Children’s films are strange beasts. The best ones appeal to both children are the parents, and the worst appeal to neither. Valiant, the story of a young British pigeon who enlists in the Royal Homing Pigeon Service, is the worst of these childhood favourites. There are few moments that elicit a chuckle, but a personal favourite is when a french mouse called Charles De Girl says goodbye to our heroes while Edith Piath‘s “Non, Je ne regrette rien” plays. But that is where the film peaks. Not even a wonderfully British voice cast, including Ewan McGregor, Ricky Gervais, Hugh Laurie, and Jim Broadbent, can save a film so tonally inconsistent and nonsensical.
A film meant to rival Dreamworks and Pixar, Valiant falls flat on its face with it being one of the worst animated films ever made. Despite its short length at 1hr 16min, it still feels like it’s 1hr 16min too long as it’s an embarrassing attempt at making a children’s film. It’s riddled with clichés, stereotypes and animation that makes you wonder how they spent an estimated $35,000,000 USD on something that looks so amateurish. The embarrassing product of this questions how one could be such a fan of a film so terrible and whether revisiting your childhood favourites is even worth it.
“Why rewatch these films if it only serves to shatter the memory of them you’ve held onto?”