Tender animated musical has mild innuendo, language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
some
Animated characters, especially animals, face some peril and injury. Animals recall being "abused" by children -- hit, thrown in hot water or into the air, and cut into pieces. A lizard's tail is sucked up by a vacuum and cut off (it grows back, he says). A teacher nearly falls out of a moving bus, and a child nearly crashes a full school bus he's driving because he's too small to hit the brakes fully. A man is hit by a car and is fine. Kids threaten to "destroy" a substitute teacher, planning to throw gummies at her and change their names on her. A teacher throws metal stars like a ninja, and she has a fight with an alligator. Kids deal with loss, grief, and anxiety. Parents also have fears and try to protect their kids from any dangers or difficulties.
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A boy doesn't know where babies come from and says he thought they came out of his mother's "butt." A turtle confuses the matter by explaining to him how turtles lay eggs in the sand. The animals make suggestive jokes, like when Leo tries to climb into Squirtle's shell, and the turtle says he would have liked dinner first. A drone has a crush on a turtle and gives him a heart-shaped gift. The turtle takes off his shell and is in a jockstrap; we see the turtle's bottom. (We also see him pee in another scene.) Boys face puberty changes, like body hair and changing voices.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.
Arby's, Jenga, Purell, name brands mentioned in song, one schoolgirl's family is "rich."
Positive Messages
a lot
Everyone's scared of something, so it doesn't help to keep your fears and problems to yourself. Find a trusted adult or friend to listen to you. Life gets more complicated the older you get, but kids are aware of adult problems like divorce and death, and they need help processing the anxieties that can come with these realities. Leo helps the kids learn lessons of humility, inclusion, and self-love, and to confront fears, insecurities, and problems.
Positive Role Models
a lot
Leo bonds with the kids as he listens to their individual problems and helps them come up with strategies for addressing them. In doing so, he shows great empathy, no matter who they are or what they're feeling. They return the favor, coming to his rescue when needed. Squirtle also comes to his good friend Leo's rescue. Leo confronts his old age and fears of dying. Ms. Malkin, unhappy and lonely in her older age, acts selfishly because she thinks this will bring her happiness, but she's wrong. Some parents are overprotective of their kids, robbing them of the chance to stretch their social muscles or do things for themselves (and therefore feel better about their accomplishments). Leo and Squirtle make fun of the parents.
Diverse Representations
some
Kids in the animated class have a variety of skin tones and a mixture of family issues, but race, culture, and religion don't play significant roles. Their problems seem intended to feel broad enough to be applicable to children from a diversity of backgrounds. A bullying child is said to act out of insecurity. One girl feels relief when she's told she's not so special after all. Another says her family doesn't understand her because she's smart and into science. Another talks too much and learns to stop and ask questions of other people. Boys learn to accept the changes that come with puberty.
Much of the action takes place in a classroom, so kids could talk about the different teaching styles of the teacher versus the substitute, the lessons the children learn from their teachers and from Leo, and how the students' interactions with each other evolve.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Leo is a tender animated musical starring Adam Sandler and Bill Burr as veteran classroom pets. Both the kids in the movie and those watching at home learn important lessons about empathy and self-forgiveness from wise lizard Leo (Sandler) and his ability to lend a supportive ear. Leo and other animals recall being handled roughly by small children, and Leo's tail gets cut off (he says it grows back). In other scenes, a teacher nearly falls out of a moving bus, and a child who's driving a bus full of classmates nearly crashes. Kids threaten to "destroy" a substitute teacher; they plan to throw gummies at her and change their names and not tell her. Anxious kids deal with loss, grief, insecurity, loneliness, overprotective parents, a mean substitute, and the difficulties of growing up. Mild insults and language (like "suck," "butt," "pee," "tush," "brat," "dork," "stupid," "weirdo," "doo doo") mostly revolve around body parts and bodily emissions. One character is confused about where babies come from, kids face the changes of puberty, and the animals have some mildly suggestive dialogue that's meant to be funny. A turtle's bottom is shown when he removes his shell and is seen wearing a jockstrap (and tattoos). A child mentions a rumor about a kid smoking in middle school, and one teacher calls another substitute a "closet drunk." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
