Review: Disney's Enchanted Rose App

This is the first in a series of App reviews focusing on the iPhone and iPad. I chose the Enchanted Rose Beauty and the Beast promotional app for iPad. Released to inspire interest for the Diamond Edition Blu-Ray and DVD release for Beauty and the Beast, this app is cute but there isn't much to it.

 The game is modeled after "he loves me, he loves me not" but uses the Enchanted Rose for the flower. The graphics are nice, definitely modeled after the animation style of the movie. You can drag , simply poke, or shake the petals off (you actively shake to iPad, and you have to do it quite noticeably for it to register). Before you play, you get to select the name of your crush. To do this, you can select a facebook friend, enter a name yourself, or simply skip a name. After that step, you get to designate the gender of your beloved. This is where I had the most trouble. No matter how hard I poked "he", the app would nearly always give me "she" instead. That function should definitely work better.

The game is cute. But once again there is not much to it.My favorite way to take off the petals is by dragging off, it lends some realism to the game. In the end, Belle and the Beast are either united because "They loved you" or they are lonely because "They loved you not".

This is not a game that will occupy a child for very long. My ADD kicked in mid-game then I started to get fancy with my petal removal techniques. It is kind of fun to rapid fire poke at the rose to see how quickly you can destroy it. Shaking it is, once again, not a reliable method but also a dangerous thing to do with an expensive gadget. Especially if a child is the one doing the shaking.


I was excited to see that there was a trailer in the Extras section. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get any sound from the App. This makes the trailer decidedly less interesting. However, the resolution, even on the iPad, is great. If only I could get the sound to work. Also under the Extras option, there are links that can lead to kids buying the film, either from iTunes or the actual Blu-Ray disc. So beware little fingers making purchases from this app.

Overall, this is not a terrible app. It was free so I can't be angry about wasting any money on an app with some functioning issues. It occupied me for awhile, mostly watching the soundless trailer. It would be a good game for very little ones because there isn't a lot going on and they can learn motor control from the dragging. Also the involvement of Belle and the Beast is a good reward for a little tyke.

Disney has enough money and resources to make an app that works correctly and has sound. They, also, misspell Blu-Ray in the app. It is sad that they allowed this one out with the problems it has.

Pros: Free, good graphics, characters
Cons: not much too it, gender buttons don't work very well, sound won't work, kids could make purchases from the app