MouthOff – There are some iPhone apps that are beautifully designed. There are some that are incredibly helpful. There are some that are awesomely fun games. And then there are some applications that seem mostly to have been made to allow me to annoy my boyfriend. And in that respect, MouthOff by ustwo is a whopping success.

Beyond that, however, this application, which features an assortment of sound-reactive cartoon mouths, is just…kind of OK. In order to use MouthOff, you select a mouth and then hold your iPhone in front of your own mouth, so that your actual mouth is replaced by the animated mouth on the screen of your phone. (Everyone follow that?)

Now, to give credit where credit is due, the mouths on MouthOff are very nicely rendered, and the selection of fifteen mouths offered features an extremely varied assortment including a dog, a skull, sexy lips, a black-toothed grin, a robot and others. Also, the animation is clean and clever, with a good range of different styles.

Unfortunately, MouthOff is still ultimately somewhat unsatisfying. While the animation in MouthOff is, as mentioned, well-done, the movement of the mouth is not particularly realistic. I do realize that to make it truly realistic is probably almost impossible, but mostly it looks like the mouths are twitching more than actually speaking.

And frankly, while the concept of MouthOff is amusing, it’s only actually funny for a minute or two. After that, it’s just kind of gimmicky, and it makes the other people around you not want to talk to you. Or so I’ve been told.

All things considered, though, MouthOff does do what it claims, so if you think it sounds entertaining, it may be worth a look. And if you do decide to check it out, here’s some good news: users can record themselves using MouthOff and then upload those clips to YouTube with the keyword “showusyourmouthoff.” User videos will then be added to the MouthOff site for public viewing.

And if you’re a developer that really likes MouthOff, then maybe you want to consider this job offer:

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category: Entertainment, Goofy