Movie Review: Not so 'Valiant' an Effort

During World War II, Britain’s Royal Homing Pigeon Service risked life and wing to get their messages from the resistance to Britian’s command centers.

Valiant, a small pigeon with a big heart, wanted to be a part of the RHPS just like his hero, Cmdr. Gutsy (voiced by Hugh Laurie).

The war had not gone well for these brave pigeons. Squadrons A through E had been taken out. It was now time for Valiant’s Squadron F to save the day. The group of pigeons used teamwork and bravery to face the dreaded Falcon Brigade headed by Cmdr. Von Talon (voiced by Tim Curry) and get their message through.

The digitally animated film was enjoyable, but not great. The editing is so bad it detracts from the film. Flipping from the falcons’ headquarters, to Valiant, to pigeon boot camp, back to a captured pigeon, then the French resistance leaders, none of it flows from scene to scene. We just jump. The idea seemed good, but the story should have been more thought out.

Taking place during World War II, the film began with an exciting flying chase scene, and the individual scenes were good with the French resistance mice adding comic relief.

Kids may not know anything about World War II but can relate to being small and getting chased by bad guys.

The movie emphasized teamwork, which was also good. Parents will pick up on the World War II references and the side jokes of the period. The fact that they brought attention to the animals that helped in World War II was a nice plus to the story.

Despite the bad editing, this movie has a cool digital look to it with characters you want to cheer for. This is a movie for little kids. It doesn’t cross over that well for adults.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars for a young audience.

Charly Shelton is a junior at Crescenta Valley High School.