I can definitely remember going to the video store and looking for this movie as a kid. I would watch anything with dogs in it, so the title of this cartoon grabbed me as soon as I saw it. I can remember exactly how the video store was laid out, and I loved that the kids' section was an bit of an alcove that allowed me to browse the titles in peace.
I'm pretty sure that this movie was a regular on my rotation. But I must have grown out of it pretty quickly, because watching it again, I can't remember much of the story at all. However, the singing whippet sure stuck in my mind, presumably because little kid me thought that she was the prettiest. The rat race scene stayed with me as well. Thinking about it now, both these scenes occur early in the film, which makes me wonder about my attention span as a child.
I feel like this movie has a different rhythm to that of a Disney animated film (interesting, considering that the director was a Disney animator). I can't remember whether An American Tail or The Land Before Time (by the same director) follow a similar rhythm, and unfortunately they're not in my collection for me to find out. I'm not sure how to describe it except to say it feels a bit haphazard. Not necessarily in a bad way, it's just a different vibe to Disney, and it takes you by surprise a little. Characters talk over each other, the speech is relaxed, conversations feel less orchestrated, which at times is a bit confusing and at other times really adds to the story. It certainly fits with the character of Charlie.
Final thought: Despite centreing around the inescapable fact that Charlie is to go to heaven, and therefore die, the film manages to shield the audience from the reality of that.
Up Next: Almost Famous (2000)
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