Carface Carruthers is a character that appears in All Dogs go to Heaven, All Dogs go to Heaven 2, and All Dogs go to Heaven: The Series and An All Dogs Christmas Carol. In the first film, he is the main antagonist, while he is the secondary antagonist in the second film and series (shared with Belladonna) and the main protagonist in the third film (Being Belladonna the main antagonist).
Personality
Carface's personality goes through a series of changes throughout the franchise.
In the first film, he was evil, grim, greedy, and just downright heartless, described by Charlie as a "dirty rat", being everything a real mafia boss is. He had a greed so unbearable, that all of his casino goers would recieve little to no winnings from him after they'd gamble and win bets (complaining to Charlie about how bad things have gotten for all of them since he's been at the pound), even go far as to murder his own business partner (Charlie) to get what he wanted, even one of his own men if they failed to carry out his orders (such as when he tried to kill his sidekick Killer when he failed to find Anne-Marie after Charlie takes her).
In the second film and TV series, his villain status begins to deteriorate after becoming the lackey of Red (the hell cat), than later Belladonna (the hellhound). He became less evil, less intelligent, clumsy, and cowardice, making him more of a comic relief. Although he is still greedy, malicious, and especially sneaky, like when he fooled everyone in heaven (including Annabelle) into thinking he has reformed, even being rewarded with a Merit badge. But really all of Carface's wrong doings doesn't come from wanting power, but from greed, like in the second film where he once wanted to use Gabriel's horn for money making purposes, saying that when he and Red get that horn, "they could open any safe or bank in the world". Also when stealing Gabriel's horn he said it would make him rich.
In the third film, Carface reveals in a song why and how he became evil, and especially why he hates Christmas. But with help from Charlie and friends with a Christmas epiphany, he finally turns his life around and becomes a good person by the end of the film.
Appearance
Carface is an obese American Pit Bull Terrier/Bulldog mix, his fur is grey, while his snout and underbelly is a light shade of grey. His ears and around his right eye is dark purple, he wears a pink shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a black waistcoat, and a green bow tie. Carface appeared older and much thicker in the first film, but no less different from all his other appearances.
All Dogs Go to Heaven
Sometime before the events of the film, Carface and Charlie went into business together and turned an abandoned barge into a casino for dogs. As the business went up overtime, Carface slowly became consumed by his greed and selfishness that he began to secretly plot against his partner so he could keep all the success & earnings for himself. He and his henchman Killer somehow managed to get Charlie thrown into the city pound, but with the help of his sidekick Itchy, they tunnel beneath the pound and barely makes it out alive.
When Killer informs his boss that Charlie had returned to the casino, Carface plans his death by throwing a "business solo" celebration for Charlie, getting him drunk and running him over with a car off the docks. He is revealed to have an orphan, who speaks to animals, in his Casino's basement, who is the secret to his success while Charlie is away. When Charlie kidnaps the orphan, Carface flies into dangerous rage, demanding the girl is found. In his many desperate attempts, he attacks charlie with Killer's ray gun, attacks Itchy, and destroys Charlie's newly built casino.
When he finally captures her, Charlie comes to her aid, but is captured by Carface's thugs, and tied to an anchor. Charlie, however, manages to attract the attention of the King Alligator (whom Charlie befriended), who comes to his aid, scaring off all of Carface's thugs in the process. During a fight, Carface is knocked into the water and is seen swimming away from the gator, and eaten offscreen. After Charlie returns to heaven, Carface is seen entering heaven and winding up his "life clock," an alarm clock, to return and take vengeance on the gator. But is last seen being chased out of heaven by Annabelle for doing so.
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2
In the sequel, Carface has become the minion to the hellcat Red, and is shown to be not so tough after all, as he is truly a buffoonish coward. Tasked with retrieving Gabriel's Horn which he succeeds in doing but manages to lose it shortly after, much to Red's dismay. Meeting with Charlie again at a bar for dogs, he reveals that he is able to interact with the living through a magic collar given to him by Red and recommending Charlie to him after he meet a beautiful Irish setter named Sasha. Because of Carface's failure attempt to get the horn, Red decides to use Charlie instead. In the end, he attempts to reform and makes amends with Charlie and the others but since he foolishly sold his soul to Red (though he thinks Red wanted the bottoms of his shoes or something, though he goes with bare feet), he is dragged down to the underworld with him, but it's apparent that he somehow escapes (as he appears in the TV series and 3rd film).
TV series
Carface is now more of an anti-hero and a thief more than a villain. He is the most common adversary in the series along with Killer who also returns in the series.
An All Dogs Christmas Carol
Carface along with Killer first appears crashing a christmas party at The Flea Bite Club by using a mysterious hypnotic dog whistle, hypnotizing everyone into handing over the presents, even stealing money from a puppy named Timmy who's in desperate need for an operation to fix his bad leg. When Charlie and Itchy intervene to get back the presents, Carface reveals that Belladonna (Annabelle's satanic cousin) is planing to use a massive version of the hypnotic dog whistle to hypnotize every dog in the city into stealing the Christmas presents, causing them to be thrown out of their houses and abandoned. After being chased out of the shop, Charlie and Itchy seeks the help of Annabelle who gives them a miracle dog tag to use somehow to stop Belladonna. to be continued
Relationships
Charlie
Carface and Charlie use to be busniess partner's and friends, but his power hunger and greed got the best of him to the point of eventually turning on Charlie but not directly at first since they were friends, he tried every devious way to get rid of Charlie without him suspecting Carface as he stated to Killer "friends must be handled in a friendly and business like way". But as Charlie kept resurfacing, Carface became more and more desperate to rid Charlie no matter how he did it. Initialy he sees Charlie as easy to manipulate as it has been proven many times in other appearances, dispite Charlie himself knowing Carface can not be trusted.
