Pillowcapers: A Sleepy Adventure Review
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1
App Reviewed on: iPad 3
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Fans of storytelling and animation should take notice of the app Pillowcapers: A Sleepy Adventure - an interactive storybook that is superlative in every way. This is the story of Sam, who recently had a birthday and received the sole present of a striped pillowcase. Little did he know that this pillowcase would be the key to his new life as a superhero where, when using the case as a cape, he will try to save the world; or at least his neighborhood. I actually find this app hard to write about because it simply needs to be seen. No words committed to the screen will do this justice as the colorful, stylized app includes simply wondrous animation that fully explores Sam’s transformation to superhero and fighting giant robots to save his community. This app is part amusing procedural as it walks one through the costumes and other preparations needed for hero-dom. The pillow triggers a secrete trap door where Sam, transforming into his new uniform, is led to an area where he receives his crime-fighting orders from a unique book, thus beginning his epic adventure.
It feels a little awkward for me to talk about camera placement in dealing with animation, but this perspective of what the reader sees as if looking through a camera is highly creative, creating dynamic moments children and their adults will need to see a few times to fully grasp everything that they have viewed in this wonderfully crafted storybook. Mild yet effective animated moments are also triggers as interruptions found throughout this app, which add to the richness of this story. But the use of epic animation, which takes place much like watching a video in parts, really makes this app stand out within a sea of other storybooks within iTunes. The sheer amount of work that must have gone into its production is impressive, the musical score used rivals that of anything heard from a Hollywood feature, and the story itself is impressively written. I make note of this as I typically am not a fan of stories that rhyme, but here the style of writing reminds me of the meter from T'was the Night Before Christmas or even some of Dr. Seuss. This novel way of writing also includes a lot of humor as the rhyme is dropped oftentimes for an unmatched ironic line that adds wit as well as prevents the writing from being too structured or dated.