Western Animation / Falcon Express

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Falcon Express (also known as Pets on a Train in the US and UK) is a 2025 French animated action comedy film produced by TAT Productions and Apollo Films, directed by Benoît Daffis and Jean-Christian Tassy.

The story follows in Bay City where a raccoon steals food to feed the strays. He promises the strays to give them all a Christmas feast when he plans to rob a train full of food. However, the latest heist goes awry by a vengeful badger who hijacks and traps him and a group of pets on a speeding train that plans to crash in Toro City. On a train there is Rex, a police dog; Maggie, a cat; Randy, a chihuahua, and Candy, a cat, who are social influencer animals; Victor, a pompous greyhound; Jimi and Janis, a rabbit hippish-style couple who are expecting to have babies; Coco and Judy, a pair of parrots; Momo, a clownfish; a duck; Leo, a turtle; a hamster; and Anna, an anaconda.

The film premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 12, 2025, and was released in France on July 2. It was later released in the United States on October 17.

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Falcon Express provides examples of the following tropes:

• Accidental Public Confession: Cynthia scolds Lisa for taking the camera battery out of the camera, and threatens to ruin her, only for Lisa to reveal she recorded on her phone what she and her colleague Michael discussed about exploiting the train crash and Lisa's depression over her cat dying to boost ratings, and it made even worse for her and Michael when the camera crew caught it on film on live TV as well as during when Cynthia threatened her.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After Hans got trapped on the runaway train, he pleaded for Falcon to pull the emergency brake.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: The original French poster has Falcon scared while clinging onto the side of the train, while the American/UK poster has him sporting the DreamWorks Face.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Jimi, a hippie rabbit who appreciates life and disapproves of violence, gives a serious beating to Hans.
  • Maggie, a very nice and friendly cat, even though she is kind of morbid, is not afraid to get into a physical altercation with Hans.
  • Lisa, a sweet pre-teen girl, sabotages the camera and engineers a public confession by revealing what Cynthia and Michael discussed to the former after she threaten Lisa.
• Big Bad: Hans. He wants revenge on Rex for imprisoning his gang. He plans on killing him by hijacking a train and sending it to crash into Toro City, along with other pets, including Hans' partner Falcon, who are on the train.
• Big Damn Heroes: A few of these happen during the movie:
  • Coco has this when he rescues Randy from falling off the train while it was dangling off a bridge.
  • Jimi, the hippie rabbit, gives a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Hans and uses the drone he was riding on to switch the train tracks. He would have died if Anna hadn't saved him, which also applies to her.
  • Falcon has this when he stops the train when it reached Toro City. While it caused a lot of damages, he manages to save the pets, including Hans.
• Bittersweet Ending: Kinda. More borderline on Earn Your Happy Ending. Falcon has stopped the train and all the pets are safe. Hans gets taken to the pound. Maggie is also reunited with her owner Lisa. Janis feels her babies are about to be born, bringing joy to her and Jimi that they are gonna be parents. Falcon and Rico parted ways with the pets, sad about Falcon leaving. Candy and Randy can't go back to their owners since they don't miss them and were only using them to get more followers on social media, but they get adopted by a fireman. Falcon also can't get the food since it got destroyed, so he can't give the strays a Christmas feast, but has another plan that involves robbing an airport.
• Brutal Honesty: Maggie gives this about the disaster they are in if they don't stop the train. She bluntly tells this at the start that the train will go off the bridge due to the speed it is going, and reminding the pets that if they don't stop the train they will all die.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Hans was put away in the pound once by Rex, but the dog does not remember him, claiming he arrested thieves like him (and Falcon), sometimes 10 of them a day, and Rex adds he don't remember them all.
• Cat Stereotype: Candy comes off as indifferent, and he is afraid of cucumbers. Although they are a few occasions where he shows emotions other than general apathy. He even gets along well with Randy, another social animal influencer, and once hid a donut from him knowing eating sugar knocks him out for a while. He also showed affection toward a fireman who adopted him and Randy. Maggie comes off as friendly and outgoing, even to other pets and wild animals, like Falcon, though was a bit over peppy when discussing that the train will kill them.
• Chekhov's Skill: The rats, who raised Falcon as his uncles, train and teach him various fighting techniques when he was young. Steven employs "cracking", Chuck employs "the force", and Javier employs the "suplex". Falcon once chopped a hot dog into three pieces using his paw to quickly cut it. When fighting Hans, Falcon remembers what his uncles taught him, giving Hans a serious beating.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Randy fits this due to his hyperactivity and being a conspiracy theorist. His cage is fitted to release sugar cubes for him to eat when he gets too hyper, putting him to sleep for a while.
• Consenting Animal Performers: Anna is known to do rap battle music videos with her owner DJ Conda. When Candy and Randy recognize her, the animals are reciting the lyrics to one of their songs.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Randy is this. He believes the train getting hijacked is the work of aliens, and believes the world is flat.