Itchy
Carface is like a bully to Itchy. Since Itchy fears him the most, He often times enjoys pushing him around especially intimidating him, like in the first film where he cornered Itchy at the bar of their new casino, waved a claw at him in a threatening way and had his thugs beat him nearly to death, and in the second film where he scares Itchy with a mask while he was spooked by the surroundings of Red's shop. The only times Carface finally shows kindness to Itchy is when he becomes reformed at the end of the Christmas special by giving Itchy as well as Sasha a present after returning the rest of the gifts he stole back to the puppies.
Sasha
Dispite treating her no better than the others, Carface is seen to have a slight soft spot for Sasha, like in the tv series episode "The Doggone Truth", where Charlie and Itchy masquerades as female dogs to seduce Carface and Killer into giving them the deed to The Flea Bite Club after he takes it and turns it into an arcade, and dispite kicking her out earlier, Sasha is the first person he turns to for romantic advise. It's also hinted that he might even have an attraction to Sasha, proven in the episode "Mission Im-Paws-Ible" where she distracts Carface by seducing him while Charlie and Itchy tries to steal back Itchy's stolen collar, and lasty at the end of the third film where Sasha kisses Carface's cheek after being given by him a present when he finally reforms and returns all the puppie's gifts he stole earlier.
Killer
Killer is Carface's henchman and is often mistreated by Carface and is never given appreciation, just abuse, and is often blamed for things that go wrong, like in the first film when Charlie steals Anne-Marie from him, Carface decides to have Killer killed when he failed to find her, to which Killer tried to save his own life by saying he has a ray gun they can use to shoot Charlie. Also when Charlie stole Anne Marie from him Carface flew into a rage and started throwing things at Killer. But in the Christmas special, it is shown by Sasha that dispite the abuse, Killer actually likes doing things for his boss cause "it makes him feel good", to which Carface is very surprised by. But even after being reformed, Carface is shown to still somewhat mistreat Killer, making him play the reindeer when he returns with the puppie's presents.
Anne-Marie
It's unknown how and when Carface found Anne-Marie, and how long he's known her, but she is revealed to be the secret to Caface's successful business with her ability to talk to animals. But Carface initially didn't actually care about Anne-Marie, only seeing her as his money maker, he would constantly keep her locked away in his basement and deny her access outside (probably out of fear of losing her, like when he flew into a rage after finding out from Killer that she's gone), an example of when Anne-Marie asked him if she could go outside, to which Carface tricks her into talking to a race rat first in exchange, only to go back on his word shortly after. But Carface wasn't just downright abusive to her, as he would get his thugs to feed and tend to her often, trying to keep her alive and fairly confortable to have her raise his business.
Annabelle
In addition to working for two hellish demons (Red, then Belladonna), Carface has little respect for Annabelle dispite that she is the archangel dog of heaven, such as at the end of the first film, when he dismisses Annabelle's warning about winding his "life clock" after being killed by King Gator. Like Charlie, Carface tends to underestimates her, and has successfully manipulated her before, an example from the second film when Carface fooled her and everyone else in heaven into thinking he "reformed".
Red
Because of Red, Carface's villain boss status has apparentely deteriorated, and became his bumbling, cowardice and dimwited lackey (much like Killer was as Carface's lackey) after working for him. When he's around Red, Carface is just a little punk, kissing up and grubbling before him as pointed out by David after being kidnapped and used for a ransom. When he's not around Red, he acts as the smooth talking, tough guy he was before, like at the near end of the second film where after Red's defeat, Carface than tried to downplay his involvement, even mocking Red of what he thought he wanted from Carface for his collar, which earns him a trip down to hell along with his master. But he also appears to be somewhat smarter than Red such as when Red had got Gabriel's Horn he was so overexcited about fullfilling his goal he almost paid no attention to anything else and when Carface saw that Charlie and David were fleeing Red just said "Let them" and Red's behaviour was almost similar to an actor who had auditioned for a part and got the part (or something similar).
Belladonna
Carface is rarely shown to be afriad of Belladonna than Red. He is not as cowardly around her, but is no less bumbling as her lackey.
Voice
In the first film Carface was voiced by Vic Tayback. In the first film he spoke with a deep, hoarse menacing voice like a typical mafia or crime boss. He was also always seen smoking and his cigar always had smoke coming out of it. But sometimes he took it out of his mouth. Carface proved to be Tayback's last role after he died suddenly the next year in 1990 from a heart attack. After Tayback's death Carface's voice was taken over by Ernest Borgnine. When Borgnine took over Carface's voice was now more softer and less menacing. HIs cigar often stayed in his mouth but he never smoked it.
Trivia
- Carface might not be a dog, but, there was some hints at being this demonic face when he revealed a plan to kill Charlie with a gun.
- The way Carface treats Anne Marie in the first film is similar to the way way Judge Claude Frollo treated Quasimodo in the 1996 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame as they deny them access to the outside world however unlike Frollo Carface did not see that Anne Marie had escaped and when he had he flew into a rage whilst Frollo was more calm and saw Quasimodo outside Notre Dame. Also Carface wasn't as cruel to Anne Marie and did care for her.
Carface: Killer. Shift the odd on the spotted grey and feed the kid
Killer: Oh boss do I have to?
- He and Itchy are the only characters in the whole franchise to wear clothing. Belladonna and Red wear clothing as well but they don't appear in the first film.
- Carface is also similar to Bill Sykes as they both smoke cigars, both are businessmen and both kidnap young girls.