It’s not just that I cannot remember the last time I enjoyed a Happy Madison Production; I can’t even remember the last time I appreciated a Happy Madison Production. I don’t know that I’ve ever held the thought, “Thank you, Adam Sandler. Today, you made the world a better place.” I’m still pissed off about Home Team where Happy Madison gave Sean Payton a voice in the form of Kevin James. That coach earned the right to be blackballed for the NFL for eternity. Thanks in part to Happy Madison, he’s coaching again this year.
That’s very wrong. And such seems far more aligned with the Happy Madison I know. You guys aren’t capable of “good,” are you?
On the blog, however, I am always happy to be wrong. And with that, I share Leo, an animated Happy Madison treasure about a sage lizard who gives advice to awkward 5th Graders. It’s basic, but delightful … and delightful in a way that shows Happy Madison Productions has a soul. I wouldn’t have guessed that.
Leo the tuatara (voice of Adam Sandler) and Squirtle the turtle (Bill Burr) share a terrarium in a fifth-grade classroom. And they can speak. English. Like people. They’ve just kept it to themselves, because, you know, reptiles. Eavesdropping on tuatara talk, Leo learns that 75 is death for his species. Unfortunately, fifth grade kids do fractions, so the animals have to figure out how to hook up with the 2nd grade classroom pets to get subtraction and figure out that Leo is 74. Uh oh. Well, no one likes to go to the grave with secrets, so when Leo suddenly becomes a take-home project, he lets Dummer the jabberjaw (Sunny Sandler … “Sandler?” That can’t be right.) accidentally in on the talking reptile coup.
And then, strangely, magic happens. What was a silly comedy about 5th graders and classroom pets and basic math becomes, dare I say? A movie. Who knew? Instead of the inevitable devolution into how nuts it is that a tuatara talks, the tuatara has something to say. And he and Summer have a sweet chat over Summer’s insecurities. And damn if Adam Sandler in animated lizard form isn’t wiser than every other Adam Sandler character, ever, combined.
And then the pattern repeats but with a different student. Leo continues to let stu
dents in on the secret, only to have it become a therapy session. In the meantime, Leo (who dreamed of going to the Everglades) discovers he likes talking to the children more than he wants to escape the classroom.
And Squirtle the turtle is, indeed, jealous. Because, of course he is. Sure, he can talk as well; he just sucks at it.
Adam Sandler films always seem to culminate in false emotional bliss where all the problems are *poof* solved, and everybody is happy despite the fact that none of it rings true. Here, an animated lizard shows a great deal of emotional honesty, much more than I would expect from Adam Sandler playing Adam Sandler. I’m not sure what to make of this and I’m not sure if this is a compliment or a criticism of Sandler himself. All I know is this film was far better than I expected it to be. I’m not going to call it among the year’s best, but this is the first Adam Sandler in years that I would happily watch again.
I didn’t even mention my favorite part of this film — it is a musical and comedy, after all, and while I certainly appreciated lines like “not now, daddy’s bragging” and a deliberately obnoxious tongue-in-cheek song about urging a character not to cry because it shows weakness, my favorite 5-minute character of 2023 is a hover drone that acts as a -literal- helicopter parent. I love it when non-speaking characters are so well-written they show emotion without having a face to have facial expressions. This is a brilliant piece of writing and comedy underscoring what will almost certainly be an underappreciated film.
There once was a lizard named Leo
Who longed to escape clean for Rio
Turns out; he could talk
And, boy, would he squawk
To help out a class full of “me”-o
Rated PG, 102 Minutes
Director: Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, David Wachtenheim
Writer: Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler, Paul Sado
Genre: Wizened Lizard
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who always believed Sandler could do better
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: If you don’t like animation or anxious tweens, well, you’re in trouble