• Cool Train: Most of the action is set on a high-speed train that the pets have to stop before they crash into Toro City.
• Creepy Good: Maggie falls into this. Bluntly telling the pets at the start of the train hijack they will crash and die from falling off the bridge, and reminding them that if they don't stop the train they will, all while smiling, which disturbs Falcon and the other animals.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Hans gives this to Rex on the train. The duck, Leo, and Momo also deliver a beating to Hans. However, the badger quickly defeated them in their second attempt.
• Dirty Coward: Hans may be cruel, ruthless, and insane, but when he got stuck on the runaway train he hijacked, he hoped Falcon stops the train.
• Disney Death: The pets were devastated that Falcon was thrown off the train to his death, not knowing he survived when he landed on a tree branch on a cliff.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Hans wants to get back at Rex for arresting his gang, and how does he plan his revenge? By hijacking a train and crashing it into Toro City to kill him, even if it means killing the other pets, who had nothing to do with Rex's past, and Falcon, his partner whom Hans betrayed just to have the chance to kill Rex.
  • When Maggie kicked him in the face, Hans responded by tossing the cat out the window.
• A Dog Named "Cat": Falcon, a raccoon, whose real name is Maurice, names himself after a bird. Rex lampshades this:
  Rex: A raccoon who named himself after a bird?!
• Dog Stereotype: Victor, a greyhound, is proud and pompous, as he was reluctant to set foot in the train cart for "commoners". Rex, a German Shepherd, is a police dog, coming off as tough, stoic, and has a no-nonsense attitude. Randy, a Chihuahua, is very lively and has separation anxiety, fretting over not being able to see his human when placed in a separate train cart.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Falcon tells Rico to call him by the name he has given for himself instead of Maurice, his real name.
• Establishing Character Moment: Falcon steals some from people, leading to believe he is taking it for himself, only to show later he is stealing food for the strays that do not have homes.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Falcon and Rex. While Falcon and the pets get along during their trip to stop the train, Rex is the only one who was suspicious of his intentions and remained mistrustful of him. After Falcon comes back and stops the train, he and the dog left on amiable terms, especially when the raccoon earned the police dog's respect. Rex even told Falcon to leave so he would not be caught by animal control.
• Happily Adopted: At the end, after their owners been using them to get popular on social media, Randy and Candy end up getting adopted by a fireman.
• Heroic BSoD: Falcon goes through this after his heist attempt got the pets trapped and about to be killed. It was Rico who gave him a pep talk to snap Falcon out of it and make things right.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Jimi goes through with this by using Hans' drone to ram into the switch to change the train tracks. Luckily, this has been averted when Anna saves him.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Falcon agrees and partners with Hans to rob a train, only to be caught on a runaway train Hans plans on crashing at Toro City. Earlier, Falcon refuses to listen Rico when he tries to talk Falcon out of it considering he does not trust him, though he was Properly Paranoid Rico was right about Hans.
• I Never Told You My Name: Rex has this when Falcon calls him by his name. Falcon claims all the police dogs who chased him are named Rex. Although, this could be a nickname Falcon gave to the previous police dogs who chased him. Calling Rex by his name was likely a coincidence.
• Interspecies Adoption: Falcon, a raccoon, gets raised by Rico, a pigeon. There are also three rats that raised Falcon alongside with as their nephew.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Rex previously mentioned detaching the last train cart so they would escape safely, but Maggie claims at the speed they are going they would end up derailing. When the first two train carts got detached, Rex claims he was right that they would have been safe, but Maggie suggests to keep watching the train carts, that soon derail when they hit the curve.
• Jerkass: The news anchors, Cynthia and Michael, got tired of reporting boring news so they decided to exploit the train hijacking and crashing with the animals aboard to boost ratings. They even went far as to lie to Lisa about reuniting with her cat and film her crying to further exploitation.
  • Randy and Candy's owners also fall into this. Given they are social media influencers who just use their pets to get more followers. After hearing about the train hijack and possible crash, Candy's owner wasn't trying to be subtle as his cat's death will give him more followers, and Randy's owner already replaced him with another chihuahua and deleted pictures of her and Randy.
• Just Like Robin Hood: In some way for Falcon. He steals food from people and gives them to the strays.
• Kick the Dog: Hans gives a few kicks:
  • He made the train speed up that it made Falcon fall off through a hole in one of the carts after he didn't need him anymore.
  • He threw Maggie out the window despite Rex's claims that this feud is just between them.
  • After getting rid of Falcon, he rode on the drone to let the pets know they are doomed.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: When Hans rode on the drone to let the pets know Falcon is gone and that they are doomed when they are about to crash, this pushes Jimi over the edge, given his wife and unborn children are in danger, and gives the badger a beating. This allows Anna to capture Hans and have Jimi use the drone to crash it into the mechanism that switches the train tracks back to Toro City, and Hans is left trapped on the runaway train.
