Valiant

From the producers of Shrek and Shrek 2 comes the exciting story of Valiant (Ewan McGregor), a small country pigeon with dreams of joining the big pigeons in the exclusive Royal Homing Pigeon service towards the end of World War II.

With morale and recruitment running low, Valiant finally gets his chance to work in this elite unit with some unlikely colleagues, including Bugsy (Ricky Gervais) who can burp the entire alphabet and Gutsy (Hugh Laurie) the most accomplished Homing Pigeon Commander of them all. As always, trying to succeed where bigger and stronger pigeons have failed is always a challenge and having the evil Nazi falcon Von Talon (Tim Curry) on your tail doesn't help much either!

Despite the odds, Valiant and his noble team of surprise heroes give it a good old British try, and well... you know who wins the war.

All of the voices are excellently suited to their characters, my favourites being the repulsively base Bugsy and the brave, if not slightly confused pigeon-of-war, Mercury, voiced by John Cleese. I went to see this film with my nephews and they absolutely loved it.

Valiant is a good attempt at putting British animated film into the running with its more famous American counterparts, though disappointingly there isn't as much duality in the dialogue. This one's a little bit more for the kids, as far as funny goes, but if that's a bit of a turn off, think of it as a good way to introduce youngsters to an important part of British history, especially since pigeons like Valiant really did exist!

I highly recommend the film for its creativity, ingenuity and good sense of humour. Also, the scenery and flying scenes are really well done. If you're looking for a pick me up, where the underdog gets what he deserves, then please, please go. You and your little ones won't be sorry!