The Big Picture
- Netflix’s Leo, an animated feature from Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison banner, continues the trend of delivering heartfelt comedy for all ages.
- The film faced pushback from Netflix and artists over a visual gag involving dancing stopwatches in a musical number.
- Despite cuts, Leo is a major hit for Netflix, with positive reviews, high viewership, and record-breaking debut numbers for a Netflix animated film.
Netflix has built itself up as a home for animation in recent years, delivering family hits like Nimona and The Sea Beast and more adult masterpieces like Blue Eye Samurai and, most recently, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. None of these projects are short on ambition or talent, and they are often given the room to breathe creatively on the platform, delivering some of the medium’s greatest hits of late. Leo, a new animated feature from Adam Sandler‘s Happy Madison banner, continues the trend of bringing in big names for a heartfelt comedy for all ages. Co-director Robert Smigel says the team didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the streamer about their ideas though.
While speaking to Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Smigel detailed one scene that he clashed with Netflix over when making Leo. The film isn’t afraid of getting a little weird as Sandler plays a lizard plotting his escape from the Florida school that has kept him cooped up for his entire life. However, in his quest to find freedom and teach the kids an important lesson about growing up and opening up about their problems, the visual gag that the streamer and even the artists pushed back on involved the anthropomorphic stopwatch background dancers behind Jason Alexander‘s character during a musical number:
“I got a lot of pushback on the dancing stopwatches,” Smigel told Weintraub. “Sometimes it was storyboard artists who get into these animation rules like, ‘Okay, maybe the animals talk here, but shouldn’t these kinds of animals not talk?’ And, ‘Now, this is a bridge too far. I’m sorry, dancing stopwatches? This is a break from reality.'” The creator of Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog was a little taken aback that an animated film with a Sandler lizard, a Bill Burr turtle, and plenty of absurd comedy was asked to reign it in. “And I’m like, ‘It’s an animated movie. We can do anything we want.’ But we actually cut that down a little bit because then the network, the Netflix people, also, were like, ‘People don’t like it.’ And there were some people in the audience on test screenings that hated the dancing stopwatches, but not a lot. I mean, the movie got great numbers, but there are a few people who don’t like it. So it’s like, ‘Really? It’s like five out of 100 people.’ We did trim it down a little bit, but it still works. It’s still there.”
‘Leo’ Succeeds Despite the Cuts
Although Smigel didn’t get to implement his exact vision, Leo is still a major hit for Netflix and everyone involved. The film is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 80% critics score, while audiences rate it at 93% positive. Viewership is through the roof for the streamer too. Following its November 21 debut, the musical comedy was the most viewed title of the week and even set a record for a Netflix animated film debut. It’s safe to say this little lizard’s story, directed by Smigel, Robert Marianetti, and David Wachtenheim and written by Smigel, Sandler, and Paul Sado, has legs.
Sandler and Burr take the lead in Leo alongside Cecily Strong as the fearsome 5th grade substitute teacher Mrs. Malkin. Smigel also joins a strong supporting cast featuring Alexander, Sadie, Sunny, and Jackie Sandler, Rob Schneider, Jo Koy, Allison Strong, Heidi Gardner, and Nick Swardson.
Leo is available to stream now on Netflix. Read our review here for what to expect from Sandler’s animated family film. Check out the trailer below.
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
