Pretty Good

Good movie but grossly overrated

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Blistering performances.

As a real Doors fan right from the earliest Door's days, I was grateful for a DVD collection that includes three basic video segments: Dance on Fire, Live at the Hollywood Bowl and The Soft Parade. Each of the videos is directed by Ray Manzarek. The "extras" include Ray's two UCLA student films.Though it is hard for me to give a Doors video anything less than 10 stars out of 10, I rated it 8 because it could have been so much more than a "collection" of Doors stuff. The voice-over commentary by the three surviving Doors(on the "extras" menu)was a little disappointing. While it was interesting to hear their reminiscences, it offered little new insight into the relationships among the Doors. Commentary over the first two videos included a lot of needless self-aggrandizing(everybody already knows that Robbie wrote most of "Light My Fire", for instance). Commentary over "Soft Parade" was most revealing, and was very interesting.Though I only rated it an 8, I bought the DVD, and because the Doors are my favorite group, I've watched it many times. So, if you are a fan, you will probably enjoy the DVD, but don't look for a new door to open by viewing the videos or commentary.

The DVD primarily consists of 3 films: Dance On Fire, Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1968 performance) and The Soft Parade. Any true fan has probably already seen these, but it's nice to have them all together in one package. There is also a handful of nice extras as well as a commentary track for the films. The sound quality and the video transfer are both quite good. You won't be disappointed.