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THE COVEMovie Reviews
Documentary about Richard O'Barry, the man who trained Flipper, and his campaign to end the cruel practice of capturing dolphins for marine parks. Cast:Joe Chisholm, Mandy-Rae Cruikshank, Charles Hambleton, Simon Hutchins, Kirk KrackDirector:Louie PsihoyosRelease Date:July 31, 2009DVD Release:December 1, 2009From:Roadside AttractionsRating:PG-13Length:1 hr. 32 min.
The Cove played in key cities to outstanding reviews. • Colin Covert wrote in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Thrilling, impassioned and suspenseful... an adventure with a charismatic and soulful cast, topnotch production values and the canny storytelling of a riveting drama." • And Steve Persall wrote in the St. Petersburg Times, "...a truly astonishing film." More Reviews Below...
The Cove Positive Reviews (34 Reviews, reviews below)
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: EXCELLENT(cg) "...its images of blood in the water are worth a thousand preachy words. The movie forces you to ask: Are some creatures really too sensitive and beautiful to kill?"(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 237 words, 07/31/09
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...the last 10 minutes or so are a doozy -- difficult to watch for their graphic violence, frustrating in the sense of helplessness they inspire."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 518 words, 07/30/09
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (9 Reviews)
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...exceptionally well-made... unfolds like a spy thriller, complete with bugged hotel rooms, clandestine derring-do and mysterious men in gray flannel suits."(See all of Jeannette Catsoulis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 727 words, 07/31/09
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...heartbreaking... There are many documentaries angry about the human destruction of the planetary peace. This is one of the very best..."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 535 words, 08/06/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...a powerful and effective piece of advocacy filmmaking... quite consciously structured as a thriller by director Louie Psihoyos who won an audience award for it at Sundance."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 590 words, 07/31/09
Kyle Smith, New York Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...thrillingly edited feature has the power to help change that and save thousands of our finny friends. What do you say, Flipper? 'It's a must see-ee-ee-ee-ee.' "(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 238 words, 07/31/09
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: OUTSTANDING "Director Louie Psihoyos knows the secret to making a boffo activist documentary: a kick-ass narrative, surprising twists, heroes you root for, and bad guys you despise."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 416 words, 07/27/09
Michael Posner, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "There are five minutes in this film that ought to be mandatory viewing. The entire 90 minutes is utterly compelling, but the five alone are worth the price of admission."(See all of Michael Posner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 459 words, 08/07/09
Ella Taylor, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "...a rousing blend of pop entertainment, faux-thriller, horror movie, and naked agitprop... properly enchanting, horrifying, and rousing..."(See all of Ella Taylor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 604 words, 07/29/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a devastating, horrific indictment of cultural corruption, political cynicism and inhuman cruelty - and if it's agit-prop, well, it's an outstanding example of the form."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 362 words, 08/06/09
KEY CITIES (14 Reviews)
Philip Kennicott, Washington Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "...for all its investment in one side of a bitter controversy, it does what brute agitprop often fails to do by including some sense that there are other sides to the argument."(See all of Philip Kennicott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,111 words, 08/07/09
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD(cg) "It's all there: the cove, thick with dolphins; the men in dinghies spearing them, like a fish in a proverbial barrel, as the water clouds with blood..."(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 560 words, 08/07/09
Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT(cg) "...winner of the Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival... the one thing these creative filmmakers cannot give their story is a happy ending."(See all of Kerry Lengel's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 354 words, 08/14/09
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...gripping... as passionate and persuasive an argument for change as 'An Inconvenient Truth'.... it will incite rage, excite activism..."(See all of Carrie Rickey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 533 words, 08/07/09
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD(cg) "...begins as a kind of 'Mission: Impossible' or 'Ocean's Eleven' adventure and winds up being a work of suspicion and paranoia."(See all of Wesley Morris's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 589 words, 08/07/09
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Thrilling, impassioned and suspenseful... an adventure with a charismatic and soulful cast, topnotch production values and the canny storytelling of a riveting drama."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 513 words, 08/07/09
John Hartl, Seattle Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a surprisingly suspenseful documentary about a group of dolphin-loving activists who expose the mass killings of dolphins in a Japanese cove."(See all of John Hartl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 368 words, 08/07/09
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: EXCELLENT(cg) "...energetic, enlightening... an exemplary and incendiary instance of documentary filmmaking as real-world advocacy."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 618 words, 08/07/09
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Documentaries are meant to inform viewers, but Louie Psihoyos' debut takes the genre to another level.... a truly astonishing film."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 395 words, 08/13/09
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a damning indictment of the town, its crimes and the cover-up Japan's government goes to great pains to maintain... It's also an edge-of-your-seat caper film."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 378 words, 08/07/09
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "...paced like a thriller, written as an expose and intended as a call to arms for ecologists, animal lovers and moviegoers around the world."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 526 words, 08/07/09
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "At their finest, these films insist humans think about what kind of ethical relationship we wish to forge, not just with the globe's other species but also with one another."(See all of Lisa Kennedy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 537 words, 08/07/09
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (6 Reviews)
Ella Taylor, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "...a rousing blend of pop entertainment, faux-thriller, horror movie, and naked agitprop... properly enchanting, horrifying, and rousing..."(See all of Ella Taylor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 604 words, 07/29/09
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: VERY GOOD(cg) "...has the breathless pace of a Bourne movie, but none of the comfort of fiction.... documentary filmmaking at its most exciting and purposeful."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 114 words, 07/24/09
Chris Faraone, Boston Phoenix: OUTSTANDING(cg) "It's not often that documentaries pack as much suspense as action flicks (and even rarer that one does so without re-enactments), but 'The Cove' is a mighty exception."(See all of Chris Faraone's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 157 words, 08/06/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a devastating, horrific indictment of cultural corruption, political cynicism and inhuman cruelty - and if it's agit-prop, well, it's an outstanding example of the form."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 362 words, 08/06/09
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...exceptionally well-made... unfolds like a spy thriller, complete with bugged hotel rooms, clandestine derring-do and mysterious men in gray flannel suits."(See all of Jeannette Catsoulis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 727 words, 07/31/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: MODERATE "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."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 323 words, 07/31/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...a powerful and effective piece of advocacy filmmaking... quite consciously structured as a thriller by director Louie Psihoyos who won an audience award for it at Sundance."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 590 words, 07/31/09
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: EXCELLENT "...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 moral outrage."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 669 words, 01/19/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...a powerful and effective piece of advocacy filmmaking... quite consciously structured as a thriller by director Louie Psihoyos who won an audience award for it at Sundance."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 590 words, 07/31/09
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...exceptionally well-made... unfolds like a spy thriller, complete with bugged hotel rooms, clandestine derring-do and mysterious men in gray flannel suits."(See all of Jeannette Catsoulis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 727 words, 07/31/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: MODERATE "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."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 323 words, 07/31/09
14.0 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Cove's reviews are separated by an average 14.0 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Cove (34 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Cove's reviews cover 66.8% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 16,239 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 478 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
The Cove Coverage, Volume & Length (34 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 0.8 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Cove's reviews on average broke 0.8 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Cove's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
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