'The Cove' review

Mandy-Rae Cruickshank (Credit: Oceanic Preservation Society)

Dolphins: Cute. Smart. Friendly. And, apparently, being slaughtered by the thousands every year in Taiji, Japan for extremely questionable reasons—considering few Japanese seem to know this is happening and dolphin meat is normally too high in mercury to be eaten safely. Dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry (of TV's "Flipper") and a team of activists attempt to expose and end this practice.

The buzz: Anyone seeing this startling documentary for the purpose of watching cute dolphins is going to be gravely disappointed—and appalled. The task of "The Cove" will be to simply demonstrate what's happening and why, without the film's passion getting in the way of its reporting.

The verdict: On-the-street interviews in Japan get only a small sample of public opinion, and a reference to other activist work (Hayden Panettiere and Isabel Lucas are shown protesting for a moment) lacks context. Otherwise, "The Cove" is heart-pounding and fascinating, from the Taiji fishermen's deliberate secrecy to the toxic dolphin meat falsely labeled and sold in Japanese stores as safe, foreign whale meat. This is fearless documentary filmmaking packed with horrifying moments; the notion of the Japanese knowingly poisoning its children in school lunches—and looking the other way from a cove whose water is painted red with blood—will likely be too much for some viewers to bear.

Did you know? O'Barry says that the dolphin's smile is "nature's greatest illusion." Meaning that after countless centuries, the fake orgasm gets bumped down to second place.

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