'Valiant' D-Day Heroics ; Pigeons Animate Humorous Tale of War
The Washington Times › August 19, 2005
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Summary
"Valiant," a computer-animated adventure comedy set on the eve of the D-Day invasion, harmonizes with a venerable tradition of Anglophilia at the Disney studio. It salutes the exploits of a novice squadron of carrier pigeons recruited for cross-channel courier duty by a branch of the British Armed Forces that some might tend to underrate, the Royal Homing Pigeon Service (RHPS). The title character, dubbed by Ewan McGregor, is an undersized and ingenuous but plucky country bird who completes an accelerated basic training course with four other unpromising mates just in time to be parachuted into Occupied France.
Their rendezvous with the Resistance, hilariously embodied by an intrepid pair of mice, Charles de Girl and her crazed, incendiary companion Rollo, is menaced going and returning by Wehrmacht caricatures under the command of a Prussian falcon called Gen. von Talon, which brings out an appropriate accent and arrogance in Tim Curry. Based inside an artillery bunker on the French coast, the general and his flunkies have already captured a stouthearted RHPS agent named Mercury, who provides John Cleese with a wonderfully voluble opportunity, especially when Mercury is babbling under the influence of truth serum.See the full content of this document
Extract
'Valiant' D-Day Heroics ; Pigeons Animate Humorous Tale of War
Valiant's size allows him to penetrate the von Talon lair by flying down the barrel of a gigantic cannon. Having rescued Mercury a...
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