Valiant (2005)

A host of great British thespians, from Ewan MacGregor to John Cleese, lend their voices to Valiant, a computer-animated bird's-eye-view of World War II. Valiant (MacGregor, Big Fish, Down With Love), though but a small pigeon, is determined to join the homing pigeon brigade and do his part to help win the war. He and a handful of other misfits are assembled into a motley squad and suddenly find themselves thrust into combat with the responsibility of delivering a crucial message. Unfortunately, the villainous Von Talon (Tim Curry, The Rocky Horror Picture Show), a Nazi falcon, intends to tear them to feathers over the English Channel. Aside from some delightful voice work from Ricky Gervais (The Office) as a filthy but cunning pigeon, there's not much to recommend about Valiant. The story is clunky, cliche-ridden, and underdeveloped; the design is charmless and inexpressive; the characters are so generic that even a cast as talented as Jim Broadbent (Topsy-Turvy, Iris), Hugh Laurie (House), and John Hurt (1984, The Elephant Man) can do little to make them anything but bland stereotypes from a long-exhausted movie genre. Overall, poorly conceived and clumsily executed. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

good movie for kids

It is a good movie for the young and young at heart. It was a joy to watch. October 4, 2008

bor-ring!

Hi well to start i really hated this movie. Well it was boring, gross, and well above all i just well didn't like it that much. (Or at all for that matter.) Well I guess some people may like it but I don't. Well gotta go hope this was helpful Brooke July 20, 2007

No better than fair for adults, but my children liked it a lot.

This is an animated adventure comedy about heroic homing pigeons who are fighting for freedom during WW2.

Because the standard of animated films is getting so high, these films have to be very good indeed to impress adults. I thought it was OK the first time I watched it with my children, though no better than that. However, as I write this review my children are currently watching it for the third time at their request. Holding the attention of a pair of five year olds for the length of even a short film (it's about 76 minutes) is quite an achievement.

The title character is a tiny pigeon, voiced by Ewan McGregor, who is determined to be a hero. He joins the Royal Homing Pigeon service, and finds himself serving with a band of misfits who have to get messages through in the face of the german falcons.

The cast and plot takes the mickey out of many war stories, and fans of British wartime comedies such as Blackadder goes Forth, 'Allo 'Allo, and especially "It ain't half hot, Mum" will recognise characters from these shows reincarnated as pigeons. If you've never watched any British comedies set in World War II, think of the stock characters in Hogan's Heroes or even serious American war films and the same point will still largely apply.

The voice cast, which also includes Hugh Laurie, Ricky Gervais, Tim Curry, and John Cleese, do a professional and sometimes very amusing job of recreating all the wartime film stereotypes.

Yes, of course they're stereotypes - that's the whole point of the joke, in taking the mickey out of the stereotypes.

At the very end of the film shows a short written statment is displayed about the true history of animal bravery during world war 2, which I found strangely moving.

I don't think this film would have been great value for money if bought at the original full price. However, having initially rented it, and then on establishing that my children liked it, put it on the list to buy when it became available cheaply, I'm happy that the pleasure they gained from watching it did justify the relatively limited outlay. February 8, 2007

A "Valiant" Effort

I often wonder why some people automatically assume that if a computer-animated Disney film isn't done by Pixar, then it's no good. "Chicken Little" was trashed by the critics, but it was a wonderful family feature that was fun to watch for young and old alike. "The Wild," though not as good as "Chicken Little," was a solid family film that took a lot of flack for being similar to "Madagascar." And here's "Valiant," an animated tale that never had a chance in the realm of Pixar vs. Disney.

It's really a fun tale that's short, to the point, and full of wonderful voice talents. Critics say that it's too formulaic and downright boring at times and yes, the tale of a small, seemingly insignificant person stepping up to do heroic things isn't original, but it's delivered here in fine fashion. Young Valiant wants to do his part to secure the freedom of his country during WWII. He signs up with the Royal Homing Pigeon Service to deliver secret and urgent messages to the Allies from the French Resistance. He heads up a bungling line-up of brutes, well-to-dos and Bugsy, a smelly but heartfelt friend that Valiant picks up along the way to join the service. The evil Nazi falcon, Von Talon, and his interceptors have picked the homing pigeons clean, leaving only Valiant and his buds to retrieve a crucial message for the Allies. Can Valiant and his friends overcome the odds and save jolly ol' England? You have to watch to find out.

As stated before, there are plenty of wonderful voice talents in this film. Ewan McGregor provides the voice of Valiant, and does so with youthful exuberance. Hugh Laurie voices Gutsy, champion of the homing pigeons. Tim Curry is devilishly fun as Von Talon. Ricky Gervais (Bugsy), John Hurt (Felix), and John Cleese (Mercury) head up the rest of a fine cast of voice talents.

The animation is great. Though nothing groundbreaking is found here (excepting the chase scene involving Valiant and Von Talon, which I thought was wonderful), the animation holds up very well to most other computer animated flicks of today. The music is fun as well. There are a few deaths (offscreen) that parents might have to explain to their children, but they are brief and do not happen to the main characters.

One thing that I really enjoyed about this film is that it gives youngsters a brief bit of history about World War II. Granted, it doesn't flesh out the actions at Normandy, but it might trigger your child's interest in history, which can't be a bad thing. The mention of the Dickin Medal at the end of this flick is also an interesting fact to know.

This isn't the greatest Disney flick ever made. However, there's plenty here for both children and adults to enjoy, and you'll be kicking yourself for not checking this movie out earlier. It's a nice family film and will easily earn its spot on your family DVD shelf. I highly recommend it. January 29, 2007

Patriotic movie

The title of the movie fits the plot. My 3 kids enjoyed it very much. It gave them the sense of patriotism. January 18, 2007

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