The depiction of Wise's advocacy could use a little more urgency.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 3, 2022

A crisp and convincing doc.

Full Review | Nov 3, 2020

It's difficult to make a documentary about a legal battle interesting...But Unlocking The Cage achieves this because at its heart is a fascinating exploration of what it is to be a person, told in an intelligent and utterly convincing way.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 1, 2019

Hegedus and Pennebaker present a rational argument with no bias needed, and the results are compelling.

Full Review | Aug 28, 2018

Wise's activism is much more nuanced and deals in gray areas. If the result doesn't immediately smack your conscience, that's because the answer is still evolving.

Full Review | Sep 7, 2017

As a documentation of these early stages, combined with a charismatic subject on the hunt for what he feels to be a matter of fundamental justice, Unlocking the Cage is sure to be a film that many audiences will find captivating.

Full Review | Aug 15, 2017

For those less familiar with her life, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise should serve as a bracing introduction, and as an inducement to dive into her prose, poetry and speeches.

Full Review | Feb 21, 2017

At a time when so many cinematic arguments are cast in black-and-white terms, tipping the scales in one direction, it's refreshing to see one that's content to present a case that leaves room for several shades of gray.

Full Review | Feb 21, 2017

We aren't particularly invested in the chimps we barely see, and the court case doesn't have the high-stakes thrill it should have; the film fails to make us care enough about either of them.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 14, 2016

Unlocking the Cage, is an uneven journey that might have benefitted from standing back a step and taking a wider view of the issue.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 19, 2016

The powerful filmmaking duo of Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker somehow turn Wise's quest into a compelling and noble tale, no matter what your thoughts are on the views presented.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 19, 2016

Directors D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus are renowned for their direct, unmediated filmmaking, and this doc is no different.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 18, 2016

What's most interesting here, on the dramatic front, is the genuine engagement [Wise and company] achieve with judges and state's attorneys encountered along the way.

Full Review | Jul 7, 2016

The picture is essentially a brief for Wise's case. And as such, it's as dry and uncinematic as a dusty legal document.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 7, 2016

Makes a worthy case for reconsidering the sturdiness of laws that explicitly separate humans from animals.

Full Review | Jun 23, 2016

It's a tricky narrative challenge to shift from inherently compelling wildlife scenes to abstract courtroom debate, but the film manages it capably, even spicing things up with one justice's admonition that Wise needs to cut his slavery analogies.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 23, 2016

This journey through the highest courts in New York State makes "Alice Through the Looking Glass" look like a trip to the Walmart.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 19, 2016

An exemplary piece of documentary storytelling.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 16, 2016

A sharply made piece of work that cleanly breaks down [Steven] Wise's arguments into intelligible, bite-sized chunks while also fully articulating those arguments in the full opaque glory of legalese jargon.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jun 15, 2016

What constitutes self-determination and what responsibility humans have toward other sentient beings can't be answered by a single film, but this is nevertheless a valuable contribution to an ongoing and still-shifting conversation.

Full Review | Jun 9, 2016