2023-11-29 12:14:54
Although he would surely like to, Adam Sandler cannot star in a new movie every month of the year. Due to logistics, health or simple lack of time, the 57-year-old New Yorker must dose his appearances and, along those lines, the first thing that surely occupies his mind is how to stay absolutely current, but without saturating the consumer with mass products. .
This purpose can be seen in three cases that we mention below. An example of Sandler as the protagonist might well be “Hustle”, a motivational film with a sports tone released in mid-2022 in which he played a run-down NBA talent scout who, almost at the twilight of his career, discovers a Spanish rookie. who surprises everyone with his remarkable ability on the playing field. Following this profile, although more recently, Sandler starred alongside Jennifer Aniston in the second part of “Mystery on Board”, that bizarre saga with a criminal tone in which luxuries and touches of luck are not lacking.
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Departing a little from this scheme is “You are not invited to my bat mitzvah!” (August 2023), a youth-oriented proposal in which Sandler acts, but giving total prominence to her two daughters. In the film (in which his wife also appears), the actor and producer plays a family man who, between indifference and touches of nobility, understands each of the outbursts of his teenage daughter.
Another different form of appearance, without a doubt, has to do with “Leo”, a proposal released a few days ago on Netflix and which moves even further away from the formats already described above. Considered by some an animated musical comedy, this film has the popular ‘Sandman’ giving voice to an old iguana inserted inside a final year of primary school classroom. The story also has him as producer and co-writer of the script.
That Sandler does not show his face here is, evidently, something different from what this actor has accustomed us to. However, this in no way means that the film – produced by his emblematic production company Happy Madison – is not imbued with his style. Perhaps for that reason, and for other details that we will discuss below, it was ranked first in the top 10 preferences on Netflix from the day it was released.
Directed by Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim, “Leo” tells the story of a 74-year-old iguana, who spends his days inside a classroom at the fictional Fort Myers school in Florida (United States). ). This little lizard is accompanied by Squirtle, a turtle whose personality ranges between complicit and excessively ‘realistic’.
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The tape, which lasts just over 100 minutes, quickly reveals its keys from the beginning when, only via voice-over, we can hear Leo complaining because “from tomorrow” he will have to wake up early once more because school classes will begin. “Calm down, you slept 95% of the summer,” Squirtle responds. Only a few seconds later we will discover that Leo is apparently overweight, he is not at all close to ‘healthy’ eating and he is not very willing to have a life where physical exercise is his priority.
The presentation of the protagonist is followed by that of the secondary characters. We are facing the promotion of what in our region would be known as sixth grade. This dozen children are led by Professor Salinas, a woman who, due to her advanced stage of pregnancy, must soon give up her position to a substitute. However, the most important thing here occurs when one of the secondary characters makes an unexpected comment regarding The Iguana: she is old. From here the Netflix film gains strength: our protagonist fears that death is near, so his purpose is to share his knowledge.
Squirtle and Leo in the back. (Image: Netflix)
This is not Adam Sandler’s first foray into animated films. This, however, is the first time that he is so deeply involved in the story, and one of the ways of perceiving this experience has to do with the tone of humor that this feature film contains. Surely because of its target audience – the conceited household members – “Leo” leaves aside high-sounding flattery or mockery (a characteristic hallmark of many of the ‘Sandman’ films) to focus on fresh, albeit innocent, gags, taking us, then, through an experience that might at times be described as undeniably welcoming.
An example of the care that the tape takes might well be when in one scene Leo tries to count with his fingers how old he is, and suddenly Squirtle (always on a more daring level than the old iguana) states that he would “tell” him something else with to continue the account, “but there are children present.” Immediately, the turtle – which in the original version has the voice of the comedian Bill Burr and in Spanish that of the Mexican comedian Mauricio Castillo – looks at the screen and clarifies that he did not think of anything bad, but that “he was referring to his line!”.
Parents at the Florida school. (Image: Netflix)
If humor is a first pillar of “Leo”, there are other factors that are also key. The first has to do with the diversity of secondary characters that swarm around the main one. At the initiative of the substitute teacher, each child must take a pet to her house for the entire weekend. What should have been almost a ‘laboratory’ job, becomes quite the opposite when our little protagonist tells each schoolboy to reveal his great secret: he knows how to talk.
In this unveiling we see a different approach than the average film with fictional roots might take: seeing an animal talking is no longer news. And if it was, the effect lasted just seconds. What immediately stands out here is a kind of parade of personalities and conventions, represented by the sixth-grade students of Fort Myers Elementary.
I read with a schoolgirl who stars in Netflix’s new animated musical comedy.
An (older) daughter who knows how to talk a lot, but not listen to others. A child who suffers from the overprotective excesses of her parents. A girl who defends her parents’ eccentricity, but deep down she doesn’t fully understand them. A boy who seems to unleash her frustration by abusing her classmates. A super gifted girl who doesn’t seem to fit into the world she inhabits. Among so much difference, these minors seem to hide common aspects: insecurity, but above all fear of the unknown. On screen, then, we have many of the personalities that surely cohabit today in classrooms in the United States, China or Peru. Leo addresses this endless number of differences, with his slow walk, his immense eyes, and his instructive words.
Perhaps aware that at the end of the year everyone might forget them, as always happens, at some point in the plot Squirtle scolds Leo why he insists so much on being close to those children, on chatting with them and clearing up his doubts (Be careful, in perhaps the most tender and crudely realistic moment of the film, each student leaves the classroom leaving a cell phone at his ‘house’ for Leo, to always maintain contact). Without thinking twice, in a phrase that denotes the most absolute honesty, the septuagenarian iguana responds: “So my funeral will be full of moving memories and anecdotes.”
LEO/NETFLIX
Synopsis: This musical comedy tells the story of a class’s last year of elementary school as seen through the eyes of their pet lizard Leo (voiced by Adam Sandler).
You: Adam Sandler, Bill Burr, Cecily Strong
Director: Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, David Wachtenheim
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