Review of Taking Woodstock (2009) by Adam B — 15 Jan 2012

Taking Woodstock has the freshness of something being created, not remembered. Lee distills the flavor of this transforming event and hints at how it transformed some who were there. His movie is a contact high. A love letter to the time, and the period, and the legend that has grown around both. Maybe it's all too wonderful to be true, but that's OK. If Taking Woodstock is a fantasy, then it's a most benevolent one, and more power to it. If this Woodstock comes off as Edenic... don't assume the movie's advertising the real thing. Think of it as Ang Lee taking a vacation from too much reality. This is very light material, and, unusually for a Lee picture, not everybody in the ensemble appears to be acting in the same universe, let alone the same story. On the other hand: It's fun.

VERDICT: "High-Quality Stuff" - [Positive Reaction] This is a rating to a movie I view as very entertaining and well made, and definitely worth paying the full price at a theatre to see or own on DVD. It is not perfect, but it is definitely excellent. (Films that are rated 3.5 or 4 stars).