Customer Rating: 
Summary: A weak "documentary" from a festival that is struggling to stay alive
Comment: The Cannabis Cup is an annual festival (19 years in the running) held by High Times magazine in Amsterdam. The festival centers around the judging of marijuana strains, with awards handed out in a variety of categories. This High Times-produced documentary was filmed at the 2003 event (incidentally, the first year the festival operated at a net loss, and the event was scaled back in 2004).
The documentary features mock-television shows such as a Cannabis Castaways, a Survivor-rip-off. The premise of that show boggled me--how can anyone reasonably smoke and compare strains of cannabis within a compressed two- or three-hour time period? Wine connoisseurs don't swallow the wine when they are in a tasting environment, so if you get a high off the taste testing, how can you strictly compare one strain to another?
Overall, this is an overly-long view of American potheads descending on a European city for a festival traditionally held during the Thanksgiving holiday. It's a rotten entry in the documentary genre, lacking focus, structure, or social/historical context. There are some gorgeous camera shots of the plant, but there's no need for an entire documentary to feature camera pans of botany (a coffeetable book could show plant life just as well, if not better). This viewer has decided that the one time she won't visit The Netherlands is during the annual Cannabis Cup.
Customer Rating:
Summary: HT CC
Comment: I just wanted to see what the CC was going to be like before I go.
Production could have been a little better but what the heck I enjoyed it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I Liked It -- (the end.)
Comment: I thought it was good, especially for someone who has never gone to the Cannabis Cup.It showed the vastness of the yearly event and the endless numbers of varieties that are actually judged on at the event.
Beautiful pics that will leave you wishing you were there.
Also, pretty long - 102 minutes. (Hooray.)
Good video if you are ever planning to attend -- learn some of what to expect. Would also check out the documentary - WEED, which is also about the event. (But it doesn't have hardly any bud shots.)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hijaacked?
Comment: Excerpts from Pot Planet by Brian Paterson
"Its a monstrous big Yankee 'buy buy buy smoke smoke smoke kind of party. It started out as as a nice little festival, and grew big. After last year's downer everyone is just waiting to see what this year will be like. Will it get back to the peaceful co-operative vibe or will it just get weirder?" Through the sponsorship of high-times and the arrival of american males in their droves,the cannabis cup has mutated into a commercialised shadow of its former self. Do europe a favour america and take your captilist ways home with you after the cup.
