Valiant (2005)

Set in 1944, Valiant is a woodland pigeon who wants to become a great hero someday. When he hears they are hiring recruits for the Royal Homing Pigeon Service, he immediately sets out for ... See full summary »

Director:

Gary Chapman

Writers:

George Webster (story), Jordan Katz (screenplay),

Stars:

Ewan McGregor, Ricky Gervais, Tim Curry

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ewan McGregor	...	Valiant (voice)
Ricky Gervais	...	Bugsy (voice)
Tim Curry	...	Von Talon (voice)
Jim Broadbent	...	Sergeant (voice)
Hugh Laurie	...	Gutsy (voice)
John Cleese	...	Mercury (voice)
John Hurt	...	Felix (voice)
Pip Torrens	...	Lofty (voice)
Rik Mayall	...	Cufflingk (voice)
Olivia Williams	...	Victoria (voice)
Jonathan Ross	...	Big Thug (voice)
Brian Lonsdale	...	Toughwood (voice)
Dan Roberts	...	Tailfeather (voice)
Michael Schlingmann	...	Underlingk (voice)
Sharon Horgan	...	Charles De Girl

Storyline

Set in 1944, Valiant is a woodland pigeon who wants to become a great hero someday. When he hears they are hiring recruits for the Royal Homing Pigeon Service, he immediately sets out for London. On the way, he meets a smelly but friendly pigeon named Bugsy, who joins him, mainly to get away from clients he cheated in a game of find-the pebble, and helps him sign up for the war.

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Plot Keywords:

pigeon | falcon | disney animated feature | espionage | mill | 

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Taglines:

Featherweight Heroes.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | War

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Disney [us]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 August 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vaillant, pigeon de combat!

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$462,961 (Brazil) (6 January 2006)

Gross:

$675,438 (Brazil) (13 January 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vanguard Animation, Ealing Studios, UK Film Council

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The second full-length British CGI movie, after Dominator.

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Goofs

In the movie members of the French Resistance, play "Non, je ne regrette rien" sung by Édith Piaf. However World War II was over twelve years before the song was even written.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lofty: [seeing Valiant & Bugsy] For a, quote, 'elite unit', unquote, they seem to be letting in anything with wings
[to Bugsy]
Lofty: , including those flies circling your bottom.

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Crazy Credits

No animals were harmed in the making of this film, including Dennis.

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Connections

Spoofs Pearl Harbor (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Pathe News Fanfare"

User Reviews

Britishly Comical.

Although this may not tickle the fancy of non-Brits, Valiant is a light-hearted comical little tale (it's quite short) of an even littler pigeon with a big personality who wants to be in the RHSP as a wartime carrier pigeon. The characters are well defined and work together well with a generously simple plot. Bugsy (Ricky Gervais) is hilarious and most of the voices provided were perfect, although it would have been better if I didn't have a constant mental image of the actors while looking at their animated aliases.

Occasionally there are moments of dialogue or actions that are quite obviously meant to be funny and aren't but these are generally glazed over by silliness. A must-see for animation fans/Brits, but perhaps more laughable for the younger generation among us.