Valiant (2005)

This was nothing to write home about, and even worse little kids won't care about anything that is happening. Quite an embarrassment and with one of the shortest running times (a little over an hour) which is actually a good thing. This story has been done thousand times over, and just about always done better. Ewan McGregor is wasted, and he tries his best with what he's given. Just a huge mistake on not using your voice cast to their full potential. It's called a script, and even the best actors can't save it. Don't waste your time or your kids time. Stick to the Pixar or even some of the Disney movies to be actually entertained. Anyone that gives this a high score needs to have their heads examined. Even a novice knows this is how not to make a good animated film.

Fmovies: This is an animated comedy of a British Valiant-pigeon who enlists to "The Royal Pigeon Message Service" of the World War II. Falcons represent German's Luftwaffe and French animal resistance is in the hands of mice! Overall impression is quite like with Chicken Run, only this is made with computer animation.

It has come to be a habit for animations to contain loads of references to other movies and general pop-culture so that adults can have their own fun while their descendants laugh at animation characters' slapstick. This film makes no exception in that sense. But it does this mixing superbly. Additional credit has to be given to makers because the WW II might be considered a-bit-harder-than-usual subject for a kid-flick. The cast is excellent. Especially Ricky Gervais' character Bugsy felt so much alive that I almost waited him to break through the shell of an animated character and become visible on-screen. This comes not only from the voice but from delicately characterized animation, though.

There are no songs disrupting the storytelling and there is some mild violence (well, in war there is, right?), so this might be not the best choice for the very youngest children? Not Shrek, but a quite hilarious little film for adults and children alike!

I saw this film at the World Premiere in London. It has an incredible all star British cast including Ewan McGregor, John Cleese, Ricky Gervais, Jim Broadbent, the list goes on. It's a simple story of a smaller than average pigeon who decides to join the Homing Pigeon Service. The animation is first rate and the characterisations are excellent. Smaller children may be a little scared of the scenes with the hawks, but this is only a minor foible. It's a thoroughly British story though and there are only English accents and voices. I hope our American cousins aren't put off by this, after all we Brits watch a lot of American movies, be they cartoon, CGI or live action. It's fun and it has a real feel good factor about it and tells a wartime story about animals being the heroes for a change, which is nice. Go and see it, you won't be disappointed.

Valiant fmovies. This film is about a pigeon called Valiant, whom no one thinks he could do anything big. It turns out that he does Britain a great service in World War II as a messenger pigeon.

The animation is excellent. The movements are smooth, and the birds are portrayed in great detail. However, the plot is very thin and totally predictable. The humour is not funny because it repeats itself every 30 seconds. There must have been 30 scenes where birds have mid air collisions and 30 scenes where birds hit a post and falls down. That does not even count the 30 farts and belches. And have I forgotten to mention smelly armpits? Can the filmmakers be more inspired and make less crude humour? I am not sure if kids will enjoy this. The characters are not even likable or cute. It is not entertaining enough.

Although this may not tickle the fancy of non-Brits, Valiant is a light-hearted comical little tale (it's quite short) of an even littler pigeon with a big personality who wants to be in the RHSP as a wartime carrier pigeon. The characters are well defined and work together well with a generously simple plot. Bugsy (Ricky Gervais) is hilarious and most of the voices provided were perfect, although it would have been better if I didn't have a constant mental image of the actors while looking at their animated aliases.

Occasionally there are moments of dialogue or actions that are quite obviously meant to be funny and aren't but these are generally glazed over by silliness. A must-see for animation fans/Brits, but perhaps more laughable for the younger generation among us.

The reviews on Valiant are horrible. This I find to be a big mistake, I personally loved the film, it's largest mistake is a lack of a good target audience, it is kinda a silly kids animated film with fart jokes and such, but than it has in my opinion three times as many jokes for adults about World War 2. In fact I think I may have liked it more than my brothers who are 12 and 6 did. It has some hilarious cracks on Hitler and D-Day which is usually something that I find impossible to laugh about. The short(76 minute) running time just helps the film because there are only so many jokes it can make without offending someone and it never tries to use one more than once. The plot is filled with holes but is perfect for making all the jokes. The screenplay has some good dialogue and makes all the great jokes. The voice talents are great. The film is well directed but could have been better. The film is perfectly animated.