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Valiant
Directed by Gary Chapman. Story: WWII homing pigeons and their mission. Running Time: 1hr 16 minutes. Certificate U.
Amazing. A whole film about pigeons and not one joke about pooing on statues. Or pooing on anything, come to think of it. That's like making a film about lemmings and not mentioning cliff-jumping. Well, I guess I can forgive it that, as it's quite fun and will keep the kids amused.
Valiant is indeed a valiant effort. It can hold its head high amongst the big animation features without ever threatening them. Its Britishness scores it a few points but in every other area it has to run behind, panting. It's nice, it's enjoyable and the kids will like it, but I'd have to recommend the other animated movies first. I enjoyed this film: I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: To enjoy this film you should: think young.
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Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ricky Gervais, Tim Curry, John Cleese, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Laurie, Rik Mayall.
Valiant is a British animation in the vein of 
I'm not totally convinced by the voice casting. John Cleese, Jim Broadbent and Hugh Laurie are all fine, but I can't
be so kind about the two leads. Ewan McGregor as the plucky pigeon Valiant sounds rather too much like an adult trying
to be a kid, and Ricky Gervais's Bugsy just doesn't match the visuals. Gervais's humour requires the viewer to
see his face - his minimalist eye movements and facial expressions are a critical and necessary part of what makes him funny.
When his voice is put behind a mugging pigeon, it's not nearly as effective and comes across as merely a vehicle for Gervais
after his success in The Office. I think someone like Timothy Spall would have been a much better choice for Bugsy,
though it's harder to come up with a suitable Valiant. Maybe Neil Stuke (from Game On) - I think he could have nailed it.
Animation-wise, Valiant is perfectly acceptable. Again, it's not up to the class leaders - the pigeons all look rock
hard and shiny instead of feathered, and the backgrounds aren't as authentic-looking as in Shrek, but you don't notice that
unless you're looking for it and the caricatures are amusing enough. The Resistance mice that pop up half-way through are
gorgeous and they move so much better than the pigeons - if it's possible for a mouse to steal the show, then Rollo the
"Sabotage" mouse wins it for me (you'll have to see it to find out what I mean!). It's a shame that the mice are only
on screen for a couple of minutes as they are much more watchable than the pigeons.
