Leo (2023)

"Leo" is a lizard who has lived with his tortoise pal "Squirtle" in a school classroom watching the kids come and go over the years. They've actually become quite adept at on-the-spot evaluations of them - the spoiled ones, rich ones, lonely ones etc., and are a bit tired and cynical. A chance conversation gives "Leo" a bit of an headache - he may be about to die of old age! He is determined not to end his days in this glass cage, and when a disciplinarian supply teacher ("Ms. Malkin") decides that each child has to take a pet home for the weekend, he sees an opportunity to abscond! Needless to say, his escape attempts are the stuff of slapstick, but instead he begins to bond with each child. He can talk! They can talk! He only talks to them, though - they are special...! "Leo" is their secret friend who actually turns out to be quite the social worker/therapist/motivator soon becoming a firm favourite - even if he is no nearer freedom. Can he get to the Everglades before he hits the terminal 75? This actually reminded me a little of "Ron's Gone Wrong" (2021) in that it uses animation - and quite a sarcastically observant script - to again draw our attention to just how children are increasingly "un-parented". Left to their own devices - quite literally - and dependent on constant peer validation (or domination). The characterisations of the human beings here are a bit extreme, but it does serve to illustrate quite well how a broad gamut of parenting skills results in a broad gamut of increasingly flawed and vulnerable small people. The ending involves quite a fun bus chase and some menacing crocodiles - but are they as terrifying as a fed up "Ms. Malkin"? It's worth a watch to see...

Unexpectedly quite fun. Happy Madison Productions and Netflix teaming up for an animation flick hardly sets the pulse racing and as such I was, perhaps naively, anticipating 'Leo' to fall rather flat. Happily, I was wrong. It does a great job at merging meaning and humour, I laughed a fair bit. My negative predictions were almost confirmed as soon as Adam Sandler starts talking in this 2023 film, as the voice he puts on was one I thought was going to be very grating. However, again, that was not the case. He makes it work and then some. Bill Burr is also a pleasant cast member. The rest of the voice bunch are good too. The musicial elements aren't the most fitting, though in all honesty don't drag the film down all that much. Overall, a relatively exceptional movie.

Heartwarming and wholesome ❤️😊