Zachary Levi brings a beloved children’s book character to life in the trailer for animated/live-action hybrid movie Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Carlos Saldanha’s adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s classic shows a fresh version of Harold, who is now a grown-up. In the trailer, Harold (Levi) accidentally wreaks havoc when he finds himself stepping out of the page into the human realm. With the ability to create anything with his purple crayon, Harold opens a world of possibilities, from creating terrifying flying tarantulas to producing an airplane on the fly.
Luckily, Harold isn’t navigating real life alone, as he gets help from his new friends, Moose (Lil Rel Howery) and Mel (Benjamin Bottani). Harold also gets guidance from an enigmatic figure named Gary (Jemaine Clement).
“Do you know what brought you to life?,” Gary asks Harold. “It’s what your crayon is made of. The most mysterious, powerful, extraordinary stuff on Earth: pure imagination.”
Harold does try to adjust to the human world despite his magical abilities, getting a job at a department store. But that quickly goes awry when he accidentally turns a helicopter kiddie ride into a real chopper. “What were you thinking?,” asks his co-worker, played by Zooey Deschanel.
The official synopsis for the movie reads: “Harold can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world, Harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life—and that his trusty purple crayon may set off more hilarious hijinks than he thought possible. When the power of unlimited imagination falls into the wrong hands, it will take all of Harold and his friends’ creativity to save both the real world and his own.”
Harold and the Purple Crayon hits theaters on Aug. 2.
