by MARK SLUTSKY

Who knew? The real heroes of World War II weren't infantry grunts, master strategists or brilliant code-breakers, but the scrappy, loveable and occasionally rascally pigeons who delivered messages back and forth across the channel. At least that's the thesis of Valiant, a new animated film from Disney that foregrounds the sacrifices of those brave birds in its unconventional retelling of that terrible conflict.

Valiant is not just the title of the film, but also the name of its hero, an undersized pigeon (voiced by Ewan McGregor) who yearns to join the Royal Air Force Homing Pigeon Service during Britain's dark days. Despite his small size, the lad makes it in, and so does his naughty sidekick Bugsy (Ricky Gervais). From there, the two - along with various other stock characters familiar to anyone who's ever seen a Disney movie - make their way to France to rendezvous with the mouse-led Resistance and stage a raid on a Luftwaffe bunker, which is heavily guarded by the German falcons. Hmmmm... Brits as pigeons. The French as mice. Germans as falcons. Why, it's like Art Spiegelman's comic-strip Maus, if somewhat neutered and trivial.

And, I gotta say, boring! Talk about playing it safe - this may be the only WWII movie ever where nobody dies. Okay, it's a kids' movie, a cartoon, but why even make family entertainment out of war if you're not going to at least show its dark side? Adding to the general blandness are the characters, namely Valiant himself, who's a total snooze. All we really know about him is that overcoming his size will be his greatest challenge, which seems like such a tacked-on story element. The film feels so committee-assembled that it's really hard to care, and even the CGI is rote and unimpressive. I've said it before: next to Pixar, everything else pales, and Disney must be panicking at the thought of the company's imminent departure. Their partnership expires soon, and if Valiant is any indication of what Disney can hammer out on its own, the future's not bright for the Mouse House.

Valiant opens Friday, Aug. 19

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