Animal Instincts (1992 Video)
8/10
Better than Emmanuelle, Queen of the Galaxy
14 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Among the first soft-porn I ever saw was the made for TV "Emmanuelle" series starring Krista Allen. It got my attention, but I had two main problems with it: 1) It looked too much like an endless series of orgies and not enough like the love story it was supposed to be; 2) I didn't see anywhere near enough gratuitous footage of Krista Allen as I would have liked in various states of undress. The second shortcoming was by far my biggest grievance.

After seeing numerous other soft-porn flicks, I gave up trying to find one that would give me what I wanted. I actually got Animal Instincts thinking it was a drama, and I almost deleted it after seeing a few scenes of ugly prostitutes in a sleazy night club. Fortunately, Shannon Whirry (Joanna) satisfied the most important criterion for the lead actress in this kind of film; i.e., she had good overall proportions and looked good in revealing attire. I especially liked her firm, well rounded derriere, although her breasts were too over-sized for my taste. That being said, she is not a bad actress either.

If you stick with this film, you may find that the plot proves to be intriguing. Far from being the laughable joke that many soft-porn flicks are, Animal Instincts exhibits dramatic irony, conflict, suspense, and even clever wit, but it still has some logical flaws. The most critical of them, beyond and doubt, is that we are supposed to imagine a young couple in love, but the relationship between Joanna and her husband (David) wasn't developed enough to even come close to achieving this end. They should have shared more intimate secrets with each other, and the emotional and psychological links between the two should have been accentuated, even when they were not together in the same room. If you want a good example, read the following spoiler.

{Begin spoiler} One day David comes home and finds Joanna in bed with another man, who he chases away. Then to our surprise, after what seemed like months of neglect, without a word Dave finally has sex with Joanna. Apparently, he was turned on by seeing her have sex with a perfect stranger. That might be true, but we are supposed to see that the relationship he shares with her is special and goes beyond a casual lay. It would have seemed more intimate if he had at first became enraged with jealousy. Then, after a passionate argument and a teary eyed moment where the two lovers kiss and make-up, finally we would enjoy a prolonged and intimate love scene. Certainly the sex between David and Joanna should have been the best in the film {End spoiler}.

To sum it all up, in the context of a fairly intriguing drama, I found a soft-porn film that does a fair job of revealing the more appealing assets of the lead female role; not a trivial point, given that this is the raison d'etre of the film. Unfortunately, I have yet to find one good skin-flick that draws a clear distinction between true love and wanton sex.
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