Critic Reviews

A smart, marvelously drawn account of the bravery of homing pigeons during World War II.

Valiant enlists a squad of loveable birdbrains to turn the classic fighter-pilot formula into an upbeat adventure film loaded with laughs.

While the target audience won't be as familiar with the voice of Gervais as with, say, Eddie Murphy, they'll no doubt love his dirty bird humor.

It's a tale with plenty of spirit and a good heart, and yet, this story doesn't so much soar across the screen as it does waddle.

Adults expecting a little bit more, "Chicken Run," this ain't.

The best sequence comes when the gang meet a saucy French lady mouse who works for the Resistance and at moments of high drama sings "Je Ne Regrette Rien" ("Ah!" your children will say. "At last, an Edith Piaf joke!")

It's perhaps the first animated kids' film that can claim to be "based on a true story."

Competently done and harmless enough to entertain the tots. It's just that the movie's kind of . . . sparse.

The main problem with this Disney release--which also wastes the voices of Ricky Gervais and Jim Broadbent--is its refusal to recognize the war as anything but an excuse for tomfoolery.

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.