Valiant: Critic Reviews

This movie's aesthetics seem governed by its bottom line: The CG is on the rubbery side, and the backdrops are jarringly 2-D. But Valiant isn't so hard to look at -- it's hard to listen to.

Poorly plotted, suspense-free film.

Too inoffensive to engender the hostility once reserved for Howard the Duck.

Even though its historical references and battle scenes may fly over their heads like so many homing pigeons, kids will enjoy Valiant, too, if only for its nonstop action and lively visual design.

Too dependent on a knowledge of RAF-inspired cinematic derring-do like '633 Squadron' (or at least Hogan's Heroes) for the average tyke, yet too tepid for their taller counterparts, Valiant is ultimately one strange bird.

The thought of this motley crew in the recording studio, laying down vocal tracks and cracking each other up, is far more entertaining than anything in the film.

As education by anthropomorphism goes, Maus this ain't.

Stick to the genuinely delightful Chicken Run -- this one's for the birds.

Valiant may not fly in the stratosphere of Pixar or the best of DreamWorks, but giving these plucky birds their due is not a bad way to wind up the summer.

It's tempting then to call this U.S.-British-produced endeavor an odd duck. Except that Valiant uses nearly every pun in the book.

A mix of top-notch voice talents, standard computer animation and several missed story opportunities.

The animated feature Valiant, a story about the carrier pigeons that ferried messages from France to England during World War II, takes wing but never quite manages to soar.

What Valiant does most is give pigeons a break from the nasty 'flying rat' reputation. Aside from that, it's doesn't ruffle any feathers.

Despite a handful of good aerial 'birdfight' sequences, 'Valiant' fails to get off the ground due to a by-numbers script and dodo-ugly character design that add up to less than one would expect from 'Shrek' producer John H. WilliamsJohn H. William.

Apart from the puns and regurgitation jokes, the story of a group of carrier pigeons on a death-defying mission in 1944 Europe will fly over the heads of actual youngsters.

It's watchable. But try explaining all of this not-particularly funny adult history, humor and clutter to a child.

Not only is the pacing less hyper, the humour less pop-cult savvy and the story almost creakily old-fashioned [than a Pixar production], it even looks like it was made in a cloudier climate: the dominant colours are muted blues and greys.

Where are the real fairy tales -- the ones without the relentless number of jokes aimed at grown-ups?

Arguably the blandest of the burgeoning crop of big budget digitally animated films, Valiant aims to prove that the death of traditional animation has simply pushed lackluster screenplays into the digital realm.

A plucky little bird that just won't fly.

An unconscionably dreary and amateurish-looking thing, and the rote plot and annoyingly predictable script -- a compendium of bird puns, mostly -- don't work nearly hard enough to make up for the hammy awfulness of the images.

This animated WWII story may not engage all kids.

You're are much better off renting "Chicken Run" for an evening of entertainment with your progeny.