Review of Valiant (2005) by Bogdana M — 27 Aug 2005

Disney's new 3d animation bitch, Vanguard, seems to be on par with PIXAR. I can't tell the difference, really. Once something that innovative becomes common, its hard to tell who makes what.

The story is about Valiant, a smaller than normal messenger pigeon, and a few of his Royal Homing Pigeon Service pals. They sign up for the RHPS to "do their bit". This is a WW2 set story, so of course the bad guys, the Falcons, are Germans of the Nazi persuasion, although they never actually say that is what they are.

The moral of the story is that, its not the size of your wingspan, but the size of your spirit that matters. I thought that was the mantra for under-endowed gentlemen, but hey, it can be a mantra for kids and their dreams too, why not?

The characters really never developed very far, and theres no secrets to the plot, so it is very kid-friendly. Considering how one dimensional this 3D film is, I have to give them props for not making me fall asleep. I kept with it, with only short lapses of boredom.

My favorite part is in the beginning- dont worry I am not giving anything away. Before Valiant joins the brigade, they show one of the carrier pigeons (the voice of John Cleese) that gets caught by the falcon being interrogated by Herr General Falcon.

Cleese: "You're not going to eat me, are you?".

General:"Eat you? Hah. Im vegetarian.".

Cleese: "And yet, you're wearing a leather cape.".

That will go right over children's heads and maybe some adults. The factoid here is, Hitler was a vegetarian. And that is why that's funny.

Rating: As far as kids movies go, this one's right in the middle of awesome and terrible. 6 out of 10 from me.