Carface Carruthers

Carface Carruthers is a major character who has multiple roles throughout the franchise; he is the main antagonist of All Dogs Go To Heaven, the secondary antagonist of All Dogs Go To Heaven 2, the anti-hero of All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series, and the main protagonist of An All Dogs Christmas Carol. He was voiced by the late Vic Tayback in the first film, the late Ernest Borgnine in the rest of the franchise.

Personality
Carface was overall known as a hotheaded, smooth-talking, greedy, business-like criminal, although his character goes through a series of changes throughout the franchise.

In the first film, he was much more evil, grim, and just downright heartless, described by Charlie as a "dirty rat". On the other hand, Carface's most notable trait is his greed, which all of his wrong doings evidently comes from as he has proven this throughout the franchise so many times. An example of when he ran the casino, his greed was so unbearable, that all of his casino goers would receive little to no winnings after winning bets, even going far as to murder his own business partner Charlie to keep all the success for himself, 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, becoming more of a comic relief, although he still remained malicious, and especially sneaky, an example of when he evidently fooled everyone in heaven (including Annabelle) into thinking he has reformed, even being rewarded with a Merit badge. He was still unbearably greedy, like how he once wanted to use Gabriel's horn for money making purposes, calling it his "ticket to fame and fortune", and exclaiming to Red "When we get that horn, we can open any safe or bank in the world". Throughout most of his appearances, Carface is also known to be quite a heavy smoker, as he is almost never seen without a cigar in his mouth, and is sometimes seen blowing smoke in others faces, proving his crude nature.

In the third film, Carface's puppyhood is revealed explaining 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 changes for the better by the end of the film.

Appearance
Carface is an obesed anthropomorphic American Pit Bull Terrier/Bulldog mix, his fur is grey, while his snout and underbelly is a light shade of grey. His ears and right eye shade 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, which 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 during his time in heaven, Carface has evidently convinced everyone (including Annabelle) that he has since reformed despite his actions in the first film, but in reality Carface is secretly the minion of 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 as it lands somewhere in San Francisco much to Red's dismay. After meeting with Charlie again at a dog tarvern called The Flea Bite, he introduces Charlie to a magic collar which allows ghost dogs to interact with the living given to him by Red and recommending Charlie to him after he meets 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 after Red's defeat, dispite his part in Red's plot, he attempts to downplay his involvment, but when Charlie ask what he traded in for his collar, Red drags him down in the underworld with him revealing to everone that he foolishly sold his soul to Red for it. but it's apparent that he somehow escapes (as he appears in the TV series and 3rd film).

All Dogs Go to Heaven: The 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, collecting debt from everyone by using a mysterious hypnotic dog whistle, hypnotizing everyone into handing over the presents and other things, 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, they learn that Carface is helping Belladonna (Annabelle's satanic cousin) who is planning 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 seek the help of Annabelle who gives them a miracle dog tag to use somehow to stop Belladonna. So Charlie plans to get Carface on their side by scaring the "dickens" out of him, using ideas based on the classic tale A Christmas Carol.

That night, Carface decides to get some sleep before midnight when Charlie takes over his TV disguised as Jacob Charlie (parody of Jacob Marley), warning him that three ghosts will visit him at the sound of a bell, when the clock tower rang, Charlie pulls him in the TV where he meets Itchy disguised as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Carface isn't buying any of it until Itchy shows him a vision of his puppyhood. It shows a female dog with several of her litters, one of them being Carface, he expresses sadness over his mother's absence, longing to see her again, but then Itchy shows Carface another vision of when he got adopted by this very neglectful kid, while Carface explains (in song), the vision shows how the boy would constantly treat him like he didn't exist and evidently allowing him to wreak havoc around the house. But what devastated Carface the most was that the boy just wasn't there for him when it came to him getting in trouble with the boy's parents. And when it finally came down to him being kick out for his reckless behavior, this no less fazed the boy with no remorse or sadness over Carface's fate. So it was then that Carface decided to never trust another soul again and grows up into becoming a "hood". He angrily began beating Itchy after being reminded why he hated Christmas to begin with, but suddenly finds himself back in his bed. Thinking it was all a dream he brushes it off and tries to go to sleep.

Later on, Carface (still uneasy by that "ghostly experience") plays music to calm himself down, but Sasha takes over the radio, and drags him in after playing another bell. She presents herself as the Ghost of Christmas Present and shows Carface a vision of Killer who's testing out a blow torch to gift to his boss, she explains that despite the abuse he gives to his sidekick, Killer loves pleasing his boss simply because "it makes him feel good". Carface also learns that unlike himself, Killer has a Christmas spirit as he sings about how the holiday makes him feel (along with Belladonna who separately sings her own version of how Christmas makes her feel), indicating that he's not such a bad guy after all. Sasha then shows him a vision of how Timmy lives his life with his poor family, and how blessed he actually is to have such a loving, understanding family, proven when the mother of Timmy's master, Martha, forgives him for breaking a Christmas plate. However Sasha then points out that the "few coins" Carface stole from him were meant for his operation, meaning that without proper care, Timmy may not live to see another Christmas. When Carface wakes up to find it was another dream, he aggresively tries to ignore them, declaring that he'll still carry out his plans, but then Charlie sucks him into another dream as the Ghost of Christmas future (using a parody of the mask), and teaches Carface in a gospel-style song that all of his wrong-doings will not only cost the life of Timmy, but his own just as well if he doesn't "clean up his act".

Charlie B. Barkin
Carface and Charlie use to be business partners and friends, but his 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 very easy to manipulate as it has been proven many times in other appearances, despite Charlie himself knowing Carface can not be trusted.

Itchy Itchiford
Carface is like a bully to Itchy. Since Itchy fears him the most, He often times enjoys pushing him around, especially intimidating him, such as 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 time 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 La Fleur
Despite 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", dispite his mistreatmeant to her earlier after taking over The Flea Bite, Sasha is the first person he turns to for romantic advice after being fooled by Charlie and Itchy disguised as female dogs. 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 try to steal back Itchy's stolen collar, and lastly 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 any 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 despite 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 puppies' 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 Carface'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 comfortable to have her raise his business.

Annabelle
In addition to working for two hellish demons (Red, then Belladonna), Carface has little respect for Annabelle despite 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 underestimate her, and has successfully manipulated her before. An example is shown in 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 apparently deteriorated, and became his bumbling, cowardice and dimwitted lackey (much like Killer was as Carface's lackey). 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 then 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 isn't shown to be as fearful of Belladonna as he was of Red despite her being from hell too, but is no less loyal (yet clumsy) to her.

Timmy
Timmy is basically the entire reason why Carface changed for the better.

Voice
In the first film, Carface was voiced by Vic Tayback, and 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: ''Killer. Shift the odd on the spotted grey and feed the kid''
 * 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 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.

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. Of course, Annabelle also wears a robe in the second film and, occasionally, in the TV series, but she often doesn't wear anything except a necklace and anything to tie her hair.
 * Carface is also similar to Aunt Figg as they both kidnap young girls.