Buy it... if you enjoy the style of British military fanfares and can be enveloped in the pompous nature of George Fenton's constant marches for the film.

Avoid it... if the variety and inventiveness of Fenton's themes in his recent successes is what inspires you to purchase his music.

Fenton

Valiant: (George Fenton) A digitally animated British film from Vanguard Studios, Valiant was co-produced by the producer of Shrek and is aimed at British audiences with its all-British cast and stubborn English humor. It's the United Kingdom's attempt to capture the same enthusiasm (and box office) as Aardman Animation's Chicken Run of several years ago, and there's just enough humor aimed at Americans in Valiant to make the film viable for an international audience as well. It's a hard stretch to say that the film is very loosely based on real events given that the story involves a patriotic pigeon who decides to go to war for King and country in the Royal Homing Pigeon Service during World War II. But the British military actually gave medals for bravery to carrier pigeons at the time, so one could conceivably say that the story is partly based on true events. All joking aside, the film's animation is adequate, and the voices of everyone from Ewan McGregor to John Cleese bless the variety of pigeons and other birds on screen, although the film has failed to generate the widespread interest of the Pixar variety. Kids will enjoy the continuous fart, belch, and armpit jokes, although the endless one-liners that propel the best of the genre are too few and far between in Valiant to meet expectations. The film is Britain's first full-fledged wide release of their own animated-CGI film, and who better to serve the music for this inauguration than George Fenton? While Fenton's composing career has been strong for two decades, it wasn't until his grand score for the wildly popular television series The Blue Planet that Fenton became a popular name in many parts of the U.K. After years of conducting concerts of his music for The Blue Planet around the world, his score for the movie adaptation, Deep Blue, only improved the quality of his work for the documentary genre. With this popularity in mind, Fenton's involvement with Valiant is not surprising, and the composer assembles performances from three orchestral and band ensembles to provide a massive comedy score for the film. Everything about Valiant is British, and Fenton lathers on another layer of pomp to the film with his score.

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The first reaction of a soundtrack collector will be to compare Valiant to Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell's score for Chicken Run. The only common characteristic of the two, however, is the frenetic pace of the fully-orchestral rhythms. Whereas Chicken Run was outwardly comedic in a slapstick style, Valiant elevates its comedy to even more grandiose levels and occasionally borders on being a legitimate score for wartime action. It's a far cry from Fenton's classic Memphis Belle score for the same war, but its respect for British war marches is plainly evident. The sensibilities of the score hail from the days of Ron Goodwin's high-flying wartime action, but the power that resonates from the pulsating snare drums and deep base has a touch of David Arnold's more boldly bombastic nature for American bravado. A highly structured score, Fenton's score is almost defined by the crashing cymbals in his rhythms and snappy brass themes that will stir your heart. Several themes are introduced in the short film, including fully developed ideas for the Royal Homing Pigeon Service (a nod to Jerry Goldsmith's general themes), a woodwind love theme (for that nurse pigeon, of course), and a theme for encounters with the evil German falcon force. The two more voluminous themes are both military fanfares of the highest order, often beginning with cute whistling or woodwind performances and eventually building into heavily-layered brass and percussion affairs suitable for any more serious war film. The personality of the score is very consistent, with even low key cues such as "Von Talon and the Bastion" maintaining a deep bass string note or quivering strings in the background. The importance of these pigeons' intentions and missions is never in doubt when listening to Fenton's score, and while noble in every sense, the blind forward nature of Fenton's marches does become monotonous by the end of the recording. A performance of swing pieces by a secondary ensemble are a welcome break, as is the performance by the Central Band of the Royal Air Force, which has served a few films in the past, most notably Eric Coates' The Dambusters in the 1950's, a score that also contributes to Fenton's style in Valiant. The only major musical detraction from both the film and album is the inclusion of a R&B rendition of "Shoo Shoo Baby" at the end, a completely senseless insertion in both cases. Overall, Fenton's score for Valiant is spirited and heroic, but lacks in the variety and inventiveness that has defined his better known recent efforts. The album was only available on Fenton's own Debonair Records label in the U.K. (which releases many of his obscure works) between April and August 2005, and came at an elevated import price in America. Disney released it regularly in the latter month with identical contents and slightly different art. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

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For George Fenton reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.64 (in 14 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.47 (in 15,812 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.