Leo (Netflix, 2023)
Adam Sandler delivers some of his best work in recent years with the animated children’s musical Leo.
Sandler not only voices the lead character, Leo(nardo) the Lizard, but also co-wrote and produced the movie through his Happy Madison outfit.
I’ve admired Sandler’s work on the on and (mostly) off. I really enjoyed some of his early comedies, like The Wedding Singer and Big Daddy, while also appreciating his work with cinematic giants Paul Thomas Anderson (Punch-Drunk Love) and The Safdie Brothers (Uncut Gems).
Too often, however, I found his own brand of comedy too childish and cruel, while not particularly caring for his more serious efforts like Funny People (which I know a lot of people admire).
Leo sees a return to what he, at least for me, does best. It’s a sweet and charming comedy, with some bizarre moments thrown in, to prevent the animated musical from becoming too saccharine.
The animation is pretty basic, the songs are pretty average, but both the story and Sandler’s voice work are genuinely charming.
Sandler voices Leo, a 74-year old lizard, who together with his best friend Squirtle the Turtle (Bill Burr), has lived all his life in a terrarium in a fifth grade classroom in Florida.
When Leo finds out he has only one year to live, he plans to escape. Instead, after his initial botched attempt, he becomes an elderly mentor to the school children, who on the behest of fierce substitute teacher Ms. Malkin (Cecily Strong) start taking him home on a regular basis.
The idea that Leo through the years has somehow learned to talk, is perhaps a bit predictable, but then again, if he couldn’t we wouldn’t have this movie.
Up to a certain point, the children are stereotypes, from pretty (and) popular to class clown to quiet or (too) talkative, but after a while they become much more than that. I think that everyone who has ever been a child will relate to that. (Yes, people, that’s a joke!).
There are some special cases. Like the kid with helicopter parents, who is followed around by a drone all day. When Leo advises him to break up with the drone, the drone takes it badly. Then there is the song for a cry-baby with lines like ‘it’s annoying/and it makes you look ugly’, before the scene is turned on its head.
Meanwhile, the movie’s message to parents is crystal cleat: talk to your children, cause they might be lonelier and/or more unhappy than you think, so talk to them, and in the words of that old Crosby, Stills and Nash song: teach them well!
Note: Leo is written by Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler and Paul Sado; the movie is directed by Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim