I've been hoping for a while that

Stone said he based his view of Morrison on 160 transcripts of people that actually knew him. From these documents emerged a central truth, he said, about Morrison's final years, one of wild excess. I was left with a bad impression of the man after viewing the film. I felt Morrison was a spaced-out, immature jerk, abusive to both himself and others, foolishly sacrificing his life and talents on the altar of alcohol & drug idolatry.

Yet this was only part of the truth. The 37-minute documentary "The Road to Excess" (1997) balances things out. One of Morrison's sweethearts, Patricia Kennealy, the guitarist Robby and another guy offer the other side of the story. They point out that Stone's film only shows Jim's 'wild & crazy' side, emphasizing that the events depicted in the picture, while sometimes true, aren't "all that happened." They describe Morrison as genuine, loving and gallant, an amazing person who made those around him feel as if he was their best friend. Robby even says that Jim was "the most influential person I've ever met."

The documentary features numerous clips of Morrison himself, clearly a fun-loving, nice and sane person rather than the spaced-out, abuse-driven dude shown in the film.

There are some positives: Val Kilmer doesn't just play Jim Morrison, he IS Jim Morrison. This is no small feat and vital to the film in light of the fact that he appears in practically every sequence. He should have won an award. The movie's depiction of late-60s counter-culture is also good. But the film tends to exaggerate things in the name of mythmaking, which is usually the case with movies. For instance, Jim never lit up a closet door with Pamela locked inside (rolling my eyes), the idiotic Thanksgiving dinner sequence never happened and the naked revelries at concerts (and the bonfire) are overblown fabrications. Still, the movie's mesmerizing in a spaced-out way and highlighted by The Doors' music.