Valiant: Movie & DVD Review (2005)

(Originally published (2005)

A computer-animated movie from Disney about the contributions of carrier pigeons in World War II. Good topic, fair animation, but the story quacks like a duck.

As directed by Gary Chapman from a script by Jordan Katz, George Webster and George Meldrod, "Valiant" follows Valiant (voice of Ewan McGregor), a perky little Brit bird with a can-do attitude and a limited wingspan who dreams big of fighting the big fight with an elite squadron of British carrier pigeons.

His mother is having none of it--she'd rather cough up something for Valiant to eat--but Valiant has other ideas and soon is part of an underwhelming team of misfits going off to war. Joining him are Bugsy (Ricky Gervais), who has, shall we say, hygiene issues; brainiac Lofty (Pip Torrens); Toughwood and Tailfeather (Brian Lonsdale, Dan Roberts) and Gutsy (Hugh Laurie), a bird who seems to be on a suicide mission.

Together, it's their job to deliver a crucial message for the war effort, which could either make or break Normandy. The work isn't easy. In this curious movie of good versus evil, where the Nazis are depicted as falcons and Tim Curry's menacing Von Talon likely will put a steel tremble in younger kids, the mix between comedy and terror is jarring, with none of it gelling at the end.

Should Polly want a mediocre movie, feed her this.

Grade: C-