All Dogs Go To Heaven, the widely popular film by Don Bluth features a down and out stray named Charlie Barkin on a quest to redeem himself by helping an orphan girl find her parents. The film's most memorable scene among many features a drunken Charlie sitting on the edge of a pier as his friend but in reality business rival Carface launches a runaway car at the poor hound sending him on a one way trip to Heaven. This event provides the catalyst for Charlie's motivation to seek vengence on Carface for murdering him but ultimately is the event that allows Charlie to redeem himself.
 

My theory is that while Charlie clearly experiences a vision of Heaven after being hit by the car he doesn't truly die as he is later scene crawling back onto the pier a bit sodden and sore but otherwise lacking any serious injury that would normally be the result of being hit by a car. I believe that Charlie actually did not die but in fact had a Near-Death Experience or N.D.E. after being hit by the car. For those who don't know what a N.D.E. is let me explain. A Near-Death Experience is an event often reported by victims of tramatic events such as a car crash, or from those undergoing a major surgery. People who have these events often report leaving their physical body and traveling to Heaven where they experience visions of long lost loved ones and have a religious experience that deepens their faith. Often after they return from this event they are forever changed by it. Charlie in this case after being hit by the car most likely resulting in a glancing blow that was enough to knock him out and off the pier accounting for how Itchy saw Charlie's supposedly lifeless body flying through the air. Charlie in his unconscious state further helped along by being intoxicated at the time he is hit by the car experiences a vision of Heaven where all his misdeeds are revealed to him along with his untimely demise by Carface.

Charlie returns to Earth after rewinding a metaphorical lifewatch which sends him back. A naturally shocked and confused Charlie climbs back out of the river collapsing due to having being hit by a car. This event would also explain further visions or dreams Charlie has later on in the film of Hell and what will happen to him there. It is possibly that Charlie after being struck by the car recieved some minor brain damage which changed his behavior along with these powerful visions of the afterlife setting him on a better path than the one he had led before being struck by the car. Charlie doesn't truly die until the film's end after saving Anne-Marie. So what do you think?