Pout-Pout Fish, The

image for Pout-Pout Fish, The

Short takes

Not suitable under 5; parental guidance to 8 (violence, themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Pout-Pout Fish, The
  • a review of Pout-Pout Fish, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 6 January 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 Not suitable due to violence and themes.
Children aged 5–8 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and themes.
Children aged 9 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Pout-Pout Fish, The
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: Very mild themes
Length: 92 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Mr Fish (voice of Nick Offerman), known throughout his community as the ‘Pout-Pout Fish’, is a grumpy recluse who never smiles. His way of life is turned upside down when an energetic sea dragon named Pip (voice of Nina Oyama) enters Mr Fish’s house, with the ensuing confrontation destroying both of their houses.

In order to fix their houses, the pair set off on an adventure to find the fabled ‘Shimmer’ (voice of Jordin Sparks), a fish said to have the power to grant wishes. However, they must reach Shimmer before Benji (voice of Remy Hii), a cuttlefish who is searching for Shimmer to stop overgrown kelp that threatens to upheave his whole community. Will Mr Fish and Pip reach Shimmer in time, or will they need to learn to work together with their adversaries to make all their wishes come true?

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Social rejection; Family conflict; War.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Some dolphins bare their teeth and attempt to eat Mr Fish and Pip.
  • When the cuttlefish are forced to leave their homes due to overgrown kelp, their leader states that it is time to ‘redevelop’ the reef. This involves invading the community where Mr Fish and Pip live and forcibly displacing the residents. They bomb the town with their ink sacs and use their colour-changing ability to hypnotise the locals, telling them to leave the reef.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Some pink dolphins that mimic the ‘Mean Girls trio’ may scare or disturb younger audiences with their mean attitude, and later their violent nature as they hunt Mr Fish and Pip for a meal.
  • The cuttlefish leader is introduced with an intimidating manner, accompanied by tense, dramatic music that may unsettle younger viewers.
  • Mr Fish and Pip enter a deep crevasse to save a baby whale but become lost in the darkness.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • The boat that Mr Fish lives in falls and crushes Pip’s home.
  • Pip uses a pufferfish akin to a paper bag to control her hyperventilation.
  • Mr Fish is stung while trying to free some jellyfish caught under a rock.
  • Jellyfish unleash a loud and bright flash of lightning to try and destroy the overgrown kelp.
  • In flashbacks, Mr Fish’s father is shown yelling at him and insisting he avoid other fish – behaviour that is implied to have shaped Mr Fish’s current emotional state.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • A crustacean brags about his attractiveness.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • A jellyfish sting causes Mr Fish to act as though he is under the influence of drugs, with altered behaviour and impaired sensory function.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Bull shark
  • What the flip/flipping
  • Shut up.

In a nutshell

The Pout-Pout Fish is an animated children’s comedy film based on the acclaimed book series of the same name by Deborah Diesen. While most of the film is suitable for all audiences, a late scene depicts cuttlefish invading a neighbouring community and forcibly displacing its residents after their own home becomes uninhabitable. Due to this violence and some mild themes, the film is unsuitable for children under 5 and parental guidance is recommended to 8.

The main messages from this movie are to look for light even in the darkest of places; and that the power to make wishes come true lies inside of you.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Self-expression
  • Bravery
  • Friendship
  • Persistence.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of assessing situations before acting – before helping others it is important to consider any potential dangers to yourself or bystanders.