The Doors is Oliver Stone's epic, typically portentous homage to the band that soundtracked his youth. As is generally the case with Stone's films, its scope is impressively wide. He places The Doors at the eye of a 1960s cultural and political maelstrom through which passes Andy Warhol, Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy among others. But the details and dialogue often jar badly: the scenes in which various gilded youths imbibe the young Jim Morrison's early efforts at lyrics as if they were anything beyond dreadful sophomoric doggerel are a particular strain on the credulity. The film's central conceit--that Morrison's body was somehow inhabited at an early age by the spirit of a Navajo medicine man--makes the deranged conspiracies of JFK seem plausible by comparison.

The Doors is redeemed by Stone's ability with ambitious set-pieces (the concert scenes are terrific) and a tremendous performance from Val Kilmer, who plays Jim Morrison as a pompous, self-regarding oaf who treats bandmates, friends and women appallingly. While this may well have been the case it is debatable whether Stone intended to show his hero in such an unflattering light: the closing scenes in Pere Lachaise cemetery, which linger over the graves of Wilde, Molière and Flaubert before arriving at Morrison's witlessly vandalised plot, certainly suggest a belief on Stone's part that the author of the ridiculous "American Prayer" has earned a place in the literary pantheon. This film fails to make a convincing case for that but, like Morrison's own work, is a compelling, cautionary illustration of what a supremely ordinary singer and songwriter is allowed to get away with if he looks good in leather trousers.

On the DVD: The Doors Special Edition has the benefit of a bewildering array of special features, though many are less impressive than their billing: the "Behind the Scenes" documentary is eight minutes of apparently random footage of the film being made, and the making-of documentary isn't much more illuminating. The interviews with the cast are also on the desultory side. There is a conventional scene selector and another that allows the viewer to choose from the songs that appear in the soundtrack. There are also several sound options and subtitles. Most useful of all is the illuminating and engaging running commentary by Oliver Stone. --Andrew Mueller

Watching The Doors Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a sobering experience, for the viewer must confront the painful truth that popular music, to judge by its increasingly infantile and banal state, will never see their like again. Either that, or admit The Doors were an irrelevant footnote in the history of pop--an idle thought that a few minutes of this extraordinary concert will dispel. Fortunately for posterity, this July 5, 1968 performance was captured by four cameras and recorded in 16-track audio, and has now been digitally remixed for DVD. The result is a crisp picture and generally excellent stereo sound that is far better than most archive footage of this band.

On stage Jim Morrison has the aura of an intense performance artist, whose dark, smoky voice forms only a part of his complex persona; guitarist Robby Krieger, keyboard player Ray Manzarek and drummer John Densmore complement Morrison's free-associative outpourings with improvisational jazz-inspired interjections. They make music like no other band before or since: who else could segue effortlessly from Kurt Weill's "Alabama Song" to Willie Dixon's "Back Door Man"? And just when they're in danger of becoming too pretentious, Morrison bursts any lurking self-importance with a wry smile, a jokey aside or even a belch. But the seriousness remains, at least implicitly, throughout as Morrison's edgy lyrics--from "When the Music's Over" to "The Unknown Soldier" and "The End"--constantly hint at disturbing social undercurrents outside the concert arena. Is it fanciful to imagine that in the minds of his audience the ghosts of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement are hovering just out of view? Such thoughts are what make The Doors so unique: their music invites questions, positively dares the audience to ask them; that's why they remain so endlessly fascinating well over three decades later. And that's why this concert performance will find a home with any and every fan of the band. "The time to hesitate is through". --Mark Walker