Nick Offerman aims to delight tough-to-impress kids in The Pout-Pout Fish
This Australian animation stars an international and local voice cast led by Nick Offerman and Nina Oyama, who can't wait for children to see the film.
The Pout-Pout Fish brings together an unlikely duo.
A prickly recluse and a hyperactive sea dragon embark on a daunting, undersea quest.
They're looking for a mythical fish they hope will grant a wish to save their homes.
Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, The Last of Us, We're the Millers) voices Mr Fish, who has two main problems: everyone and everything.
"It's one of those left-handed compliments where somebody called up and said, 'There's this really sad, curmudgeonly fish who's a real bummer, and we think you would be perfect,'" Offerman told ABC News.
"I think all of us can understand … where you just can't deal with the people maybe in your household, in your neighbourhood, at your workplace, where you're just like, 'Talk to the hand. I've had enough.'
"And in the case of Mr Pout-Pout Fish, he isolates himself."
Nick Offerman says he can relate to Mr Fish. (Supplied: Maslow Entertainment and Like A Photon Creative)
Offerman says while Mr Fish wants to live alone and be grumpy, circumstances force him to take on a new perspective.
"I love the way that he's sort of forced to welcome people into his life and see the error of his ways and be taught the hard way that we need each other," Offerman said.
"We need other people with different talents and different cultures and upbringings to work together to make a happy community.
"You're not going to be happy living alone and just being a miser."
Offerman and his wife actor, Megan Mullally, don't have kids of their own, and Mullally has said on a podcast that Offerman has never been traumatised by this. But he's waiting with great anticipation for his nieces, godchildren, and the many other children in his life to see the film.
"I love to communicate stories that will delight kids," Offerman said.
"In fact, it's kind of the highest bar because there are a lot of things that I've done that people watch and they're like, 'Oh yeah, that was a pretty good show,' but you can't get that past kids. Kids are like, 'No, that was stupid, that was boring.'
"I love entertaining kids because they are our future."
Shimmer is a fabled mythical fish voiced by Grammy nominee Jordin Sparks. (Supplied: Maslow Entertainment and Like A Photon Creative)