June 12, 2025 (Annecy)
July 2, 2025 (France)
October 17, 2025 (United States)
Falcon Express (known as Pets on a Train in the United States) is a 2025 French animated action comedy film produced by TAT Productions and Apollo Films, directed by Benoît Daffis and Jean-Christian Tassy. The film's story follows pets trapped on a speeding train plan to stop plans of Hans, a vengeful badger seeking revenge, with the help of Falcon, a raccoon.
The film premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 12, 2025, and was released in France on July 2, 2025. It was soon released nationwide on October 17, 2025.
Storyline
Falcon is a raccoon who steals food from various bins and carts to feed his friends on the streets, having been 'raised' by Rico, a pigeon, since he was young (although he tells others he was raised by a falcon as it sounds cooler). He accepts an offer from a badger named Hans to collaborate on a train robbery, intending to take the food from the train so that he and his friends can have a Christmas feast. Once on board the train, Falcon is able to hack into the train carriages and allow Hans remote access. Hans broadcasts a pre-recorded message ordering all humans to leave the train, and then sets it into motion while the only living things on the train are the pets in the final carriage. These include Anna, an anaconda who belongs to a rapper, police dog Rex, Maggie the spotted cat, a rabbit couple, a pair of parrots, a turtle and a clownfish.
The animals learn that Hans' target is Rex, as Rex was apparently responsible for Hans being sent to the pound after catching his gang some years ago. Maggie, who regularly travels with her owner Christy, notes that while the train's final destination would see them crash into another city, they are likely to crash earlier if they pass over a particular bridge, as this bridge cannot cope with the train's current weight and size. She suggests that they can at least successfully cross the bridge if they can get out of the carriage and uncouple the second-class carriages at the train's midpoint. Rico is able to release most of the animals from their cages to travel to the other end of the train, apart from a brief accident where he has to leave a goldfish in a toilet until he can prepare a jar of water after the goldfish's travel case is broken.
Movie Trailer
- Falcon Express (2025) (Trailers)