Sounded like something I didn't want to see: a preachy nature documentary. But the actual film is much more daring and memorable.
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12/11/09
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The Cove (2009)
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Reviews Counted:110
Fresh:105
Rotten:5
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: Though decidedly one-sided, The Cove is an impeccably crafted, suspenseful expose of the covert slaughter of dolphins in Japan.
Theatrical Release:Jul 31, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $619,467
Synopsis: The Cove is an astounding piece of investigative journalism with the heart of an action thriller. Led by Louie Psihoyos, leader of the Ocean Preservation Society, and Richard O'Barry, an... [More]
Director: Louie Psihoyos
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Reviews for The Cove
In this new, post-Michael Moore age of documentary filmmaking as lucrative big-screen fare, a documentary that educates without condescension, informs without bias and entertains without losing its focus is a valuable commodity.
10/23/09
The Cove exposes the dark secrets that underpin the world’s dolphin mania.
08/07/09
Documentaries don't get more compelling than The Cove, a film that plays out more like a thriller than environmental advocacy.
07/29/09
Psihoyos and his team got the footage they were after -- thanks to meticulous planning, lots of furtive sneaking around and the judicious placement of underwater microphones and cameras disguised as rocks.
08/07/09
Top CriticThe scenes centering on the slaughter and the aftermath are horrifying; Michael Vick would doubtless get [excited] watching them, but most normal people will be properly repulsed.
08/21/09
A thoroughly shocking documentary that exposes the secret slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan.
03/23/09
Despite [The Cove's] special pleading, it's unclear why these (admittedly beautiful and interesting) creatures should be treated any differently from cows.
08/28/09
Part thriller, part natural history lesson.
09/04/09
Self-aware and just a little too coy
07/30/09
Informative, exciting, and surprisingly emotional...its goal is to alert the world to the abuse and consumption of dolphins.
08/07/09
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.
07/31/09
Top CriticIt won't be a big hit in Japan, but this film is easily one of the best documentaries I've seen in awhile. Okay, it's one-sided, but who really wants to defend the slaughter of dolphins? I think this film will be a major contender in awards season.
08/03/09
Casting a very wide net, this powerful polemic is simultaneously a love letter to a beloved species, an eye-opening primer on worldwide dolphin captivity, a playful paranoid thriller and a work of deep-seated (if sometimes hot-headed) moral outrage.
07/29/09
Top Critic...an ecological thriller cloaked in a gripping documentary that lays bare a world travesty.
07/30/09
A baby jumps in the forefront of the slaughter and one can only imagine its horrified panic - this is a dolphin holocaust and it makes one's blood boil at man's capacity for cruelty.
07/27/09
This film virtually creates a new genre: the horror doc. It's a gripping and compelling film about something utterly unthinkable.
10/28/09
This is the definite frontrunner to win the Oscar for best documentary. The movie makes a persuasive argument that dolphins are intelligent beings that do not belong in captivity.
09/03/09
Thrilling, impassioned and suspenseful as a spy caper, The Cove could launch a new sensibility for environmental documentaries.
08/07/09
Top CriticIf The Cove isn’t in the running for next year’s Best Doc Oscar, there’s something terribly wrong with this world. Gripping exposé, harrowing horror-thriller and devastating agitprop, it takes us to “a little town with a big secret”.
10/23/09
Latest News for The Cove
November 19, 2009:
Academy Releases Documentary Shortlist 
Awards season is just around the corner, and to prove it, the Academy just released its list of the 15 films still vying for a Documentary Feature Oscar. More...
August 13, 2009:
Green Docs Finding Box Office a Hostile Environment
They have timely topics, great buzz, and meaningful messages -- so why are environmental documentaries like "The Cove" struggling to find theatrical audiences? More...
July 30, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Funny People Is Ambitious But Uneven
This week at the movies, we've got the tears of a clown (Funny People, starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen), extra-terrestrial visitors upstairs (Aliens in the Attic, starring... More...
June 21, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
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