Review: In 'Leo,' Adam Sandler finds humor and heart as the voice of an elementary-school lizard

It seems that Adam Sandler has found his niche in animation — first with the “Hotel Transylvania” series, and now as an insightful lizard in the quietly charming “Leo.”

Sandler voices the title character, a lizard who has lived for decades as the class pet to a rotating series of fifth-graders in a Florida elementary school. It’s a delicate time for these kids, the last year of childhood before graduating to the semi-adult world of middle school.

At parent-teacher night, Leo and his terrarium cohabitant, a turtle named Squirtle (voiced by Bill Burr), overhear two dads say that lizards live to be 75 years old. After checking with some of the other class pets — since fifth-graders don’t learn subtraction; they’re already on to fractions — Leo realizes that he’s 74. So he decides he has to escape now, and get his last bit of living done while he can.

Things don’t work out that way, though. With the teacher, Mrs. Salinas (voiced by Allison Strong), taking maternity leave, the kids are stuck with a cranky old substitute, Ms. Malkin (voiced by Cecily Strong). Ms. Malkin takes away the kids’ laptops, gives them massive textbooks, and tries to instill some old-school discipline on the kids. One way to do that is to assign one child each weekend to take Leo home and care for him.

At the house of Summer, an insecure chatterbox (voiced by Sunny Sandler, the star’s daughter), Leo breaks the cardinal rule of school pets: He talks to her. Once the shock wears off, Leo gets Summer to promise not to tell anyone — and that only she can hear him. Leo gives Summer a life lesson, about the importance of letting other people talk, by asking them questions and showing an interest in them.

The next weekend, Leo stays with Eli (voiced by Roey Smigel), whose helicopter mom (voiced by “SNL” star Heidi Gardner) has a drone watching her son’s every move. Leo breaks his no-talking rule with Eli, and advises him to break up with his drone. And so it goes at the next kid’s house. And the next. And so on.

The script — credited to Sandler, comedian-writer Robert Smigel (aka Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog) and regular Sandler scribe Paul Sado — has some holes in it, namely in its dithering about how to treat its adult characters, particularly Ms. Malkin, who goes from cartoonishly evil to sympathetic a bit too easily.

Oh, and have I mentioned this is a musical? Smigel — who co-directed with animators Robert Marianetti and David Wachtenheim — wrote the songs, which have a spiky wit and even will prompt a tear or two.

“Leo” is a simple, yet effective, animated movie, whose gentle humor disguises a sweet parable about learning from one’s elders — even the scaly ones. 

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‘Leo’

★★★

Starts streaming Tuesday, November 21, on Netflix. Rated PG for rude/suggestive material and some language. Running time: 108 minutes.