Leo (2023)
Throughout a long and mixed filmography, Adam Sandler has shockingly never quite found his groove when it comes to the medium of animation. Largely isolated to his rather disastrous Eight Crazy Nights and his role in the Hotel Transylvania series, Sandler has stayed on the outskirts of animated features with only the occasional cameo. Finally, Sandler returns to the world of animation with Netflix's Leo. With Adam Sandler starring as the titular aging lizard and Bill Burr playing a turtle named Squirtle, both animals class pets in a 5th grade class, Leo looks to blend comedy with emotion as the film not only follows the wacky hijinks of the students as they learn one by one that Leo can talk, but also looks at the struggles of growing up and the important role educators play in the process.
When it comes to nearly any Sandler feature, the immediate concern is the comedy. While Sandler has crafted a rather impressive filmography of comedic style and understanding, it isn't rare to see some major bombs come from the comedian with projects that simply miss the mark and fundamentally fail to come together. At times, Sandler's ability has been used as a justification for films putting in the bare minimum when it comes to effort and producing films that are painfully unfunny and boring. Luckily, Leo lands on the positive side of Sandler's filmography. Not only is the comedy all rather strong, each of the students in the class are given a gimmick that while somewhat basic, are still charming, but Sandler also pulls his weight and gives a really great performance. Never coming off as annoying, Sandler's energy and charisma is a constant highlight of the film with a surprisingly wholesome soul also being found.
While Leo is obviously meant to be comedic and fun, there is a surprising amount of depth to be found within the film. The immediate conflict comes from Leo having to understand what he believes to be his soon approaching death. After being fed some wrong information surrounding the lifespan of lizards, Leo believes he has only a single year left to live. Not satisfied with what he has done in life, Leo hatches a plan for escape but as he gets to know the kids one by one and helps them solve their own issues, this plan keeps getting pushed further and further off.
Slowly but surely, Leo turns into a rather beautiful love letter to the educators who make a difference in their students' lives. Growing up is hard and for many kids, their teachers are one of the most important resources they have. In the context of the film, Leo steps up and begins to mentor these students when their normal teacher gets replaced by a cruel and rude substitute when their main teacher leaves to have her baby robbing the students of this resource. Leo finds his heart warmed by seeing these kids grow and succeed, speaking to an authentic experience for plenty of passionate educators. Even with the substitute, the film does a strong job showing her heart and desire to be a good teacher, a goal that has become lost due to a variety of reasons. Rather than taking an easy route and just throwing the role of teacher to be a cliched easy source of comedy, the film feels like it has a real bite at times and understanding of the heart and soul behind the position.
These sides of the film come together to create a really wonderful viewing experience that only begins to lose its way in the last act. While the film finds a satisfying point to wrap up, it decides to stretch itself further with an incredibly unnecessary final sprint of conflict. The outcome of this segment is underwhelming. While this does build an ending for Leo's fears of living his last days, this plot has faded to be an afterthought by this point and easily could have been wrapped up far quicker. Any other plot developments or emotional results to be found from this segment feel like retreads of what the film already has accomplished by this point, only adding to the unneeded inclusion of this. Even the runtime itself isn't struggling for time. Coming in at 102-minutes, no one would have bat an eye at the film being cut down by 10-20 minutes with the viewing experience feeling cleaner and more focused as a result.
Both comedically clever and worthy in heart, Leo is a really strong animated feature that consistently delivers. The film perfectly knows how to balance Sandler's comedy and more basic cliches with real emotion to deliver a balanced final product that has the ability to be fun and moving.
When it comes to nearly any Sandler feature, the immediate concern is the comedy. While Sandler has crafted a rather impressive filmography of comedic style and understanding, it isn't rare to see some major bombs come from the comedian with projects that simply miss the mark and fundamentally fail to come together. At times, Sandler's ability has been used as a justification for films putting in the bare minimum when it comes to effort and producing films that are painfully unfunny and boring. Luckily, Leo lands on the positive side of Sandler's filmography. Not only is the comedy all rather strong, each of the students in the class are given a gimmick that while somewhat basic, are still charming, but Sandler also pulls his weight and gives a really great performance. Never coming off as annoying, Sandler's energy and charisma is a constant highlight of the film with a surprisingly wholesome soul also being found.
While Leo is obviously meant to be comedic and fun, there is a surprising amount of depth to be found within the film. The immediate conflict comes from Leo having to understand what he believes to be his soon approaching death. After being fed some wrong information surrounding the lifespan of lizards, Leo believes he has only a single year left to live. Not satisfied with what he has done in life, Leo hatches a plan for escape but as he gets to know the kids one by one and helps them solve their own issues, this plan keeps getting pushed further and further off.
Slowly but surely, Leo turns into a rather beautiful love letter to the educators who make a difference in their students' lives. Growing up is hard and for many kids, their teachers are one of the most important resources they have. In the context of the film, Leo steps up and begins to mentor these students when their normal teacher gets replaced by a cruel and rude substitute when their main teacher leaves to have her baby robbing the students of this resource. Leo finds his heart warmed by seeing these kids grow and succeed, speaking to an authentic experience for plenty of passionate educators. Even with the substitute, the film does a strong job showing her heart and desire to be a good teacher, a goal that has become lost due to a variety of reasons. Rather than taking an easy route and just throwing the role of teacher to be a cliched easy source of comedy, the film feels like it has a real bite at times and understanding of the heart and soul behind the position.
These sides of the film come together to create a really wonderful viewing experience that only begins to lose its way in the last act. While the film finds a satisfying point to wrap up, it decides to stretch itself further with an incredibly unnecessary final sprint of conflict. The outcome of this segment is underwhelming. While this does build an ending for Leo's fears of living his last days, this plot has faded to be an afterthought by this point and easily could have been wrapped up far quicker. Any other plot developments or emotional results to be found from this segment feel like retreads of what the film already has accomplished by this point, only adding to the unneeded inclusion of this. Even the runtime itself isn't struggling for time. Coming in at 102-minutes, no one would have bat an eye at the film being cut down by 10-20 minutes with the viewing experience feeling cleaner and more focused as a result.
Both comedically clever and worthy in heart, Leo is a really strong animated feature that consistently delivers. The film perfectly knows how to balance Sandler's comedy and more basic cliches with real emotion to deliver a balanced final product that has the ability to be fun and moving.