THERE IS something of a quiet revolution going on in British animation. After a moribund period during which nothing to speak of was being made we have gone to an embarrassment of riches — three animated feature films made in the UK are poised for release this year. Two of them, Aardman’s claymation The Wallace and Gromit Movie and Tim Burton’s stop-motion Corpse Bride, employ techniques which are already familiar in British animation.

However the third is a different story altogether. Valiant is the first CGI animated feature film to be produced in the UK that competes with the American studios in terms of scale, sophistication and, its producers hope, box-office potential. Its base in Ealing Studios has attracted talent from all over Europe, Canada and Japan. All this on less than half the budget of a Disney or Dreamworks production.

Inspired by a newspaper article about the role of carrier pigeons during the Second World War, Valiant is the tale of a plucky young wood pigeon that decides to serve his country the only way he knows how. Accompanied by his rather less motivated friend Bugsy, Valiant dons goggles and a bomber jacket and prepares to brave the fearsome German falcon, Von Talon. Ewan McGregor brings Valiant to life, while the cast also includes John Cleese, Jim Broadbent, John Hurt, Hugh Laurie and Ricky Gervais as Bugsy.

Gervais’s character has proved to be something of a hit with the group of school children who were shown an unfinished version of the film. Thank-you letters decorated with crayoned scenes from the film are plastered around the stairwell of the building that houses the production. “It was brilliant!” writes one little girl. “It was the coolest film I’ve seen in my life.”

So why is Bugsy such a hit with the kids? Gervais, who counts Valiant as his animation debut (despite a small role as a penguin in Robbie the Reindeer), has a theory to explain his character’s cult status. “I suppose it’s because he’s very down to earth,” he observes. “I think the others are all sort of sergeant majors or scary falcons. So I think mine is quite an approachable, down-to-earth sort of bloke. And I hope he’s funny.”

The real reason may be far more basic — the most common comment in the letters on show was: “I liked the bit when Bugsy farted on the mouse.” Its director, Gary Chapman, describes the test screening as a heart-in-mouth moment. “If you want honesty, go ask an eight-year-old.”

Once the ordeal was over, his initial conclusion was: “I realised I could have got away with at least five more fart jokes.”

On the day I visit the set, the atmosphere in the state-of-the-art new building that houses the production is eerily calm. The film is a matter of days from being finished and many of the crew have already left. A few figures still lurk in the corners of darkened rooms, putting the final touches to plumage or fine-tuning the foliage.

It was a different story at the height of the production, says the line producer, Tom Jacomb. “At one point Shaun of the Dead was filming at Ealing Studios. It was during a particularly tough period of production for Valiant and there were a good few people who looked like they could have been zombie extras who had stumbled in from the wrong film.”

The tight budget and the specific requirements of the story threw up numerous challenges for the crew. The fact that much of the action takes place in the sky meant that the animators had to develop their own software to create convincing CGI clouds. Then there was the considerable task of coating the characters of the film with feathers — an entire department was dedicated to “feathering and furring”. This was an immense job that was not made any easier by an anarchic storyline.

Chapman shudders slightly at the memory of trying to get convincing porridge to stick to an animated pigeon (Bugsy, of course). And while Ricky Gervais appears to have taken to his role as a smart-talking pigeon with personal hygiene issues like a duck to a mud bath, he admits to a few problems.

“The acting style was totally opposed to what I have done and what I like doing, which is very low-key. And just shouting was mildly embarrassing to me. I remember the first time they wanted me to shout, I thought, this is just overacting.

“So I had to overcome that. I remember in the first hour they were going: ‘Bigger, and play it like a Cockney.’ And I went: ‘Honestly, I think you should have got Bob Hoskins.’ And they looked at each other, and I could tell that they were thinking, you know what, he’s right. Why didn’t we get Bob Hoskins? He’s a professional. He could do this with his eyes closed. Why are we pandering to a little fat bloke from Reading who doesn’t know what his motivation is?”

Gervais finally found his voice with “Bob Hope mixed with Woody Allen mixed with me. And luckily they liked it.” His flirtation with the world of animation continues: he has just finished writing an episode of The Simpsons in which he will also star.

“I can’t put it into context to you what that means to me. Not just as comedian or an actor, but for me personally, it’s sort of like — I’m an atheist, but I imagine it’s sort of like meeting God. When I first started in comedy, my ambition was to get a line on The Simpsons, get one joke on. That was it, but to write a script and be in it, that’s phenomenal to me.” The episode will be recorded over a weekend in May, and although Gervais is reluctant to reveal story details, he will say that his character tries to woo Marge.

Back at Valiant HQ, it seems that the 106 weeks of production are beginning to take their toll. One animator has drawn a comatose Valiant the pigeon sprawled under the caption “Valium”. And the line producer, Jacomb, starts to talk dreamily about the delicious pigeon pastries that are a speciality at the Middle Eastern restaurant Momo. “You know, there was a rumour that they served sushi at the wrap party for Finding Nemo. . .”

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