I will be completely honest with all of you and say I initially had no intention of watching Adam Sandler’s Leo, the animated movie about a class pet who tries to escape his classroom while coming to terms with his mortality. It’s not like I was actively avoiding it, or anything like that, it’s just that it was never on my radar. With so many movies added to Netflix each month, especially all those family-friendly movies, there’s a lot that gets lost in the shuffle.
But, let me tell you… I had an incredible time watching this great Netflix movie that found the balance between sarcastic humor and heart, featured some extremely catchy songs, and was more relatable than just about anything else I watched this year. Let me explain…
I Was Not Expecting A Story With The Perfect Balance Of Humor And Heart
A couple of weeks before Christmas, my wife took the kids to her parents’ house to make cookies (it’s a tradition that goes back years at his point). I decided to stay back, make a dent in the Mt. Everest-sized pile of laundry that’s slowly taking over my bedroom, and check out a movie I missed. This ended up being Leo, with its humor and heart, a winning combination I didn’t really expect.
Leo has that perfect combination, with both characteristics complementing one another instead of competing for attention. Some great life lessons about growing up play out when Leo goes home with students each weekend, and the fifth graders learn to open up and express themselves. I was expecting the humor, of which there is a lot and most of it works, but not something so sentimental.
Come On, Those Songs Are Dang Catchy And Fun
Somehow, I completely missed the fact that Leo was a musical before I pressed play. And while song-and-dance numbers aren’t always my cup of tea, I tend to enjoy a catchy tune. But wow, this movie has some real bangers! The first track, titled “Last Year,” quickly introduces us to all the fifth-graders, their personalities, and their desires for what could be the final year of childhood in a way that almost feels like something out of West Side Story.
The song I can’t get enough of is “When I Was Ten,” a low-key track with all the students being sentimental about their younger days. The line “When I was five, I didn’t care that people died, a haircut used to make me cry way more” is seriously the funniest, most emotional, and truest thing I’ve heard all year.
Even Adam Sandler’s titular lizard has some great songs, especially “Lizard’s Lament,” which, staying on brand with the movie, finds that balance between humor and heart. I was also a big fan of “Don’t Cry,” which sounds like something you’d hear on one of Sandler’s albums from back in the ‘90s.
The Voice Cast Really Shines
Like a lot of the great Adam Sandler movies, Leo has one hell of a cast, ranging from actors and comedians who have worked with him countless times over the years, in addition to a talented group of child actors. Whether they’re taking part in some of the movie’s funniest scenes or singing some ridiculous song, everyone gets time to shine and doesn’t feel left out.
You’ve got everyone from Saturday Night Live alums like Sandler, Cecily Strong, Rob Schneider, and Robert Smigel (who also directed), as well as comedians like Bill Burr and Nick Swardson all getting in a lot of great lines. Hell, even Jason Alexander is to die for in this as the super-wealthy and overbearing father of one of the students. While not as over-the-top as some of those legendary George Constanza moments, Alexander’s character makes for a good time and some absurd situations.
The Animation Has This Odd Quality That Makes It Stand Out
Another thing I liked about Leo was the animation style, which falls somewhere between realistic and stylized and far, far away from the uncanny valley. No dead eyes or creepy kids like in The Polar Express with this streaming experience. Yeah, the characters have odd appearances but they’re not the stuff of nightmares or anything like that. The humans look like humans and the animals look like animals, but neither is made to be photorealistic with the correct proportions.
Things get wild with the kindergarteners, who essentially look like fleshy spheres with crazy eyes and messed-up factual features. They’re wild, crazy, and act more like piranhas attacking a hunk of meat in water than humans. Off-putting? Yes. Fun to watch? You bet.
I Related To So Many Of The Characters, Which Was Unexpected
Who would have thought that a movie about a talking lizard and a classroom full of fifth graders would be so relatable, especially for a 35-year-old with a wife, three kids, two dogs, two cats, three chickens (at least at the time of this writing), and a goldfish? Well, I was shocked when I started to relate to several characters while watching Leo, both human and otherwise.
I saw myself in Summer, the overeager student whose tendency to talk so long that her fellow students, parents, and even Leo either tune out or get disgusted by her long sentences. I felt a connection with Leo and his desire to do something big before dying. I saw myself in Squirtle, especially when he got all jealous of Leo’s popularity and tried to take it all away. There is probably something relatable for just about anyone who watches, even cranky school teachers who were once promising young students.
I Can't Believe It's Taken This Long To Make A Great Movie About A Class Pet
There are movies about anything and everything, but before watching Leo, I had never watched one about a class pet. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough all these years, but I can’t believe it’s taken this long to make a great movie about a class pet. It’s a concept that obviously works, so I’m surprised we haven’t seen something like this before. There are so many different directions you could take with it, as well.
Give me a great action movie with a lizard who helps a substitute teacher fight off a group of terrorists. Or what about a romantic comedy with two gerbils who spot each other during a fire drill and try to get back together? Or an end-of-the-world disaster film where only the class snake can prevent an asteroid from crashing into the planet?
All in all, I had a great time watching Leo, and I’m glad that I gave this new family-friendly movie a spin. If you’ve somehow missed out on it or want to check it out with your kids, you can give it a watch with your Netflix subscription.
