Low production values, generic interactive effects and a chopped-up, poorly paraphrased text sink this version of the cautionary Brothers Grimm tale.
Warning her little ones that “there’s a scary wolf in the forest” (though the cartoon illustrations set the story in a densely populated urban setting), Mama Goat leaves on an errand. Enter the wolf, dressed in jeans, a wife beater and a ’do rag, claiming to be their mother. Failing to gain entrance at first and somehow intuiting that his voice doesn’t sound like hers, the wolf visits a blacksmith who “made it very soft” (one can only wonder how). He eventually eats most of the kids but ultimately drowns in a “well” (actually a park fountain) after Mama Goat replaces them (offstage) with rocks. The brief text is available in English and Russian. The English text is awkward, and several words are mispronounced by the heavily accented narrator—whose voice is also frequently overwhelmed by the loud background music. Taps on various pages activate random beeps from passing cars, loud birdsong and panicky bleats from both the kids and, oddly, their toy blocks.
Third-rate art, storytelling and software design put this at the very bottom of the slag heap. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)
