodbye, that she loves him, and kisses him on the nose. For the first time, he accepts her kiss and tells her he loves her too. As she closes her eyes and falls asleep, he feels a slight guilt knowing he will never see her or his friend Itchy again in person, but starts towards his venture with Annabelle. As a bewildered Charlie looks back towards Anne-Marie sleeping peacefully one last time, Annabelle tells him to come home.
After accepting his place in Heaven, Charlie sees Carface once more in Heaven from being eaten by King Gator and angry from his early departure from Earth. He is shown in Heaven about to wind the clock back in an attempt to exact revenge on King Gator from killing and devouring him; much like Charlie wanted revenge on him. Annabelle sees him winding the clock and shouts, "Touch that clock and you can never come back!". Charlie announces to the audience due to his own situation, "He'll be back."
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2[]
Charlie is awaiting the arrival of the newcomers to enter Heaven. One in particular that he is waiting on is Itchy (who dies from choking to death on a chicken leg). Once reunited, Charlie welcomes Itchy and shows him around. Even though Itchy takes an instant liking to Heaven, Charlie on the other hand explains (in song) how boring heaven has gotten for him since his death and longs to be back on earth. A short time later, Carface (also in Heaven) tries to steal Gabriel's horn but ends up dropping it down on Earth somewhere in San Francisco, and later that evening, Annabelle announces to all the other heavenly dogs the bad news. Seeing this as his only way out of Heaven, Charlie convinces her to let him go retrieve it. As Annabelle hesitantly agrees, she sends a reluctant Itchy to accompany him.
Once on Earth, he instantly drops his search for the horn and heads to a tavern for dogs much to Itchy's chagrin. But he quickly becomes disappointed when he learns he is still a ghost and cannot interact with the living. He meets Carface there and discovers he can interact with the living with the use of a magic collar, and agrees to follow Carface to get one after he falls for an Irish Setter named Sasha who he heard singing onstage and is desperate to meet her. When they visit the shop, he and Itchy meet Red who gives them both a collar, but warns that they will fade by sun down the next day. However, Charlie does not know that Red is actually a hellcat who plans to use him as a pun to get the horn, imprison all dogs, and rule the world.
Charlie and Itchy return to the Tavern. After Charlie makes a first bad impression on Sasha, he ends up chasing her out of the bar, and follows her to an abandoned backyard where Charlie finds that she is caring for an 8-year-old runaway named David. Charlie tries to prove to him and Sasha that he's an angel by showing them his angelic abilities, leading David to think Charlie is his guardian angel and thinks he knows why he ran away, explaining he has a stepmother whom he doesn't like. Refusing to go home, he reveals his ambition to become a street performer doing magic tricks. Charlie encourages him to pursue that dream and takes him to "Easy Street", much to Sasha's chagrin. On the way, they discover that Gabriel's horn is in the possession of law enforcement, and put in the lost and found. After a comical mission to retrieve it, Charlie still wanting to help David, places the horn in a lobster cage and kicks it into the lake, much to Itchy and Annabelle's dismay. They make it to "Easy Street" and began David's magic show, but after the performance goes wrong, they spend the rest of their time sitting out in the rain.
A sad David reveals that his birth mother died and his stepmother is expecting and is afraid he will be forgotten once the newborn arrives, which is the reason he ran away. Charlie and Sasha assures him he is loved and convinces him to go back and make up with his parents; Charlie even shares his own experiences with being a runaway. Finally convinced, David decides to go home, but only if Charlie takes him (as David hugs Charlie and he wraps one of his paws around him), Charlie makes the promise, knowing he could not keep it. Later, Charlie privately confides with Sasha about not really being a guardian angel and is unable to keep his promise to David, and also expresses disappointment in losing Sasha. Charlie and Sasha spend their time together expressing their love for each other in song, but before they can share a kiss, his collar unfortunately disappears, leaving David and Sasha sad and confused. In a desperate attempt to keep his promise to David, he races to Red's shop and begs for another one, even going far as to trade in the horn for it. Red accepts the deal, but when Charlie is given the collar, it chokes and wraps around him as Red finally shows his true colors. Betrayed, Charlie tries to attack, but Red, having full control over the collar, leaves Charlie weak against him. Red tells him to get the horn and Charlie does, but he first heads to the train station to meet up with David and Sasha. However, he witnesses Carface kidnapping and using him as a ransom to bring the horn.
