Dream Quest Review

Typical Haters
Someone who expects to see Jenna Jameson triple penetrated or who simply can't stand Jenna and other surgically enhanced stars

Themes
Fantasy plot; costumes/makeup, anal, piercings, girl-girl, facials, toys

Condoms
Yes (mandatory studio policy)

If You Liked This DVD, You Should Enjoy
Conquest or Flashpoint

Video Captures
Click for larger size

The First Word:  The biggest budget movie Wicked Pictures has ever made and the return of Jenna Jameson to boy-girl yields an adult fantasy movie that is quite good, but doesn't quite eclipse some of Wicked's earlier blockbusters.

What's It About?:  This is a fantasy film (think 'Willow' or 'Time Bandits' but with nudity and hardcore sex) starring Jenna Jameson as 'Sarah,' a geeky girl in our present day world.  After a drive-in date with her boyfriend, who gets a little too fresh for her prudish sensibilities (in one of the funniest lines of the movie, she asks "Does it always have to be about sex?"), she returns home.  There, in a rare show of special effects in an adult movie, a pair of fairies magically appear and appeal to her to come with them back to their world.  Apparently, the evil ruler 'Vladimir' (played Herschel Savage with a whole bunch of prosthetics and makeup) stole Fantasy, and soon it would disappear from 'Sarah's' world too if she didn't stop him.

So 'Sarah' steps through her bedroom mirror and falls into the fantasy world.  Her introduction to this strange land is in the lair of Arachna (Asia Carerra), where she falls under her spell and succumbs to Arachna's Sapphic interests.  From there, it's one hardcore adventure after another with a bunch of nice-looking transition and dialogue scenes between them.  As she has these sexual encounters along the way to 'Vladimir's' Castle, we see her transformation from the shy, turtlenecked and spectacled girl into a sensuous bombshell.

Although some wouldn't mind seeing Jenna in every scene, there's plenty of non-Jenna action with Dream Quest's  all-star cast.  From human candelabras, fairies, trolls, and wood nymphs to an Ice Queen, a knight in armor, and the evil 'Vladimir' himself, everyone in this fantasy land is getting it on.  Admittedly, some of the setups are absurdly corny (like the Gatekeeper -- played by director Brad Armstrong who isn't afraid to drop his trousers and work along side his cast --  demanding that the fairies "pay the toll" to cross -- gee, I wonder what the toll is...in a porno?).  But the characters, costumes, and ambience work together to give this adult feature a decidedly fantasy feel rather than just being a costume porno.

Of course, Jenna's character is eventually captured by 'Vladimir,' who fools her into taking a load on the face.  But despite his evil cackling and devious planning he can't manage to anticipate our heroine's attempt to steal back Fantasy.  Nor can he employ halfway competent henchmen to stop her.  But then again, it's a fantasy movie, so there has to be a happy ending.  Maybe not a fairy tale ending, but something to tie up the plot after all of the hardcore scenes are done.

What I liked:  Production value, production value, production value.  Wicked went all out on Dream Quest, and it shows.  Lots of locations.  Special effects that you'd expect to see in a TV movie.  Horses.  Lots of makeup and good costumes.  Throw in a smoke generator and you've got the recipe for some really outstanding visuals.  My favorite shots in the movie are of Jenna wandering through the night and later skinny dipping in a pond.  They're not hardcore, but they are erotic.

Visually appealing sex:  It's all well and good that the scenery looks nice, but why should you bother seeing Dream Quest when you could pick up Prince of Thieves at your local family-friendly video store?  It's the fucking, fella!  And while I won't say that the sex was that outstanding in this one, there numerous hot moments that you would want to burn into your memory.  Like watching Jenna work with a clear lucite dildo.  Or seeing Bridget Kerkove (who is not on my favories list in general) take it up the ass in one of the most visually appealing anal scene I've seen in a long time.  Or a gorgeous girl-girl-girl scene with Jenna, Felicia, and Stephanie Swift that rivals Andrew Blake -- artsy but not hollow and artificial.  Or Jenna DP'ing Asia with her thumbs (wow!).

What I didn't like: It can't escape bad porn habits: Big budget or not, we aren't spared from weak acting, a pretty razor-thin plot, fake or irritating moaning (for example, Teri Starr sounds like a loud, squeaking mattress!), girl-girl scene ending without a climax, and predictable sex sequences.  In short, this isn't the holy grail of adult films that fixes every pet peeve.

DVD Extras: This disc qualifies as a special edition, with the standard compliment of Wicked extras, such as their audio star biographies, photo galleries, and an alternate audio commentary track, plus more.  Brad Armstrong does a good job mixing interesting production trivia, behind-the-scenes scoop, and humor in the audio commentary, and he thankfully keeps the "this is such a hot scene" bullshit to a minimum.  

Whenever Wicked does a big budget film, it's almost a given that they will have documented the process, and Dream Quest is no exception.  Red Ezra, did a fine job with the minicam and editing bay to give a great view of what it was like to be on the set during the many days of shooting.  My favorite moment of the behind-the-scenes was seeing what Jenna looks like without makeup (what a difference!).

There's also video segments dedicated to unused non-sex footage, such as Jenna crawling and wandering through the sets, and the making-of the special effects shots.  While the effects are not Spielbergian, I thought it was kind of cool how the effects were created with simple techniques and a little creativity.

Finally, the folks at Wicked were kind enough to add two full-length scenes to the DVD that were deleted from the film.  While they would have been decent scenes to include in the movie, the edited feature pushes what can be duplicated on a single inexpensive VHS tape ("In my day we had tapes, and we liked it!).  So we get to see Ice Queen Tundra (Alexa), who only does a girl-girl with Jenna in the feature, get poked by a black marble knight (Evan Stone, who incidentally filled in for the AWOL Mr. Marcus with liberal application of black paint).  The other scene is a two couple orgy starring Brad Armstrong, Dale DaBone, Sydnee Steele and Temptress. Just some more hardcore value for your hard-earned buck -- and if they shot it, why not use it? 

A/V Quality: Ask anyone who has seen the Dream Quest DVD to name their top complaint about it, and you'll probably hear the same thing:  "The picture is really grainy!"  And that's an understatement -- in some cases, it looks like you're watching the movie on an old TV set using a rabbit ear antenna.  While I don't think it ruins the movie, it's definitely noticeable.  But on the other hand, it's not as bad as some of the really grainy DVDs I've seen, such as Seven Deadly Sins or Appasionata.  Several people have suggested that maybe the bit rate during DVD authoring was too low, but Wicked has said that they ran it at a high bit rate and it still turned out that way.  Also, in case you forget that this movie was indeed shot on film, you can see the film scratches on the negative from time to time.  While the videos does not live up to what we expect from Wicked, the audio is very well done -- a good mix between the production sound, narration, and the original musical score.

The Last Word: Well, I have to admit that this is definitely a landmark adult film and one of the best efforts that any American studio has ever turned out, and it definitely deserved the awards it won.  However, is it one of the best porn movies strictly measured by sexual content?  No.  Is it the best DVD that Wicked has produced?  Nope.  Is the movie in general as good as Wicked's previous blockbusters, Flashpoint and Conquest?  I don't think so.  But would I recommend this disc?  Absolutely.   It's a great attempt to do something different in adult, the photography in some of the scenes is nothing short of amazing, and the extras are very good.  It's amazing to see what $200K will buy you, considering many low budget mainstream movies burn many times that to come up with something that is on par with Dream Quest.

- Saki (saki@my.adultdvdtalk.com)