Leo (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – A 74-year-old lizard named Leo decides to escape from the terrarium of a Florida school classroom where he have been living for decades.

My Take – Over the years, Adam Sandler‘s partnership with Netflix has mostly gained a reputation of churning out below par standard comedy vehicles mainly to keep his close friends and entourage employed, causing even the occasional marvel like The Meyerowitz Stories (2017) to get lost in the crowd of stinkers.

However, considering the successful reception of Hustle (2022), You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023) and this one, it looks like the Sandman is finally on a roll.

Co-written by Sandler, Paul Sado, and Robert Smigel (Hotel Transylvania), who also co-directed the feature with Robert Marianetti and David Wachtenheim, talents who all spent time working on SNL, this animated musical comedy surprisingly provides a good time with some genuine wit and wisdom. Boasting exceptional animation that brings the story to life in a visually stunning way.

Sure, the film is kid-friendly but adults can appreciate its oddball, irreverent humor, especially in the songs written by Smigel. The comedic elements here are skillfully executed, contributing to the film’s overall entertainment value and ensuring that audiences of all ages can find joy in the humor.

This is one of those rare films that reminds you that Adam Sandler is much more than the theatrical and immature image he has carved out for himself in order to appease a select section. By co-writing this feature and lending his voice to the titular character, here Sandler shows he still understands his prowess to connect with the audience.

The story follows Leonardo aka Leo (voiced by Adam Sandler), a tuatara, who along with his de facto best friend Squirtle (voiced by Bill Burr), a turtle, has been lazily serving as fifth-grade class pet in a tank for a very long time. They’ve seen it all and are pretty jaded and ho-hum about it, although they wouldn’t mind relocating to another room so they can learn something different than the usual fifth-grade stuff. They’re getting up there.

However, when he overhears a parent saying that lizards live up to 75, Leo, who is now 74-year-old decides it is finally time to escape and live his life to the fullest as he may be near the end of his lifespan and still doesn’t have much to show for it. Opportunity comes knocking in the form of Ms. Malkin (voiced by Cecily Strong), a strict old school substitute teacher who wants to teach the 5th graders responsibility by taking turns to care for the classroom pets over the weekend.

But though he has formulated an escape plan, Leo finds himself instead bestowing wisdom. And as each of the kids proceed to take him along, Leo starts to realize that it might be more important for him to stay rather than go.

The narrative mainly revolves around characters grappling with their insecurities and making mistakes-a refreshing departure that adds authenticity to the plot. The kids that Leo takes time to counsel have issues varying from an inability to ask questions to being oversensitive to masking anxiety and it’s in these deft two-hander vignettes that the film is most successful, with the script choosing to take specific problems seriously.

Yes, some of the embellishments surrounding these moments are less successful as the film is often unsure how to turn the central conceit into a full story. However, the comedy is offbeat enough to establish this story as satire, a slightly barbed spoof of helicopter parents, ineffective educators and the trials of growing up. And of kindergarten kids. Their depiction as strange little animals stroke me as more realistic than the overly precocious children we’ve seen before.

That’s not to say it’s not still quintessential slapstick silly Sandler through and through, engaging younger viewers with battles with household appliances, a strangely emotional drone or a wayward automatic vacuum cleaner, whilst finding inspired meta moments in Godzilla references. Whatever heart it’s going for underneath, it never forgets to visually engage along the way.

It helps that the animation is colorful and realistic, from the background scenery to the small details like how a caterpillar is depicted. This one is also the sort of musical with a string of half-numbers that range from lazily tossed off to charmingly committed, all of which stop before they really even get started.

Sure, the last act is a bit of a jumble with a late-stage antagonist and an inevitable quest, a disjointed scramble, but that way it ends is a worthy reminder for kids to share their problems rather than bottling them up, not exactly a groundbreaking note but one that’s expressed genuinely enough to register.

Voice performance wise, Adam Sandler makes the slightly ill-advised decision to “do a voice”, something he last did in Hubie Halloween (2020), adding an unnecessary, annoying-dad-telling-a-bedtime-story silliness to what’s ultimately a rather earnest little film. But just like his other family aimed features, he does manage to bring a very endearing quality along. Bill Burr being the insensitive and jealous turtle was a nice touch, though his character could have had better jokes.

The two are well supported by Cecily Strong, Stephanie Hsu, Sunny Sandler, Sadie Sandler, Robert Smigel, Jackie Sandler, Ethan Smigel, Heidi Gardner, Jason Alexander, Nicholas Turturro, Jo Coy, Nick Swardson and Rob Schneider. On the whole, ‘Leo’ is a charming little delightful animated comedy that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.