Later, Charlie finally arrives on Alcatraz Island, gives the anxious Red the horn, and takes the captive David and leaves. Red uses the horn to suck all dogs (including Annabelle) from heaven and into each cell which grants him tremendous power before the island itself sinks down into a giant whirlpool. Charlie, realizing his mistake, tells the others to get David home while he stays behind to fight Red, but is overpowered. Instantly, Itchy, David, and Sasha come around to assist Charlie and during the brief battle, Charlie notices how badly Red reacts to water when a sink faucet brakes and sprays water all on him. Once the horn is in his possession, Charlie goes on top of the prison building after being instructed to play the horn from Annabelle with Red following him close behind. With Red slowing him down, Charlie gets on top of a water tower and tricks him into making contact with the whirling water, knocking him back down. Suddenly, Red's lower half of his body begins to sink down into hell through a big crack in the floor. As he tries to resist, he is soon defeated as Charlie blows the horn, freeing all the heavenly dogs and confining Red to hell permanently.
A scared Carface comes out of hiding and tries to downplay his involvement, but is then dragged down to hell by Red after revealing he sold his soul for his collar. Suddenly, Annabelle beacons Charlie and Itchy to heaven, leaving Charlie to say goodbye to a sad David (after asking him to let Sasha take him home), and declare his love to Sasha. After returning the horn when they reach heaven, Annabelle, so proud of Charlie for his brave deed, rewards him with not only a merit badge, but a second chance to live on Earth. Before leaving he says a heart felt goodbye to Itchy who wants to remain in heaven and falls back down on earth. Once reunited with an overjoyed Sasha and David (who were almost at his home), he and Sasha watch as David is happily greeted by his father and stepmother. David begins to accept and see her as his "mom" and they walk into the house together with David asking if he could have pets. Outside, Sasha asked Charlie why he returned, to which Charlie hints he wants a relationship with her. They finally share a kiss and walks into the house together as a couple after David comes back out and presents them with their own dog bowls, indicating they are now his pets.
All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series[]
The television series makes several changes from the second film.
In the series, Charlie and Sasha are not married and are instead an on-and-off couple who are revealed to not have even had a first date together, but are more like frenemies as they are known to bicker and disagree. Charlie lives in an old, rundown apartment and is roommates with Itchy, who is back on Earth instead of Heaven (and the reason why is revealed in a later episode). As well, neither he nor Sasha lives with David (but still sees him sometimes in some episodes).
He and Itchy are guardian angels and are occasionally assigned to angelic missions by Annabelle.
An All Dogs Christmas Carol[]
After having their Christmas party at the Flea Bite crashed and their presents stolen by Carface and Killer (after Carface had used a whistle on the dogs), Charlie and Itchy decide to take matters into their own paws. After many failed attempts to get in Carface's shop, they finally get in and demand their stuff back. However, they soon discover from Annabelle's demonic cousin Belladonna her plans of using a whistle (much like the one Carface used, but only massive) to hypnotize ever dog in San Francisco into stealing from their homes and get them kicked out, ending up homeless. Lastly, she chases Charlie and Itchy out of the shop with her henchmen. With no other option left for them, they turn to Annabelle, who gives them a miracle dog tag to use and figure out a way to stop Belladonna's plan. So Charlie suggests trying to change Carface by scaring the "Dickens" out of him with using ideas from A Christmas Carol. With the miracle tag, Charlie disguises himself, Itchy, and Sasha as each of the three ghosts from the story making Carface the Scrooge archetype that they must convince to change.
After Itchy and Sasha's efforts (as the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present) appear to slowly work, Charlie sucks Carface into one more dream as the Ghost of Christmas Future (using a reference of The Mask) and sings a Gospel-style song-and-dance to make Carface realize where his actions will eventually take him if he does not "clean up his act." Next, he shows Carface a vision of Timmy's house at 12:00 midnight on the same night Belladonna will blow the whistle. Carface witnesses Timmy suddenly waking up (hypnotized) and leaving through the doggy door with a present. Desperate, Carface begs the "ghost" to tell him what he should do, to which Charlie tells him in a dark tone to "figure it out" and wakes him out of his dream.
