


Leo
Have you ever wanted to see Adam Sandler and Bill Burr star alongside one another in an animated kids movie? I mean, who hasn’t?
That’s what you get with Leo, Sandler’s latest made-for-Netflix movie about a 74-year-old lizard stuck in a Florida elementary school for decades with his Turtle terrarium mate, Squirtle. It’s the second animated film from Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison Productions.
The movie also stars Cecily Strong as Mrs. Malkin and Rob Schneider as the school principal, as well as Sunny Sandler—daughter of Adam Sandler—as Summer, who takes Leo home as part of a class assignment—giving Leo a chance to escape his long captivity.
Here’s the trailer:
The humorous family flick is faring pretty well with both critics and audiences. Critics don’t always love Sandler (or Burr for that matter) so a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes is pretty good. It’s also a lot higher than Disney’s new animated princess movie, Wish, which is Rotten with a 50% critic score. Audiences like that one better (81%) but absolutely love Leo, giving it a 95% audience score on RT.
Sandler and his co-writers and producers worked on the script during the pandemic and wanted to make a movie about what kids go through in school—the fear, insecurity, shame and excitement.
"When you're a kid there's stuff you don't want to just blurt out to your parents," Sandler said about the film. "but when your grandparents visit and you're like 'God this is painful. Let me just tell somebody,' and you tell grandma, you tell grandpa, and that's basically what Leo allows these kids to do.
"I remember moments when a kid would say something that would throw me off and a teacher would spot it and then somehow make their way over to you and just say something calming... and just let you feel comfortable and able to concentrate again, that was very memorable."
Leo is out now on Netflix. You can check out my weekend streaming guide here, and my Best Thanksgiving Movies guide here.
What are you watching this fine Thanksgiving weekend? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook.