"Some pigeons eat crumbs - others make history..."
 

    Chocks away! - "Valiant" is set during the time of the Second World War. The
    adventure centres around our titular young pigeon, who's short on wing span but
    still super-keen to join the ranks of  Royal Homing Pigeon Service (RHPS) and
    take on the Bosch on the continent. Fueled by some inspiring war propaganda,
    Valiant travels to London (Trafalgar Square, naturally) where he teams up with a
    rough old pigeon called Bugsy and, after various training shenanigans and
    encounters, the pair become part of the RHPS’s last attempt to fly vital
    documents back from France to Dover. But the mission will bring them
    directly in to the flight path of Von Talon's Falcon Brigade...

    Here we have the UK's very first full-length CGI feature film. This $35m
    production utilised a brand new animation facility constructed at Ealing Studios.
    The project was launched  at the Cannes Film Festival back in May 2002 by
    Odyssey Entertainment. Producer John Williams previously brought us the
    great geen exploits of that ogre called Shrek. 

    Late in 2003 intriguing early character designs of the enemy hawks appeared
    on Vanguard's web site, but the tone of the production was lightened, and
    those first, rather aggressive, concepts were passed over.

    Ewan McGregor was confirmed as the titular lead voice in December 2003.
    John Cleese and Tim Curry were the last names to join the role call in April 2004.

    Vanguard hope to use "Valiant" as a springboard into a succession of upscale
    animated projects at their Ealing facility. North American rights are held by
    Touchstone/Disney, as part of an ongoing distribution deal with the company.

    » Vanguard's production crew consisted of 180 animators from 17 countries.
    
    » The film hit UK screens on March 25th 2005. In it's first UK weekend
        the film took $1.8m from 400 screens.

    »"Valiant" had an August 19th USA release, where it took $5,914,722.
        It went on to accrue $19,478,106 in the USA, and a worldwide total
        of $61,746,888 (Box Office Mojo)...

 

     Promos/Tie-ins

     Licensed goodies were thin on the ground, but here in the UK, there
     was at least one bright promotion for the film adorning boxes of Weeto's
     breakfast cereal...

 

     In the news

      The Hound: June 2003
      Vanguard move into Ealing...

      The Hound: October 2002
      Valiant voice rumours...

      The Hound: June 2002
      Valiant film is announced...

 

     Valiant on DVD

      Valiant
                 Region 2 / Entertainment / November 2005

       Valiant
                 Region 2 / Walt Disney / December 2005

 

     director:         Gary Chapman
     producer:       John H. Williams
     exec prods:    Barnaby Thompson, Ralph Kamp, Neil Braun,
                          Keith Evans, Robert Jones
     writers:          Jordan Katz, George Webster, George Melrod
                          from a story by George Webster
     music:            George Fenton
     editor:            Jim Stewart
     voices:           Ewan McGregor (Valiant)
                          Ricky Gervais (Bugsy)
                          Tim Curry (Von Talon)
                          Jim Broadbent (Sarge)
                          Olivia Williams (Victoria)
                          Hugh Laurie (Gutsy)  
                          John Cleese (Mercury)
                          John Hurt (Felix)   
                          Rik Mayall (Cufflingk)
                          Pip Torrens (Lofty)
                          Brian Lonsdale (Toughwood)
                          Sharon Hogan (Charles de Girl) 

 

      On the web


     Valiant (UK)
       The official UK site, with info, clips, downloads, etc...

       Valiant (USA)
       The American site from Disney, with more info, games, downloads, etc....

       Vanguard Films
       The official studio site...