Let's Get Wet: Box Set (Pixies Emporium) Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  9/12/2004

The Little Details

Running Time: 168 min.

Production Date: 2000 - 2003

Director: None credited

Cast: Mandi*, Alex, and a bunch of other people

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: I’ve had great luck with what I’ve seen from Pixie’s Emporium so far, so I went into this one with high expectations.

Initial Reaction: It’s the biggest disappointment I’ve had from Pixie’s Emporium

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting something different and with a lot of chemistry

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting nastier sex or high quality technical aspects

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects are very, well, amateurish. There’s a few balance problems and plenty of background noises, but you can still hear the performers pretty well over the noises. That said, there are a few areas where it doesn’t appear that there’s much audio of any kind. The video looks very nice for an amateur movie. Yes, there’s plenty of camera shake, but it’s also very nicely lit and has very little grain. Perhaps the most impressive thing is that the underwater sequences are actually clear. Even when the camera comes above water you can still see things pretty well.

Music: There’s a little music before and between the scenes, but none during the sex.

Disc Complaints: There’s a watermark in the lower right corner. I know some people don’t care for them, but it’s done right here. It’s very light and stays in one place so it’s easy to phase out. On a better note, Pixie’s Emporium has recently announced that they’re redoing their DVDs to get rid of the watermarks since people have let them know how much they dislike them.

Menus: The menus are nicely done on each disc. The main menu is fairly simple, but also fun and includes a few small clips from the movie. The chapter menu is also a lot of fun, an definitely helped set a great first impression.

The Feature

The Let’s Get Wet set contains H2O Oh Oh Oh and Sex on the Rocks. Since I’ve already reviewed each of those discs on their own, I’m going to give a few comments on the set here and avoid most of the smaller details which you can find in the individual reviews.

The two discs here focus on one thing, wet sex. Most of the scenes take place around a swimming pool, and they don’t limit themselves to daylight hours. There’s even a bit of action out in the wilderness to let things branch out a little. The thing that stands out most here is how Pixie’s Emporium pushes a few limits with the pool sequences. They’re not content to just shoot people fucking around the pool, they actually get in the pool and shoot many of the sequences from underwater.

The underwater shots do a great job of summing up what’s right with the Let’s Get Wet set. The movies aren’t anything close to the status quo, and you can tell that the main concern with the movies are that people have fun. There’s plenty of shots of the action from underwater, and for the most part they work nicely. I couldn’t help but wondering if these movies were inspired by a late night with a pan of Maine-style brownies and a six pack of low carb beer (that low carb beer will do funny stuff to you!), but I can’t help but love that Pixie’s decided to try it. It doesn’t always work that well, but it works much more often than it fails.

The main problem for the scenes is the camera work and editing. The camera work features way too many soft focus blurs, and they happened often enough to really interfere with my enjoyment of the movie. I know that amateur moves don’t have the technical aspects of major studio porn (and it’s actually part of what I like about it), but this is some of the worst I’ve seen for soft focus blurs. The editing also seemed a bit loose and allowed the scenes to go on for what I thought was a lot longer than they needed.

As usual, there’s a nice emphasis on chemistry. Sadly, that wasn’t enough to carry these two discs. Although there’s plenty of couples sex, there’s very few visible pop shots. I know that this isn’t the easiest thing to do in a pool, so I can sympathize with the guys, but I also like to see a pop at the end of the scene. I think there was only one pop on each disc, ad that really help the set back for me as well.

In the end, Let’s Get Wet is a box set that I think will either be a hit or a miss for people. For myself, there was enough about it that just didn’t work for me that it was a miss, but it was so consistent that I think the people who like it will really like it. I have to give Pixie’s Emporium a lot of credit for trying something new for these features, and hope that they keep experimenting with things like this even though it doesn’t always work out. Let’s Get Wet shows some very nice effort, but the result just didn’t work for me.

The Extra Stuff

Each disc has a commercial featuring the lovely Mandi* as well as a photo gallery lasting over four minutes with about three seconds per decent looking screen capture.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, group, toys, masturbation, and lesbian

Raincoat Factor: Medium high

Condom Usage: None

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of the box sets from Pixie’s Emporium can be found online for around $18. I’m not sure that I’d pay that much for this one, although it’s definitely the best buy for these titles. The sex left a bit to be desired for me, although the technical aspects and overall DVDs are coming along nicely.

Note to Pixie’s Emporium: Thanks for making your box sets such a great value!

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

Other reviews by Astroknight