After their efforts, Charlie, Itchy, and Sasha are at the Flea Bite hoping their efforts were enough, but as time goes by, they grow anxious and try to find the whistle themselves, but with no luck. They decide to do nothing more than just wait and trust Carface to finally come around. After Carface manages to save Christmas, it begins to snow, bringing joy to all of the puppies at the party (who think Charlie did it after all) and relief to Charlie and the gang after Annabelle informs them of Carface's decision. Suddenly, Carface shows up dressed as Santa, returning all of the puppies`s stolen gifts. Charlie congratulates him for doing the right thing for once. Along with everyone else, Charlie continues to celebrate Christmas at the party.
As Annabelle (along with the angel puppies to whom she tells the story) ends the story with a "Merry Christmas" to the audience, Charlie is last seen with Itchy in Heaven, wishing the same for the audience.
Personality[]
Charlie is said to have "the brain of a con man, but the heart of a marshmallow." Having been on the streets from a young age, Charlie has developed his "gift of gab" in order to survive the harsh streets.
At first, he is clever, fun-loving, mischievous, lively, charming, somewhat money-hungry, a risk-taker, and quite the party animal.
His character develops throughout the first film into a more honorable one due to the fact of his guilty conscious of stealing and deception towards Anne Marie.
In the first film, he starts off roguish, somewhat hotheaded, and menacing (but not as malicious as Carface) and is not well known for doing much good deeds, but because he is a dog (since dogs are naturally good and loyal like what Annabelle said before), he was allowed access to heaven. But he initially doesn't mean harm as he has been shown to have a very caring, compassionate side, and compared to Carface, Charlie was more of a pleaser and was proven to be quite popular amongst the other dogs, an example of when Charlie returned to the casino after escaping from the pound, it is hinted by the other casino goers that Charlie ran the casino better than Carface, giving everyone what they wanted and gained more popularity and success than Carface after running his own newly-built casino. As well, spending time with Anne-Marie made him began warming up a lot more, even going far as to sacrifice his own life for hers. Towards the end of the first film, with the sacrifice of his life made, he returns to Anne Marie with his final goodbyes with a personality fully channeled and developed into the heart to of how a father is to his daughter mostly due to his great care for her.
In the second film, television series, and Christmas special, Charlie's attitude begins to slightly change, becoming more laid-back and friendlier than in the first film. However, he is still scheming and mischievous, as well as selfish, lazy, and dishonest at times as he would rather ignore his responsibilities just to goof off and live the life of a normal dog – but when it comes to his friends' well being, he always comes around and makes up for his mischief.
Appearance[]
Charlie is a German Shepherd/Border Collie mix.
In the first film, his appearance is somewhat different, compared to his later appearances. He appears older, lankier, and slightly shaggier. His fur is light brown while his belly is a light tan. He has dark brown ears and his right ear has two holes in the lope while his left ear always leans down. The hair on his head is always ruffled and he has a big, dark brown spot that starts from his head, all the way down to his back side. His tail is long and shaggy. He has a mole on each side of his face and snout; around his eyes are dark brown, his nose is a spicy brown, and he has two small whiskers sticking out near the right side of his nose.
Throughout the rest of the franchise, he appears younger. As well, the moles on his cheeks and the two whiskers near his nose are gone, his fur is lighter, and the long spot on his back is now a slightly lighter brown, but is still no less dark (including his snout and around his eyes). The reason for this could be that Heaven has made him youthful again.
Trivia[]
- Charlie was voiced by the late Burt Reynolds in All Dogs Go to Heaven.
- Charlie is voiced by Charlie Sheen in All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, with his singing voice done by Jesse Corti.
- In the television series and third film, Charlie is voiced by Steven Weber.
- When Charlie first goes to Heaven, the book describing his life shows that he was born September 13, 1937 (the date of Don Bluth's birth).
- Gary adopted the dog and named him Burt after Reynolds, it was five years later and a move to Ireland before they began “All Dogs Go To Heaven”. Burt the real German Shepherd became the model for the design of Charlie B. Barkin.
- Many of Charlie’s mannerism were taken from Burt Reynolds himself.
- Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise were very good friends in real life so Don Bluth allowed them to record their voices together and allowed them to improve and bounce off each other.