New Orleans Times-Picayune by Mike Scott

Extraordinarily engaging but surprisingly sobering.

New York Post by Kyle Smith

Deep, disturbing and funny.

Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy

It's one of those works that presents the deeds of both humans and animals and leaves you wondering which is the more civilized.

The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias

To an equal extent, Project Nim shows the human capacity for cruelty and narcissism as well as compassion and selflessness.

Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz

At times hilarious but ultimately heartbreaking, Project Nim is a great chronicle of the 1970s and all the nutty ideas that implies; academia in particular comes in for a hard reckoning.

Slate by Dana Stevens

I'll be forever grateful to this movie for introducing me to Nim's story, a tale so powerful and suggestive that it functions as a myth about the ever-mysterious relationship between human beings and animals.

The New York Times by A.O. Scott

There is no doubt that Nim was exploited, and also no doubt that he was loved. Mr. Marsh, by allowing those closest to Nim plenty of room to explain themselves, examines the moral complexity of this story without didacticism. He allows the viewer, alternately appalled, touched and fascinated, to be snagged on some of its ethical thorns.

Orlando Sentinel by Roger Moore

Here's a documentary so slick, novel, touching and outrageous that your first thought might be "This has to be fake."

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

The movie suggests that humans benefitted little from Project Nim, and Nim himself not at all.

Chicago Tribune by Michael Phillips

Project Nim is practically irresistible. The story keeps getting odder and richer and more complicated.

IndieWire by Eric Kohn

The movie works best when probing the nature of human interactions with Nim: He appears to form a close friendship with the stoner psych major Bob Ingersoll, not only foraging for food with him but also sharing joints.

Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman

A fascinating and in many ways tragic documentary, takes us back to one of the high-water marks of the apes-are-people-too era.

Variety

A provocative and surprisingly emotional saga that ranges from wrenching to downright hilarious as it spans more than a quarter-century of unpredictable twists, "Nim" reaches far beyond mere scientific curiosity to become compelling human drama.

The Hollywood Reporter

While this is fascinating material, it's the flawed human behavior it exposes that makes the story so compelling. And yet what elevates Marsh's film is the even-handedness of his perspective.

Village Voice

Marsh's film remains a deeply haunting portrait of the unbridgeable gap between kindred species.

New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein

You get a bad feeling early in Project Nim, the brilliant, traumatizing documentary by James Marsh (Man on Wire).

Boxoffice Magazine by Steve Ramos

British filmmaker James Marsh recreates this tale of an ambitious primate language study through traditional face-the-camera interviews, clever graphics and dramatic recreations.

Time Out by Keith Uhlich

The good news is that the film's stylistic excesses don't negate the many fascinating aspects of Nim's story.

Slant Magazine by Andrew Schenker

To drive home the pathos of Nim's mistreatment, James Marsh frequently makes questionable use of the creature's apparent similarity to human beings, trading complex analysis for easy sentiment.