‘Leo’ Reviews Roundup: Adam Sandler’s Musical Comedy Has Jokes And Lessons For The Whole Family
Netflix added its new Adam Sandler-led animated musical comedy Leo to the platform on Tuesday after screening the film for free in 150 theaters on November 11 and 12.
Reviews have praised Leo’s sharp animation, well-meaning sense of humor, and impressively executed voice performances. Some critics have questioned if the film is perhaps too broad to be a hit with any specific age group or demographic, but the consensus so far seems to be that families that check out the film together this Thanksgiving weekend will enjoy the experience.
Leo stars Sandler as a 74-year-old classroom lizard who learns he only has one year left to live and decides to break out of his terrarium and discover what the wider world has to offer. Instead, he gets caught up trying to help the fifth graders in his classroom work through their problems in a rewarding bucket list adventure.
The film is directed by Robert Smigel, Robert Marianetti, and David Wachtenheim, all long-time Sandler collaborators. Smigel, Sandler, and Paul Sado wrote the screenplay. Animation was handled by Animal Logic (The Lego Movie, DC League of Super-Pets), which was acquired by Netflix last year.
Here’s what critics are saying about Leo, available on Netflix now.
Lovia Gyarkye at The Hollywood Reporter says that the whole family will benefit equally from Leo’s message:
The comedy… is conventionally framed. But what makes Leo special are the kinds of lessons on offer. Its message is well-timed for a generation who find themselves held hostage by their parents’ anxieties and stand to inherit a world of problems. Leo encourages adults to let go and reminds kids that growing up doesn’t have to be so scary.
Peter Debruge at Variety says parents should get a kick out of the film:
It might’ve been 74 years since Smigel, Sandler and co-writer Paul Sado were in school, but as parents, they get what’s funny about today’s kids. Some observations, like the running joke in which rambunctious kindergarteners run amok (depicted as a swarm of piranha-like bobbleheads), are as true now as they ever were, but get an amusing new spin in the filmmakers’ hands.
Indiewire’s David Ehrlich worries that the film doesn’t quite know what its audience is or should be:
Smigel, Sandler, and Paul Sado’s episodic script rarely fires on quite enough cylinders to appeal to both crowds at the same time; most of the gags are too fifth-grade-funny to land for grown-ups (e.g. Ms. Malkin using “hug-off” spray to fend off overly affectionate students), and most of the messaging seems too focused on modern adult foibles and/or Leo’s imminent death from old age for kids to feel like it’s speaking to them. Like many of the parenting philosophies it mocks, Leo works better in theory than in practice. And like many of the children those parenting philosophies churn out, it fails to realize its full potential.
Claire Shaffer at The New York Times is similarly confused about which audiences are served by Leo’s comedy and wisdom:
Leo sometimes has trouble identifying its audience. The musical sequences aren’t particularly interesting visually and will drag on for adults, yet it’s hard to imagine children sitting through Leo and Squirtle’s extended riffs on divorced parents or the courtship behaviors of reptiles and not getting a little bored. But with the holidays rolling around and families gathering, this will undoubtedly work as something to put on in the background for everyone.
Benjamin Lee’s 3-star review for The Guardian perhaps best sums up the critical consensus that, despite some faults, Leo is a fine film that kids of all ages should enjoy:
It’s a 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. The last act is a bit of a jumble with a late-stage antagonist and an inevitable quest, a disjointed scramble, but one that climaxes in a worthy reminder for kids to share their problems rather than bottling them up, a not exactly groundbreaking endnote but one that’s expressed genuinely enough for it to register. Brightly animated and with moments of surprising insight, there’s a warm likability to Leo that radiates, for those still in the classroom and those who left it long ago.
