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Director:
Gary Chapman
Cast:
Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent, John Cleese, Tim Curry, Rupert
Everett |
MPAA Rating:
G for General Audiences |
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Review:
 When
in doubt, there's always World War II. For the British, not much
good has happen since then, with the Empire crumbling to dust and
all. There are very few adventure movies except with James Bond in
them where Englishmen get to sine nowadays, except those set
during the second world war.
So, with Disney looking for a replacement for Pixar [long story],
an exiting animated adventure story is just the thing for the
people at London's Vanguard Entertainment to get coveted gig.
So, we have Valiant (voiced by Ewan McGregor), a young pigeon
living in a woodsy farmhouse who has dreams of glory, which means
for him, joining the Royal homing pigeon corps, just like they
show on those propaganda films they show at the movies. Not only
that, the hero of the week, the glamorous Captain Gutsy(Hugh
Laurie), makes an appearance and all the ladies swoon.
So after a gratuitous goodbye scene with his mum, our hero flies
to London, where he meets Bugsy (Ricky Gervais), a avian con
artist living in Trafalgar square, and he's accidentally inducted
as well.
So we've got the usual training scenes, as Valiant, Bugsy, and a
few others are under the tutelage of a semi-gruff drill
sergeant(Jim Broadbent). It's all very cute indeed, but there's
Nazis to be defeated, after all this is the Second World War,
right?
So the good birds of squadron F are given a mission they're to be
dropped behind enemy lines, get a vital message from the
resistance, and evading the evil General Von Talon (Tim Curry),
save the day, and win the war at the same time.
Unfortunately, that despicable falcon has shot up a Sgt.
Mercury(John Cleese) and …not everything is supposed to go right,
right?
John Webster and Jordan Katz's screenplay is quite predictable,
but it has enough laughs and close calls to keep the target
audience entertained for an hour or so. The kids will definitely
like it.
Eric Lurio
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