Story

Leo (voiced by Adam Sandler) is a jaded 74-year-old lizard who has been stuck in the same Florida classroom for decades with his terrarium mate, Squirtle the turtle (voiced by Bill Burr). When Leo learns that he has only one more year to live, he decides that it’s time to escape and experience life in the outside world. This gives Leo the chance to learn that he’s more than just a class pet.

During the ‘take a pet home’ assignment, the students discover that Leo can talk. And with this development, Leo finds that he can help the students whom he once watched from behind the terrarium glass. During his home visits, Leo gets to learn what makes each student unique, and the students share their concerns and worries.

With 74 years of classroom wisdom, Leo is about to have a huge influence on the students’ lives. But when Leo finally gets his chance to be free, what will hold him back?

Themes

Coming of age; friendship; musical; school-age drama, companionship

Violence

Leo has some violence. For example:

• Children make figurines crash against each other in the bathtub.
• When students talk about how they’re going to treat the substitute teachers, they write text messages that say they’ll ‘shoot her with rubber bands, throw gummies at her and glue her to the chair’.
• Leo says to Eli (voice of Roey Smigel), ‘Don’t tell anyone or they will kill me’.
• A pony says, ‘He has bitten some of its owner’s fingers off’. Then it shows the owner’s hand with missing fingers.
• Leo and Squirtle tell the students they’ll die if they tell their parents that the animals talk.
• Ms Malkin (voice of Cecily Strong) is hit in the head by traffic cones when she almost falls out of the bus.

Sexual references

Leo has some sexual references. For example, Leo gets hit in the genitals with a golf ball and refers to the area as his ‘jellybeans’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Leo shows some use of substances. For example:

• A child mentions that he knows of a child who smokes at school.
• Leo says, ‘If you’ve had 6 or 7 beers …’.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Leo.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Leo:

• Cheese Doodles
• Doritos
• Cheetos
• Facebook.

Coarse language

Leo has some coarse language, including ‘brat’, ‘dork’, ‘stupid’, ‘weirdo’, ‘head case’, ‘shut up’, ‘jeez’ and ‘oh my God’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Leo is a heartfelt coming-of-age story about the last year of primary school, as seen through the eyes of a class pet. With Adam Sandler’s humour combined with primary school dynamics, the movie is likely to leave the audience holding back tears and giggling with light-hearted humour.

Leo is best suited to families with children over 8 years, with parental guidance recommended for children aged 5-8 years.

The main messages from Leo are about the importance of friendship. The movie also suggests that not all problems need solutions. Sometimes all you need is someone to listen.

Values in Leo that you could reinforce with their children include friendship and kindness. The movie also emphasises the importance of valuing difference and diversity among peers, including diverse family circumstances, personalities, types of friendship and so on.

Leo could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

• childhood behaviour including bullying.
• school peer relationship and friendships.