To me the movie really is elevated by the section in the back half where the filmmakers sort of pause to take a very thoughtful look at dolphins, how they behave, interact, how smart they are, etc. There are other films that do this, but few docs that are essentially about human activism, that bother to actually humanize the creatures their passionately defending. I think it really adds something. It certainly helped me get more invested in the conflict that threatens these dolphins.

I think this is the one to beat come Academy Awards time. Though Psihoyos wasn't too happy when I mentioned that, 'cause he doesn't wanna jinx it =)

But like you said, there isn't much thought given to the possibility of O'Barry as a troublemaker, and those scenes in which he used the human monitor, for example, did feel contrived as a result.

But you're asking what specifically? Any time you graft genre tropes to a documentary structure I think it risks a level of manipulation, even a sort of contrivance. There's a little of that going on here, though it mostly hangs together. Also, something I probably should have addressed in the review: Like "Man on Wire" last year, "The Cove" isn't very critical of its central subject, O'Barry. Since this is a very controversial figure, doing illegal things, a bit of a critical eye would have been welcome.

There's a score that's pretty generic and meddlesome too, but most of these are relatively minor complaints.

That's all I got.