The movie doesn't get good until about half way through when Leo talks to the children and goes home with them. Majority of the kids in the beginning are entitled and bratty. They say stupid and other phrases that I don't allow my daughter to say. (She is six) which led me to skipping over majority of the film. Leo and the turtle are pretty judgemental at first as well and the jokes are humorous for adults and potentially older children but not younger ones. There is also a scene where Leo tells one of the girls crying is for babies and she shouldn't cry.. that was not okay. Crying is 100% okay, yes later on he tells the kids it is OK to cry, but that scene was cringe when he told her not to. I also didn't necessarily agree to how he kept telling all the kids they *can't say anything to anyone that he talks, and the only reason he is talking to them is because they are special* this was major red flags. I encourage my kid to never keep secrets unless they are good secrets like for a surprise party etc. Not only that but they paint the adults as illiterate and mean. It's funny for sure, my daughter loved when he got stuck on the vacuum. Etc. But other wise I would say to wait for kiddos to be a little older to watch it with them. Unless you plan to skip over a lot of scenes that were not necessary or inappropriate etc. I personally thought it was just OK. I definitely didn't like the bullying, the grouping kids to specific groups, and the way they talked to eachother etc. It got better later on how they acted toward the other but definitely would suggest to proceed with caution with Littles.
A lot of inappropriate innuendos. Kids are all on phones and treat each other unkind. A kid ask the turtle where babies come from. Talk about puberty. Some really weird discussions.
What's the Story?
LEO the lizard (voiced by Adam Sandler) and Squirtle the turtle (Bill Burr) are the class pets of a fifth-grade schoolroom in Central Florida. When a substitute teacher, the old-school disciplinarian Ms. Malkin (Cecily Strong), takes pregnant teacher Mrs. Salinas' (Allison Strong) place for the year, she starts sending the lizard home with students overnight. Leo discovers he is 74 and thinks lizards only live to 75, so he plans to escape one of these nights. But one by one, he creates connections with the students, who discover that Leo can talk. What's more, he listens, and he makes each one of them feel special and heard, helping them talk through their problems and see that they're not alone in how they're feeling. As a result, the kids start getting along as a group and doing better in school, leading them to earn a spot in a statewide academic competition. Ms. Malkin starts feeling jealous of Leo's connections with the kids and wants to take credit for their success herself.
This heartwarming story about the joys and difficulties of being a kid on the verge of tweenhood features Adam Sandler at his best. In Leo, Sandler puts on his dad hat (in fact, his kids and wife are also involved in this movie) to get at the tenderness parents feel for their kids and the important role caring adults can have in their lives. His lizard Leo is like a rent-a-grandpa for the kids who take him home: someone with a patient ear who has seen it all and has wisdom to impart. Sandler's lizard voice could irritate some, and there are plenty of juvenile Sandler-style jokes, mostly involving bodily emissions, but Leo is all heart. That heart comes across in dialogues as well as through some touching musical numbers.
The film has important messages for kids and could also remind some adults about the very real fears and concerns even young children feel, as well as their parallel needs for more independence and loving support. Life does get more difficult the older we get, as one character warns, and that goes for 10-year-olds too. OK, so maybe Leo's motives aren't entirely altruistic: He wants to escape the classroom, he's concerned about being well-remembered at his funeral, and he's intent on making what he thinks are his last days count. But Leo forgoes his long-desired freedom to be with the kids, and he realizes he needs them as much as they need him. Long live Leo!
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what the different kids learn from spending time with Leo. How does he help them?
What is empathy? How do the various characters demonstrate this character strength? How does it benefit each of them?
How do Mrs. Salinas and Ms. Malkin differ? Have you had teachers like either of them? Which style do you prefer?
The drone following a child around is a parody of some contemporary parenting. For you, what does the drone represent, and how does its presence impact the child?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Jennifer Green
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
