valiant

Director: gary chapman

Actor: ewan mcgregor,ricky gervais,tim curry,jim broadbent

Data Published: Fri Mar 25 2005

Genres: Animation,Adventure,Comedy,Family,War

Key Words: movie flop,pigeon,falcon,anthropomorphic animal,anthropomorphism

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361089/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valiant_(2005_film)

Description: Valiant is a movie starring Ewan McGregor, Ricky Gervais, and Tim Curry. At the height of World War II, a tiny wood pigeon enlists in the elite Royal Homing Pigeon Service to serve Britain, as the fearsome General Von Talon (Tim...

Plot: In May 1944, 5 years since the declaration of World War II, three Royal Homing Pigeon Service war pigeons are flying across the English Channel with the White Cliffs of Dover in sight, carrying vital messages to Great Britain. Despite the poor weather conditions the pigeons have nearly reached their destination. They are, however, suddenly ambushed and attacked by a German enemy peregrine falcon named General Von Talon (Tim Curry); two of the pigeons are instantly killed, yet the third, Mercury (John Cleese), is taken as a prisoner of war. Elsewhere, a small wood pigeon named Valiant (Ewan McGregor) is watching an Allied forces propaganda film in his local bar (an overturned rowing boat) in West Nestington. Wing Commander Gutsy (Hugh Laurie), a war hero flies into the bar, informing everyone that signups are scheduled the next day in Trafalgar Square, London. In General Von Talon's lair, Mercury resists interrogation by his captors. Valiant flies off to London, bidding his mother and Felix (John Hurt), the local barman, goodbye. In London, Valiant meets an unhygienic slacker pigeon named Bugsy (Ricky Gervais), who is being hunted by two thugs, after having tricked them at a shell game. In order to escape the thugs, he signs up with Valiant. The recruits, Valiant, Bugsy, Lofty (Pip Torrens), an intellectual red pigeon, and Toughwood and Tailfeather (Dan Roberts and Brian Lonsdale), two muscular but dim-witted twin brothers, form Royal Homing Pigeon Service Squad F, and are sent to a recruit training facility. Under the command of Sergeant Monty (Jim Broadbent), who declares that he will toughen them up for the RHPS, the training begins. Meanwhile, Von Talon and his henchmen, Cufflingk (Rik Mayall) and Underlingk (Michael Schlingmann), try numerous attempts to discover the message's departure location. However Mercury refuses to tell, despite the tortures inflicted upon him, such as irritating him with yodeling music and injecting him with truth serum, before Mercury accidentally reveals the location: Saint-Pierre. Throughout the training, Valiant develops a crush on Victoria (Olivia Williams), the camp's nursing dove. Eventually, Gutsy arrives and tells the Sergeant that the recruits need to leave the next morning, despite their training being vastly incomplete. Bugsy, however, decides not to go on the "highly dangerous" mission and flees the camp that night. The next morning, Valiant and the others prepare to leave and start to board the plane headed for France, but not before Bugsy shows up at the last second. The journey quickly becomes dangerous, as the plane is caught in the midst of dogfight. Their plane sustains heavy damage and the pigeons soon have to bail out, in boxes equipped with parachutes. The pigeons are dropped from the plane; however a technical malfunction causes Gutsy's box to fail to deploy. The plane goes down in an inferno of flames, presumably killing Gutsy in the resulting explosion. In France, the pigeons meet Charles de Girl (Sharon Horgan) and Rollo (Buckley Collum), two mice from the French Resistance, Mouse Division, who lead them to Saint-Pierre, where they receive the message they have been ordered to deliver. They soon come under attack by Von Talon's henchmen, resulting in Bugsy and the message being captured. Von Talon takes the message from Bugsy and decides to lock him up and kill him later, planning to personally deliver the message to the German High Commander himself. Valiant and the troops follow Bugsy to the falcon's bunker, where they discover that Gutsy has survived the plane crash. Valiant takes advantage of his small size and sneaks into the bunker through the gun barrel, retrieves the message, and frees Bugsy and Mercury. Unfortunately, the falcons witness the escape and give chase. As Gutsy and the others fight off Von Talon's henchmen, Valiant flies to London to deliver the message, followed by Von Talon. After a climactic chase by the falcon, Valiant hides in the cottage where he lives, where he is caught by Von Talon again. With the help of Felix and the resident pigeons, Valiant outwits Von Talon by getting a giant hook caught on his medals, leaving him to be beaten by the water wheel. Valiant delivers the message, and upon receiving it, a change of plans is made; they land in Normandy. After receiving the Dickin Medal, Squad F returns to the local bar in West Nestington, where Valiant reunites and shares a kiss with Victoria.