Adam Sandler's ‘Leo’-- Yes, the Lizard Movie—is Actually a Moving Story About Mortality

Courtesy of Netflix

I'll admit I was an easy mark for Leo, Adam Sandler's new animated comedy on Netflix. The words "Adam Sandler plays a 75-year-old reptile" are like music to my ears. Then I heard the silly voice Sandman was doing for this character, which sounds like an old Jewish man making a thousand substitutions while ordering a sandwich at a deli, and I was a little bit in love.

And I have to say, pleasantly, Leo lived up to my expectations. If you just look at the thumbnail, it might seem like annoying abrasive children's entertainment—there's a cute talking rhynchocephalian, after all—but it's actually a wistful film about growing older and growing up. And there are songs. Which the Sandman sings.

Sandler wrote Leo with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog auteur Robert Smigel, who also co-directs with Robert Marianetti and David Wachtenheim, who’ve worked with Smigel since the TV Funhouse era of Saturday Night Live. The premise goes something like this. Leo (Sandler) is a tuatara who has been the class pet in an elementary school since 1949, sharing a tank with a wisecracking turtle named Squirtle voiced by Bill Burr. (Duh. Of course Bill Burr is the turtle. It makes complete sense.)

When a parent comments that Leo's breed tends to live until about 75, Leo starts spiraling, realizing he doesn't have much longer and he's spent his entire life in a tank. He gets his chance to escape when a new, strict substitute teacher Ms. Malkin (Cecily Strong) demands that the students take turns bringing Leo home for a weekend. Leo plans to use that as an opportunity to break free and live the rest of his days in the Everglades.

But then he starts talking to the kids—he can talk, by the way—and sharing years of wisdom gleaned from watching the social habits of pre-teens. The great thing about Leo, however, is that this advice steers away from the treacly. He suggests an overly chatty girl try and ask someone else a question about themselves. He tells a snooty princess who thinks her family is "so amazing" that they are actually not that great, in a bouncy little tune that makes her realize her dad is just a dermatologist in Fort Myers. He encourages a boy to break up with the drone his helicopter parents have buzzing beside him at all times. (It makes sense in context.)

My personal favorite Leo track is a lullaby in which he tells a child of divorce to stop crying. "Don't cry/Crying's for weaklings," he croons. "Don't cry, it's lazy and dumb." He cheers her up with this ditty, but the adorable little nerd then explains that scientific research tells you crying is good. Still, Leo's point was also made. As he would say, boo-freakin'-hoo.

Leo goes off the rails a tiny bit in the third act when it tries to engineer a big climax that involves rescuing our favorite cranky reptile from peril, but that's a small price to pay when the rest of this thing is just so charming. It has creative animation that often breaks out of CGI monotony, and jokes that play across generations—everyone can appreciate burp gags; the olds can get an ALF bit.

Mostly, what works about Leo is that Sandler, Smigel, and company have made a movie about aging that works for multiple ages. Youngsters can learn from the messages about maturity, while the rest of us can giggle about seizing our remaining years and the blunt life lessons we've acquired. I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes you just feel like a grumpy 75-year-old reptile voiced by Adam Sandler, and that's okay.

Originally Appeared on GQ