|
The Movie: "Valiant" is a bit of an odd tale for movie targeted at kids: the feature chronicles the life of homing pigeons working for the Allied Forces during WWII, including the small Valiant (Ewan McGregor), who triesto convince the others he's capable, despite being undersized. The pigeons have to fight against the other side's bird forces, lead by the menacing Von Talon (Tim Curry). That's the long and short of this rather short (76 minutes, which seems brief even for an animated feature) animated tale. Essentially, it's the old tale about the smallest or least of the group demonstrates that he's got enough heart to save the day - in other words, get a P.O.W out of danger and deliver a top-secret message. While "Valiant" doesn't have much in the way of story, the filmmakers have certainly tried to boost things in the casting department, with a wealth of talent working on the British production, including: Ricky Gervais ("The Office"), McGregor, John Cleese, Curry, Jim Broadbent and others. The one oddity that I pondered while watching "Valiant" is simply: who is this targeted to? With a pigeon P.O.W. (John Cleese) and scenes of the characters during wartime training that are played with oddly upbeat energy, there are moments in "Valiant" that are not only not very amusing, but a bit uncomfortable. The film's more straightforward attempts at humor are rather ordinary, and include a fairly sizable helping of slapstick and occasional bathroom humor. There are times when the movie doesn't appear to know who in the audience it wants to play to, and the lack of development in terms of characters and story leads to not much in the way of urgency or tension. Given the talent involved, it's quite disappointing that the by-the-numbers screenplay doesn't provide the actors with much material at all. Additionally, with only 76 minutes, some of the characters (and subplots, such as a romantic bit between Valiant and a nurse bird played by Olivia Williams) get shuttled off to the background. Cleese occasionally gets an amusing line across, but it almost seems like the actor's doing improv - and more improv would maybe have at least resulted in more than a small handful of laughs here. The animation is pretty decent (the backrounds are flat, but everything else is average), taking into consideration that the movie was done for slightly less than half the budget of some of the major CGI animated features that have been put out in the past few years. Still, whether or not the budget is major or minor, it looks like the money here went to the actors and the aimation, leaving the thin script in third place. The DVD VIDEO: "Valiant" is presented in approximately 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen by Disney. Despite the animation appearing more primitive than CGI efforts by Blue Sky or Pixar, "Valiant"'s presentation still shows off the film's animation about as well as possible. Sharpness and detail are first-rate, and the picture appears well-defined throughout. Aside from some minor shimmer, the picture remained free of such concerns as edge enhancement, pixelation or wear. The film's color palette appeared accurately rendered, with no smearing or other faults. Overall, this was a very nice presentation. SOUND: "Valiant" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The audio presentation is enjoyable, as the rear speakers are put to moderate use in order to deliver sound effects during fly-overs and other action scenes. The surrounds also kick in for some ambience and other details. Audio quality was fine, with clear, well-recorded dialogue and other elements. EXTRAS: Bloopers and an interactive game. Final Thoughts: "Valiant" has a few funny moments (thanks to the actors) and a great (if largely underused) cast, but the thin story and lack of a clear target audience results in little suspense. While "Valiant" might make for a decent rental for older kids, younger kids may not be able to follow (and will likely have questions about some of the events) and may be scared by a few of the scenes. 
Film Grade The Film C DVD Grades Video 92/A Audio: 89/B+ Extras: 70/C- |