Critical reception
How did "Desert News" react to the film?
Blackfish (film)
The review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes said 98% of 94 critics gave the film a positive review, with the site's consensus stating, ""Blackfish" is an aggressive, impassioned documentary that will change the way you look at performance killer whales." The "Deseret News" called it "a gripping example of documentary filmmaking at its finest". At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 83 based on 33 reviews. After the film's release, former SeaWorld trainer Bridgette Pirtle said the final film was "a complete ‘180’ from what was originally presented to me." Mark Simmons, one of Tilikum's first trainers, believed few of his interview comments were used "ecause the things I said flew in the face of the movie’s clear agenda. What I contributed did not support Gabriela or Tim Zimmerman’s intent with the film.”In January 2014, the family of the late trainer Dawn Brancheau said neither it nor the foundation named after her were affiliated with the film, and that they did not believe it accurately reflected Brancheau or her experiences.