Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue - A Magical Adventure for iPad

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue - A Magical Adventure

June 23, 2011

This cute digital book tells a portion of the story from the Disney movie, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue. It is nicely narrated by Cindy Robinson and includes crisp graphic scenes from the movie. The story is also lightly animated and interactive, with sparkles of light to indicate where to tap. The fairies are a bit scantily clad, but this shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone familiar with the latest Disney movies.

The highlight of the book is a feature that allows the child to blow into the microphone of the device, triggering a burst of 'fairy dust' that sparkles across the screen with a nice 'tinkling' sound. This feature is on about half the pages and was my preschooler's favorite aspect of this book. The interactive & animated elements of the book are also not too overstimulating for bedtime reading, something I consider a real plus as a parent.

As a digital title, the book is a solidly made and also includes the ability to record your own narration (although Robinson's lovely voice is delightful). There are also lots of simple settings for reading without narration, auto-play and ways to 'keep in touch' with Disney. Page turn is by arrows and the text is in an easy-to-read font for young readers on their own.

Overall this is a cute movie-themed title with lots of appeal for children who love Tinker Bell, fairies and the movie of the same name. My little boy loved it in particular since we recently took a trip to Disneyland. He wasn't familiar with the movie itself, but enjoyed the book a lot, probably because he has now seen Tinker Bell flying above the castle with the fireworks.

All reviews are of the app, not the platform/device. Based originally on iPad versions. Minor technical details may vary.

Story Synopsis - Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue - A Magical Adventure

One exciting summer, Tinker Bell and her fairy friends are busy 'bringing summer to the mainland'. Then Tinker Bell gets trapped in a fairy house at Lizzy's (a little girl who believes in fairies). Vidia tells the others at the fairy camp all about it so they plan a rescue. But the rain makes it much more difficult, because fairies can't fly when wet. They decide to build a boat and sail to help their friend.

When they head for a waterfall, the fairy named Silvermist makes a bridge out of water for their boat. Then they have to continue on foot, with Vidia leading the way. Rosetta doesn't want to get muddy, but agrees to try when her friends remind her that she is a 'garden' fairy. Then they get stuck in the mud and almost hit by a passing car. Thankfully Iridessa manages to reflect the car lights back to the driver, causing him to swerve and then get out. This allows the fairies to grab onto his shoelaces to escape the mud.

Once they are on firm ground again, Vidia confesses that Tinker Bell's plight was her fault, but everyone reassures Vidia that it's okay and they are all in this rescue mission together. After that, the united fairies make it to Lizzy's house where they meet up with Mr. Twitches (Lizzy's cat). They tame him with a bit of catnip, thanks to Fawn (the animal fairy). Finally they find both Lizzy and Tinker Bell. Lizzy had freed her and now the fairies are reunited and ready for a wonderful summer.