Review: Timo and the Magical Picture Book

An adorable story about a magical picture book which funnily mixes up things as we know them in a normal household.
Rating:
Download from iTunes

 

Story Outline

Timo gets a very special present from his uncle: a magical picture book. Without reading the instructions on the parcel he is so happy that he throws it in the air and shakes it like crazy.

The result of that is, that as soon as he opens his book, he and his family are absorbed into a surreal version of their household. Not only is his mum behaving weird, wearing her shoes as earrings and watering the plants with milk, but also the whole rooms are upside down. The family accepts the situation quite fast and they start celebrating Timo’s birthday inside this mixed up environment. So his birthday cake is being make in the washing machine this time. And also his presents are not very convenient, for example a flying goldfish and a bobble hat which looks like a sock. They finish the party with playing musical chairs, but they stomp so hard that they fall out of the book again and land in normal life.
They decide to send the book back to the uncle.

 

Playfulness and Interaction

The story is built with a mixture between still images and animated objects and character upon them.
There are interactive objects or mini games on most of the pages. They are kept very simple though, and reach from tapping persons to start small animations, to flying around objects which can be controlled via the iPad’s motion sensor.
It’s not highly interactive, but the complexity of the images and the story do not demand that anyways.

Illustration and Mood

You can see clearly that the app is based on an established children’s book. The characters are adorable and full of life. There is much love in the compositions of the mixed up room, which works really well and surprises us scene by scene with new features and twists.

Conclusion and Rating

A very good electronic implementation from a printed book. It’s not based on intense user interaction, but more on a really funny story, which keeps making is smile over and over again.
The book was finalist of the Bolognaragazzi Digital Award 2012.

Rating:
Download from iTunes