Cove, The

The Hollywood Reporter Justin Lowe

Shot rivetingly by cinematographer Brooke Aitken, who combines digital, night-vision and thermal-imaging formats into a formidable package, the footage is edited tautly by Geoffrey Richman and enhanced measurably by J. Ralph's suspenseful score.

Variety Justin Chang

Eco-activist documentaries don't get much more compelling than The Cove, an impassioned piece of advocacy filmmaking that follows "Flipper" trainer-turned-marine crusader Richard O'Barry in his efforts to end dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

The end of The Cove is as rousing as anything from Hollywood. Manipulative? Sure--but isn't that fitting? Capitalism has driven an entire village to massacre dolphins and keep its work hidden.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

What's so remarkable about Louie Psihoyos' documentary The Cove isn't just that it's a powerful work of agitprop that's going to have you sending furious e-mails to the Japanese Embassy on your way out of the theater. That's definitely true, but the effectiveness of The Cove also comes from its explosive cinematic craft, its surprising good humor and its pure excitement.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

There are many documentaries angry about the human destruction of the planetary peace. This is one of the very best -- a certain Oscar nominee.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

At once an astonishing feat of advocacy filmmaking and a white knuckle eco-thriller; think Michael Moore meets Michael Mann.

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

Not only does it deliver a powerful message, but it is wrapped in an immensely entertaining package.

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

Like the director's cover story, the movie is a Trojan horse: an exceptionally well-made documentary that unfolds like a spy thriller, complete with bugged hotel rooms, clandestine derring-do and mysterious men in gray flannel suits.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

The Cove is properly enchanting, horrifying, and rousing, but it comes dangerously close to making the narcissistic case that dolphins deserve to be saved because they're cute and breathe air like we do.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Two fins up for The Cove, a documentary that whales on evil Japanese fishermen who kill dolphins for lunch meat.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

An eco-mentary that's as passionate and persuasive an argument for change as "An Inconvenient Truth."

NPR Bob Mondello

Psihoyos describes his troops as a kind of "Ocean's 11" team, and that's apt enough: He's making a real-life action caper, a heist with potential consequences in the real world. The buildup to getting the shots they want has a good deal of natural tension. And the payoff -- well, let's just say it's devastating.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The Cove is the rare documentary specifically designed as a thriller.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's an exemplary and incendiary instance of documentary filmmaking as real-world advocacy.

Empire Philip Wilding

A taut, thrilling documentary that plays out like a heist movie while never overshadowing its message or activist credentials.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A powerful and effective piece of advocacy filmmaking, but it's difficult to watch it without thinking of subtitles like "The Place Where Evil Dwells" or "The Little Town With the Really Big Secret." Which is no accident.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The Cove exposes the dark secrets that underpin the world’s dolphin mania, whether it’s our enjoyment of the animals performing circus tricks in aquariums, the swimming-with-dolphins industry, or the government recruitment of the sea mammals’ intelligence, communication, and sonar abilities for military applications.

San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli

The caper-movie touches and cocky self-awareness may wear thin, but you can't discount the importance, or the horror, of that footage.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Michael Posner

Hopefully, after seeing this film, interest in places like Sea World will begin to decline.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The most horrific -- and heartbreaking -- scene of any movie thus far this year comes at the climax of The Cove.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The Oceanic Preservation Society doesn't change the world so much as call attention to something so very wrong with it. And in doing so, The Cove culminates with an image of political agitation that might be one of the most oddly effective public service announcements you'll see.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The Cove plays like a thriller. It has the breathless pace of a "Bourne" movie, but none of the comfort of fiction. This is documentary filmmaking at its most exciting and purposeful.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The film makes its case graphically, to say the least, yet muddies its bloody waters with an excess of artifice and a dearth of facts.

Washington Post Philip Kennicott

The slaughter is part of a traditional fishing culture, according to the Japanese. But if you succumb to the emotional appeal of this documentary, it emerges not just as a bloody and brutal business but almost as bad as genocide.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Directed by Louie Psihoyos, this well-intentioned documentary exposes the harvesting of dolphins by Japanese fishermen, yet its theatrics suggest a cross between reality TV and "Mission: Impossible."

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

The Cove's ultimate message gets muddled, especially since Psihoyos limits all counter-arguments to a few inarticulate or thuggish boobs.