Valiant (2005)

What a waste of my time!!!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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.

If you are reading my review, it means you are just checking out to see if it is a good movie, or have doubts about seeing it. Considering all the 3D Animation stuff released to this day – on giant titles like Shrek from DreamWorks and Nemo from Pixar, among others – I can guarantee the reader that Valliant is for sure an unforgettable experience, specially for the guys who love military stuff. This one is so amazing because it is set on the World War II, with an amazing idea and selection of unique characters. It is a master piece just like Cars. Everything is superb and superior to a lot of the 3d stuff out there, the things worth mentioning are the Sound and visual, both looking great.What I liked the most, is that this movie has no annoying scenes like the baby crying on Monsters S.A or the annoying baby from Ice Age 1, sometimes I fail to watch those movies because of that. To conclude, the movie starts and ends with a superb storyline, don't miss it for the world, and don't be fooled, this movie had little propaganda and got forgotten too fast, it was not fair since it is one of the greatest titles ever released.I must also use this space to complain about the Brazilian company who released this DVD in Brazil. They released only one version of it and it was in Full screen, they seen to forget about the millions of people who own a widescreen television or appreciate the pure and original version of the movie, and choose to save money instead. They also deleted the original sound (English) forcing us to watch it in Portuguese and Spanish 5.1, something very stupid to be done since we all hate voice over (even the kids complained about this). So, make sure your DVD has the Original English 5.1 sound (and not 2.0) with the original Widescreen size. It is ten times more beautiful and awesome in that way!

Through the use of CGI this sweet story about patriotic pigeons brings smiles and occasional laughs to the heart of the viewing audience.Valiant centres on patriotism and brings frequent emphasis to 'what is right' in society. An interesting concept for an animated adventure. The use of pigeons is highly amusing for younger audiences but the viewers watching will see how committed the characters are to helping their country. Was this something they were trying to pull off? Through the use of the central protagonist 'Valiant' we are able to see his personal devotion to his country through the difficult war times. Personally i thought Ewan McGregor performed well, given the strength and determination required of the character The movie preaches through the brave little pigeon 'Valiant' who wishes to enrol in the Royal Pigeon Service. Highly predictable and unfunny for many older audiences but younger audiences will love the film as the pigeons have frequent meetings with physical objects, rude child centred humour and the general movements of the animated characters combine to make much lovable animals. At times such as when they enter the academy there are questions of realism. As the film centres around children they will be able to believe the happenings but for older audiences the ideologies may be a little harder to take, dropping their personal likeness for the film. I thought a few incidents were over exaggerated, particularly the ending. However its a good laugh at the end of the day and we have to accept it for what it is.The effects are stunning. The CGI used to create the film are used to full effect as we have many different characters such as the Falcons, Pigeons and scenery all combining to create a visually stunning film. The attention to detail for the scenery has to be admired. We have the typical 'Badguy' base for the Falcons with dark iconography The story was well thought out but at many scenes the plot failed to captivate the audience. The majority of action scenes are predictable and over exaggerated but all combine to create a fast moving and chuckle-some comedy animation for all ages though the film succeeds in winning the hearts of younger audiences.The voices of Gervais, McGregor and Cleese are all recognised and are funny, especially from Cleese who audiences will immediately recognise his Fawlty Towers routine is used occasionally to bring a smile to the faces of audiences. Gervais to uses his typical laid back attitude to one of the more likable characters Bugsy. His slickness and child centred style of voice goes down well for younger audiences but older ones to as he above all others pulls out the most memorable jokes from the film.Having the film in different settings such as the training camp was a very effective method. In the camp we get to see human elements such as weight lifts changed into animal elements where they use apples instead of weights. These ideologies are very cleverly thought of and bring the occasional chuckle.With many animations being created as often as an excellent Gervais joke its hard to tell which animation creates the best effects when all are visually stunning. Its now what we expect from the animation CGI industry isn't it? This film is visually stunning and is believable for many audiences. The jokes are frequent and are more chuckle-some than laugh your heart out. Its a worth seeing film but not one you would go out of your way to watch.Great film to watch and is recommended

Alright, we all know this was a cartoon and not a movie, but this was based on real history making birds that got awarded for being depended on when needed in the throngs of World War Two. At the end of this fine cartoon they acknowledged that not only the pigeons, but dogs and a cat had been awarded medals in helping win the war effort. Have there been any movies made in the past to tell these stories? I can't remember. If anyone could though it should be Disney, they seem to have the wonderful sensitivity to do stories like that. This is stuff that should always be brought up to the forefront to let future generations know the great ingenuity of past generations. What's wrong with that? Keep the past remembered! Honor those who deserved it. Make more movies, yes - even cartoons, like this. Bravo!