BEFORE: No Burt Reynolds, no Don Bluth affiliated with this sequel.
Lingering nitpick points from last night's film, though - like if heaven is so perfect, how come a couple of dogs are able to game the system? Why have such an obvious device (a ticking watch) that a dog can wind so easily to gain more time? For that matter, how do obviously malicious dogs get into heaven, anyway? Just 'cause they're dogs? Then why have any kind of merit-based system to reward good behavior? Doggie hell clearly exists, but then what purpose does it serve?
THE PLOT: Charlie and Itchy return to Earth to find Gabriel's Horn, but along the way meet up with a young boy named David, who ran away from home.
AFTER: OK, so heaven's not perfect, or maybe it's too perfect, since it's portrayed as boring. Makes some sense, since sinning is what makes life so interesting, right? I guess they can't portray heaven as the best possible place, or all the kids in the audience will want to go there.
So Charlie volunteers to go back to earth after the lost horn, but what he really wants is some doggie action. Eternity turns out to be a bit too long for him, I guess. (However, in the last film we learned that once you leave doggie heaven, you can't come back - so, which is it?)
Yes, the rules are just a bit unclear. Just like with all religion. But Charlie means well, even if he does get seduced by the (very feline) devil. Something the writers of "Spider-Man" comics forgot - making a deal with the devil is a very bad thing to do, and should have dire consequences. Still waiting, Mr. Quesada.
As a result, the end sequence of this film is quite surreal, with the cat-like devil sucking souls out of doggie heaven to populate doggie hell. (See, this is why you don't make a deal with him...) But of course there's always a way to turn his magic against him.
I'm giving this film a slight edge over the original because the quest was a little better defined, and the songs were better - some even had a Steinman-like irony too them, like "It's Too Heavenly Here" and "It Feels So Good to Be Bad". Still, it was a little weird to hear the voice of Charlie Sheen (last seen in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps") talking about concepts of sin and redemption, given the events of the past year.
Also starring the voices of Dom Deluise (carrying over from last night), Sheena Easton, Ernest Borgnine (last seen in "The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission"), George Hearn (last seen in "The Devil's Own") and Wallace Shawn again (last heard in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore").
RATING: 4 out of 10 chicken bones
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