Is there any genre Adam Sandler hasn’t hit while working on his behemoth $250 million first-look deal with Netflix? Horror, check—Hubie Halloween. Young adult, check—You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. Mystery, check—Murder Mystery. Western, check—The Ridiculous 6. Sports, check—Hustle. Comedy—well, of course that one’s covered.
These titles may not excel in their respective genres (in fact, most of the aforementioned flicks are terrible), but with Netflix, the world is Sandler’s oyster. In his latest vehicle, Leo, Sandler ticks off the animation, family movie, and musical boxes from his list. Perhaps we’re only waiting on period drama from him now, but that one might not be Sandler’s forte.
Leo, now streaming on Netflix, also happens to be Sandler’s most bizarre turn in his deal with Netflix, which is saying a lot, considering his Happy Madison banner also produced irreverent releases like The Wrong Missy and Hubie Halloween. But Leo feels less like a Sandler flick and more like a warped Disney movie. It follows elementary schoolers as they deal with usual 10-year-old drama like crushes and birthday party invites, but with a big twist: Grouchy class pet Leo (Sandler), a talking lizard, is the one guiding these kids through their struggles.
Sandler channels his dopiest voice to play Leo, a grouch with sage advice for the kids. Why is Leo so wise? He’s old. Other than that, who knows? Still, it’s the perfect reptile voice—even if he speaks with, for some reason, the same intonation as Homer Simpson.
The kids all sing their own numbers about how much anxiety school brings them. One little girl can’t stop talking, which makes her classmates dislike her. A popular girl is upset that she feels like she always has to be the best. A kid with helicopter parents is bothered by the drone following him everywhere, completing his homework, and scaring potential friends away. Another girl wants to geek out about science with everyone like she did with her late grandfather, but no one is interested.
Most of the problems are fairly universal—perhaps the drone is unique—and Leo has a solution for them all. Staying true to Sandler’s blunt comedic personality, Leo is matter-of-fact with these kids. The first girl has no friends because she won’t be quiet, which makes her a less than ideal bestie. Leo snarks at her about this, but he does it because he cares and wants to see her improve her behavior. He lends his scaly little ear to the youngster who wants to gab about biology. It’s sweet, especially since it’s complemented with a perfect flair of Sandler’s crowd-pleasing sense of humor.
Sandler, who previously lent his voice to three chapters of the Hotel Transylvania franchise, has a real knack for voice acting. It’s not something he does all that often—the one other instance is Eight Crazy Nights, a 2002 musical comedy he co-wrote that’s set during Hanukkah—but this should change. Sandler can really contort his loud rasp into mesmerizing voices. It's Sandler’s Hotel Transylvania character that I hear in my head whenever anyone mentions Dracula. I can still remember his high-pitched squeal of “A cruise?!” from the trailer for Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation.
Like in the Transylvania films, Sandler once again understands that he’s not just reading some lines that a lizard will speak—he’s becoming this crotchety old fellow. Sandler is taking Leo’s old molted skin and sliding into it to truly embody his character. Okay, gross, I know, but you get the point. If I had a lizard as a class pet, I would definitely spend most lessons daydreaming about the way he might speak if he were able to. That voice would sound exactly like the scratchy, tired, goofy voice Sandler gives Leo. The actor is known for his larger-than-life comedies, but transforming himself into a lizard, and even singing a few lines here and there, really goes above and beyond. Sandler should’ve sung even more, which is something I’d never have predicted myself wanting.
By blending a surreal character—Sandler meets-lizard—with a musical story, Leo takes the cake for being Sandler’s most unpredictable film in his collaborations with Netflix. It also happens to be one of his sweetest movies to date, and thanks to some vibrant animation that nearly rivals Pixar—it’s worth noting that all these kids look exactly like Riley from Inside Out—it could be a sleeper pick, come awards season. Leo could pick up the Oscar that Sandler’s Uncut Gems deserved.
While I haven’t yet seen the recently released Wish—in part thanks to a number of middling reviews—it seems safe to say that Netflix has come out on top of Disney in the competition for the weekend’s best new animated musical. Leo has a drier comedy that suits kids and their parents alike, and Sandler, oddly enough, was made to play a crabby lizard. Now, it’s time for Sandler to continue crossing off genres—maybe he’ll go off and make that Jane Austen period piece with Netflix after all.
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