“Harold and the Purple Crayon” Trailer: Zachary Levi's Drawings Become Real in Children's Book Adaptation (Exclusive)

'Harold and the Purple Crayon' is in theaters Aug. 2

Zachary Levi is bringing to life an iconic children's book character.

PEOPLE has the exclusive first trailer for Harold and the Purple Crayon, which stars the Shazam actor as the titular character whose drawings become real thanks to a magical crayon. The picture book was first published in 1955, written by Crockett Johnson.

"What was most fun was getting to fully commit to playing a character with that level of optimism and imagination oozing from his pores," Levi, 43, tells PEOPLE. "Harold is nothing but light. And I love that."

The cast also includes Lil Rel Howery, Benjamin Bottani, Jemaine Clement, Tanya Reynolds, Alfred Molina and Zooey Deschanel. It's directed by Carlos Saldanha (Ice Age, Rio).

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Levi says, "The best thing about any cast and crew are the organic, genuine moments of human interaction that you get to have all day long. Especially the spontaneous singing and dancing parties while the music was flowing."

Says Deschanel, 44, "I loved working with everyone so much. It was such a blast."

About the story, the actress adds, "It’s one of my favorite children’s books. I’ve read it to my kids so many times, I was very charmed by this adaptation and the way they brought the characters to life."

According to a synopsis, "Inside of his book, adventurous Harold (Levi) 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."

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Levi says he hopes families who check out the film "are inspired by that optimism and imagination that spurs on more love, joy, peace that they take into their lives and the world as they leave the movie theater."

Harold and the Purple Crayon is in theaters Aug. 2.

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