Valiant (2005)

 

Trying to make an animated film contain the subject of war, is very difficult. This is why war films are made in live action; they can be believable. Everything is recreated so that way, the people who survived can have some sort of memory of what happened. Plus, it gives out a good deal of entertainment value for everyone to enjoy. However, going back to animation, making a war film using the medium, can usually lead to some sort of misdirection. Just look at 2005's “Valiant”, an interesting movie, which is hindered greatly by a wide variety of factors. One of which is the presentation. It just doesn't bring out the entertainment value a lot of war films handle. While the film has good intentions, the end product is not pleasing to the eyes. And in the case of the acting, the ears as well. “Valiant” doesn't evoke or inspire, and instead, does not bring out the message of war to the fullest potential.

The story is set in 1944 in England during the height of World War II. Seeking some new recruits, the army is looking for pigeons to help deliver messages that gain accessible information. One of these new recruits, named Valiant (voiced by Ewan McGregor), is small but determined to join the cause. He finally gets his chance, as a rescue mission pops up, and Valiant, along with a group of other pigeons, including Bugsy (Ricky Gervais), Lofty (Pip Torrens), and brothers Tailfeather and Toughwood (Dan Roberts and Brian Landsdale respectively), they out in the skies. More specifically, on a rescue mission in order to retrieve some information to help the war.

When it comes down to it, “Valiant” is not a good movie. Here's why.

For starters, the whole thing is very toned down for the genre it is trying to convey. It is a war movie, but the violence is barely there, and when it is there, it is mostly comical. Yes, this film is rated G, and yes, the editing has to cut some corners. But it just feels boring after watching the entire thing.

In fact, most of the action is set during training camp, and it's not interesting in the slightest. Everything feels rushed, and it feels like the director wanted to move onto the next scene as quickly as possible.

Which brings me to another problem: the pacing. Thanks to a short running time of only 76 minutes, everything feels rushed out of focus. It feels like the filmmakers wanted to focus on the animation, rather than the story.

As for the animation itself, it looks very dated, even from 2005. The backgrounds look okay, but they feel like they could belong on a PlayStation console. As for the character models, it feels as if there was one design for the pigeons, and the filmmakers used it throughout. Even the other birds like hawks for the bad guys, don't offer up anything spectacular in terms of their design.

It just feels like the filmmakers had a low budget for the entire production, and rushed all the way through when they entered production. Everything looks unpolished, and they didn't have enough time to fix all the bugs and glitches.

But the biggest and most troublesome issue with the film in general is the with the characters themselves. The performances are okay, and there are certain actors that stand out from the rest. Most notably, John Cleese and Tim Curry (who's hamming it up as always). Yet, the rest of the cast feel relatively boring. They are also playing your typical characters in these types of situations. McGregor is the obvious wannabe hero, while the rest are mostly there to be comedic sidekicks. And then there is Ricky Gervais. I'm sure he means well, but in “Valiant”, he contributes nothing other than being really annoying. He doesn't seem to shut up, and most of the jokes that he tells, fall flat.

Which leads to the writing. It's terrible. Along with a short run time, the writing feels forced and uninteresting. And while we have a few actual events present from WWII, especially, and notably the ending, the war stuff is mostly ignored, most of the stuff included in the film is set during boot camp. And when it does get to the actual interesting stuff, it feels predictable and safe, to say the least. Basically, the movie tries to set a fictional story using real world scenarios, but it doesn't work out in the end.

There is, however, one thing that does stand out above the rest. And that is the music. Done by George Fenton, the music in “Valiant” is the film's saving grace. The orchestrated score serves its purpose by bringing a lively war theme to the production, and it keeps the viewer entertained. Which is more than I can say for the rest of the feature.

Overall, “Valiant” is a bad effort of bringing the subject of war not only to families, but also to animation in general Just stick with live action features that deal with war in a rather serious manner, and we're all good.