Leo, 2023.
Directed by Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, and David Wachtenheim
Featuring the voice talents of Adam Sandler, Bill Burr, Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler, Jackie Sandler, Heidi Gardner, Nick Swardson, Nicholas Turturro, Robert Smigel, Jo Koy, Stephanie Hsu, Kevin James, Rob Schneider, Chris Kattan, Coulter Ibanez, Bryant Tardy, Corey J, Ethan Smigel, Henry Safko, Tienya Safko, Gloria Manning, Carson Minniear, Roey Smigel, Reese Lores, Benjamin Bottani, Aldan Liam Philipson, Ryun Yu, Janie Haddad Tompkins, Paul Brittain, and Nora Wyman.
SYNOPSIS:
A 74-year-old lizard named Leo and his turtle friend decide to escape from the terrarium of a Florida school classroom where they have been living for decades.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Leo wouldn’t exist.
While it’s not the first time Adam Sandler has lent his voice to the lead character of an animated feature, Leo (from the directing team of Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, and David Wachtenheim, with Smigel serving as a co-writer alongside Adam Sandler and Paul Sado) marks a continuation of a new phase from the comedian tackling projects that not only predominantly feature his children Sunny and Sadie in key roles, but also a family-friendly maturation in tone and theme. Between this and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (also a Netflix release from earlier this year), it’s safe to say Adam Sandler has pivoted but has also done so without sacrificing his specific sense of humor and wacky voices (the latter of which are far more fitting from a man in his fifties coming from an animated character.)
Animated with impressively detailed facial expressions, eye movements, and funny physicality, Adam Sandler voices 74-year-old lizard Leo, having lived inside an elementary school classroom terrarium since 1949, at some point granted companionship with a turtle named Squirtle, voiced by Bill Burr. They have seen just about everything imaginable from the kids that have come and gone throughout the years in this fifth-grade classroom to the point where they are experts at predicting how these children will behave and understanding why some of these kids are annoying to be around. The early jokes are reminiscent of a more child-friendly, appropriate version of Bill Burr’s standup humor complaining about the youth of today.
The normality of this school year is quickly thrown out of whack when teacher Mrs. Salinas (voiced by Allison Strong) steps away on leave to prepare for giving birth to her second child, making way for the grumpy and strict Ms. Malkin (voiced by Cecily Strong.) Cracking down on the children with excessive homework and testing that will make earning an end-of-the-year field trip to a dragon-themed amusement park nearly impossible, Ms. Malkin also forces one child a week to take home one of the classroom pets. Leo is more than okay with this as it will allow him to escape and start living a life that he feels has been wasted up until now, eager to visit the Everglades and hunt bugs by himself.
Instead, Leo’s attempts at escaping the homes of these children are typically blown up with amusing results (such as losing part of his tail and applying ointments to it while assuring it will grow back) and accidental revelations that children can hear and understand him speak. For whatever reason, every animal doesn’t appear to be able to speak or be understood by the children, but it’s hardly something to lose sleep over in such a warmhearted, moving film such as this one that gets a decent amount of emotion out of its premise.
What ensues is Leo listening to the problems of each child individually, subsequently offering them sage-like wisdom that they are more than happy to take to heart, considering the words are coming from a talking lizard. Naturally, the children’s voices include Sunny and Sadie Sandler, the former of which plays a rambling, socially awkward, over-sharing girl who has trouble making friends, mostly because her motormouth turns them away. The latter is Jsyda, a self-absorbed girl who doesn’t realize how to stop assuming she is the center of the universe. There are several kids with insecurities, one of which results in bullying that is addressed. Meanwhile, more unique cases involve a boy quite literally helicopter-parented by a drone who needs to learn to let up a little and someone who benefits simply from being listened to.
Shockingly, Leo is not based on a children’s book or any pre-existing source material since the film’s structure feels like it is, with the first act fixated on the lizard helping these kids one by one. The humor is here with many backtalking one-liners with well-timed comedic delivery that Adam Sandler has made a trademark of throughout his movies, but there is also a moving sincerity to the advice and connections on display. There is also some heartbreak set up not only because the lizard is potentially near the end of his life but also due to his misguided, panicking lies to each child that he only speaks to them because they are special. As Squirtle amusingly puts it, this is akin to E.T. gone wrong.
The only notable shortcoming here is that, while all of this is charming to various degrees, Leo occasionally feels repetitive. There isn’t necessarily a need to spend minutes at the home of multiple children; one would suffice alongside a montage for the rest. The musical numbers are also plentiful without much to remember. It would be unfair to say that Leo drags, but there is unquestionably a tighter, stronger 85-minute version of the film here. Still, there are some clever turns and reveals along the way, culminating with a genuinely emotional finale that left me unprepared for the film to end.
Elevated by a silly yet tender Adam Sandler performance, Leo is touching, often hilarious, and could be helpful for children dealing with similar problems and insecurities as the ones present here.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