  • A minor example. Because Hans sped up the train, luggage and equipment got thrown off. One of them is a toy car that Falcon uses to get back on board.
• Lack of Empathy: Hans. He is obsessed with getting revenge on Rex by crashing a train to kill, not caring his partner Falcon or the other pets get killed in the process. This also exemplifies how he wouldn't care how their owners felt about the chance to never get to see their pets, or care if a rabbit is pregnant.
  • Michael and Cynthia. The two news anchors want to exploit the crash to boost ratings, even if it means exploiting a little girl's sadness over not seeing her cat again.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Cynthia and Michael get this, mostly Cynthia doing this that got them both. After trying to get footage of the train trying to crash and trying to exploit Lisa's sadness about not seeing her cat again, Cynthia threatens to ruin her, until she got filmed by her camera crew as well as catching Lisa's phone recording of Cynthia and Michael exploits getting exposed.
• Liar Revealed: Falcon tells a story to the pets about how he got his ear chipped by a bullet but was saved by a falcon, where he got his name, and raised him as one of her offspring, and was taught to fly. He keeps the bullet strapped to his arm. But when Rex later finds out Falcon's "bullet" happens to be a lid from a soda can and confronts him with the evidence on how Hans hijacked the train and was about to give up his accomplice, Falcon admits he made it all up. His ear got chipped by the said lid after opening a soda can that was already shaken, and was actually raised by a pigeon. He tells the story of being raised by falcons because it sounds cooler. His real name also happens to be Maurice. He also revealed he hacked each of the train carts for Hans to gain control of the train.
• A Lizard Named "Liz": On the train, there is an anaconda named Anna.
• The Lost Lenore: The unnamed hamster. While not much is known about him, other than his mate died before the events of the film, and he has a photo of her he keeps at all times that he refuses to leave behind.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Falcon has this after being tossed out of the train when his heist attempt got the pets trapped and to be killed in a collision.
• No Name Given: The two pets, the duck and the hamster. The duck is credited as "The Duck" while the hamster remains nameless.
• Not So Above It All: Despite his serious demeanor, Rex could not help but hum to the rap music the animals were reciting after knowing who Anna is. He quickly regains his focus and tells the animals they need to keep going.
• Not So Stoic: Rex, Anna, and Candy all apply to this. Candy and Anna are capable of expressing emotion, even joy, fear, and gratitude, and were saddened about Falcon's supposed demise. Rex even tries to keep it together to keep everyone focused on the objective of stopping the train.
• One-Steve Limit: An interesting case. There are two people named Johnson, but the credits show one is named Johnson Pilot and the other named Johnson Reporter.
• Papa Wolf: Rico flies over to the runaway train to save his adoptive son Falcon, hitching a ride on a helicopter to catch up with the train. He also attacked Hans to get him away from Falcon.
  • Jimi, the hippie stylish rabbit. He gets none of it when Hans shows up to inform them of their upcoming doom. This sets Jimi off to give a severe beating to the badger, especially since his mate carrying their unborn babies is in danger.
  • A minor case that is defied for the three rats that also raise Falcon as their nephew. Unlike Rico, they support Falcon's choice in stealing food to feed the strays, but they got really concerned about hearing Falcon being on a runaway train he was suppose to rob. Though, all they could do is watch helplessly after learning from the news. Granted, as they can't fly, but were relieved when Falcon shows up.
• A Pig Named "Porkchop": Candy, the cat, likely given the name by his owner, as Candy mentions he didn't chose the name himself.
• Policeman Dog: Rex, a German Shepherd, is a police dog.
• Properly Paranoid: Rico didn't trust Hans, saying he scares him and suggested Falcon to let Hans handle the train heist himself. While this could be his way of trying to protect Falcon, as he recalled previous heists Falcon did, Rico's suspicions about Hans are proven true when Hans hijacked the train so he can crash it into Toro City.
• Put on a Prison Bus: After the train is stopped, Anna and Victor escort Hans, with the former still tangled around him, to the humans. Though it wasn't shown, Hans is very likely to be sent to the pound.
• Revenge: Hans' reason when Rex captured and disbanded his gang some time ago.
• Runaway Train: Hans hijacks a train and makes it go so fast that it causes collateral damage due to the speed giving off vibrations, such as ruining a construction site and collapsing a bridge. The animals have to pull the emergency brake in the control room to fully stop the train.
• Running Gag: A running gag where whenever Johnson Reporter tries to film something that is about to happen or what is currently happening on the train, the camera ends up being lost, sabotaged, or obscured in some way.
• Sequel Hook: Implied. Falcon and Rico walk from Toro City all the way back to Bay City, still having no food for a Christmas dinner, but Falcon mentions a job robbing the Bay City Airport. Falcon also reassures Maggie she will see him again, also indicating the pets might see him again too.
• Shout-Out:
  • After asking how Falcon knows his name, he claims 90% of police dogs are named Rex.
  • Leo, a turtle wearing a blue bandana like a mask, clearly references Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
  • Train locomotive driving with metal debris, gathered by hitting some obstacles in the city, that are stuck on it's front could refference another iconic movie about a runaway train.
  • Coco not knowing how to fly likely references a blue macaw who also didn't know how to fly, and meeting a female companion of their species helps them overcome limits.
  • Falcon rushing down the cliff trough the forest in black toy car and taking jumps may be a refference to a similar chase scene in car-action movie "Fast and Furious 7". Where Dom Toretto drove his modified gray muscle car down the cliffy forest, while also being chased by some bad guys. Given that toy car is based on black Dodge-like, muscle car. Nearly same as iconical one that belonged to Toretto in the franchise and also that gray one, he used during that iconic downhill scene.
• Snakes Are Sinister: Averted. Anna may look frightening, but she happens to be rather friendly. She thanked Victor for opening her cage (albeit inadvertently), and even helped the other pets on a few occasions. She was also upset about Falcon supposedly dying.
• Speak in Unison: Randy and Candy does this when they claim Anna looks familiar.
  Randy and Candy: That snake looks very familiar.
  • They did this again after recognizing her and her owner DJ Conda as the rap game bosses on social media.
    Randy: That snake really reminds me of someone.
    Candy: Me too.
    Randy: Oh! I know! It's her! I remember now! You're Anna! Anna Conda!
    Candy: Ah right. And her owner is DJ Conda...
    Randy and Candy: The rap game bosses.
• The Speechless: The hamster who plays a makeshift guitar does not say a single word throughout the movie.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Hans hijacks a train that will kill Rex, along with all the other pets, and Falcon aboard. Thankfully this gets averted as the Falcon and the animals avoid this a few times; they unhook some of the train carts and the rest of the train crosses the bridge as it collapsed; Jimi turns the train tracks so the train does not hit the mountain side; and Falcon manages to pull the emergency lever that completely stops the train. The only "overkill" is how the runaway train causes severe damages.
• Three... Two... One...: After getting cornered in an alleyway by a dog, Falcon counted "3... 2... 1..." than a hot dog cart comes by and pulls the dog by the leash as it was attached to the said cart.
  • Maggie gives this one to Rex. When the first two train carts got loose, Rex claims he was right they would have been safe, but Maggie says "Well..." as she looks the cart. Cue the said train carts derailing when they hit the curve.
• Thriller on the Express: As the title suggests (both original, and the US and UK), Falcon and a group of pets have to survive a speeding train that got hijacked and have to make it to the control room to pull the emergency brake to make it completely stop.
• Toilet Humor: After Momo's fish tank breaks, Falcon puts him in one of the train cart's toilet.
  • When the helicopter carrying Cynthia, Lisa, and the film crew catch up to the train and see Falcon and Hans fighting, Rico gets in their way and poops on the camera lens.
• Turn the Other Cheek: Everyone, including Rex, forgive Falcon after coming back to save them and stop the train, and hope to see him again. Rex even tells Falcon to leave so he wouldn't get caught by animal control.
• Unknown Rival: Hans hijacks the train to get revenge on Rex for imprisoning his gang. However, Rex does not remember who he is, which makes Hans infuriated. Rex even apologizes at the end that he still does not remember him.
• Unwitting Pawn: Falcon didn't know he is helping Hans gain control of the train by hacking the train carts, allowing Hans to gain full access and speed up the train to crash it in an attempt to kill Rex. Falcon was shocked that he was lied to and claims he didn't know Hans was a psychopath once the pets found out the truth.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Falcon gets this from Rex and the pets after his lies are revealed and exposed as Hans' accomplice and the reason how he hijacked the train.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The beginning of the movie takes place in Bay City, though the exact location of the country remains undisclosed. Bay City could likely be in Metro Manila in Philippines, or somewhere in the United States, those include Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Although, it is an urban area and it has trains, Bay City could be stationed at San Francisco or Santa Monica, as Bay City is also a nickname for the said cities. Toro City is also a Fictional Country and the location of the said country remains undisclosed. At the beginning of the film, Cynthia and Michael reported on the weather being hot, despite taking place in Christmas and there is no snow, so it is likely Bay City, including Toro City, are somewhere in the south given the warm climate even in the seasons of fall and winter.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After Hans trapped Falcon, Rex, and the pets on a train, he gets rid of Falcon by throwing out of the runaway high-speed train. Thankfully, Falcon survives when he landed on a tree branch on a cliff.

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