SOS DINOS IN DISTRESS

A boastful young sleuth obliviously aids a group of disguised dinosaurs in this brisk and hilarious tale.

Thaddeus Getsit-Wright, self-proclaimed “[p]rivate eye, mastermind and Rubik’s Cube genius since kindergarten,” sets out to discover what happened to the dinosaurs. He doesn’t notice, though, that he’s being cleverly led by a group of green, scaly creatures (including his personal assistant, Gladys) to a natural history museum, then an only-apparently-deserted dinosaur theme park and finally to a remote site where he finds one of the aforementioned Cubes. Or seemingly so, anyway, as solving it (readers can help by matching a set of drag-and-drop colored tiles) summons a flying rescuer to whisk the dinos away behind the clueless detective’s back. Not only can readers choose either French or English versions (the English one has optional, plummily accented narration), but there are animations aplenty. Swiping, tapping, blowing on or shaking many of the high-spirited cartoon scenes cause bubbles to form and pop, footprints to emerge from “dust,” a vending machine to mouth off, a gallery of nattily attired dinos to stand revealed in their underwear and further rib-tickling special effects. Other enhancements include a functioning compass and, at the top of each screen, a pull-down thumbnail index.

At last, an answer to an age-old mystery.