Leo

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Action Crime Drama

KOMOI RATING

2.5/5

User Rating

4/5

BO Verdict

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About

Review

Release Date:
19th October 2023

Producers:
Lalith Kumar

Actress:
Priya Anand, Punya Elizabeth, Trisha Krishnan

Actors:
Arjun Sarja, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Mansoor Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Thalapathy Vijay

Director:
Lokesh Kanagaraj

Writers:
Lokesh Kanagaraj

Music Directors:
Anirudh Ravichander

Singers:
Anirudh Ravichander, Revanth

Leo Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Adam Sandler as Leo (voice), Bill Burr as Squirtle (voice), Cecily Strong as Mrs. Malkin (voice), Jason Alexander as Jayda’s Dad (voice), Rob Schneider as Principal (voice), Sadie Sandler as Jayda (voice), Sunny Sandler as Summer (voice), Jackie Sandler as Jayda’s Mom (voice), Heidi Gardner as Eli’s Mom (voice), Nick Swardson as Bunny (voice), Nicholas Turturro as Anthony’s Dad (voice), Robert Smigel as Miniature Horse (voice), Jo Koy as Coach Komura (voice) Stephanie Hsu as Skyler’s Mom (voice), Kevin James as Ace (voice)

Director: Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, David Wachtenheim

Leo Movie Review Out! (Picture Credit: IMDb)

What’s Good: It kills your time without you having any major regret, and that’s its biggest achievement

What’s Bad: It’s confusing and confuses everyone!

Loo Break: Not really, if you know what you’re getting into

Watch or Not?: Only if you watch to watch anything just for the sake of watching anything

Language: English

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes

User Rating:

Leo (voiced by Adam Sandler) is a 74-year-old lizard who just learned that reptiles of his kind live for 75 years and faces an existential crisis about what he wants to do in his last year. He sits comfortably with Turtle the Squirtle (voiced by Bill Burr) in a class 5th tank overlooking the change of kids every year since 1949.

The current class teacher gets replaced by the authoritarian octogenarian Ms. Malkin (voiced by Cecily Strong), who is exactly like the typical strict oldie teacher anyone can imagine. Every week, a new student gets to take Leo home for ‘pet caring’ lessons, where he talks to them and gives them life lessons to overcome fear, insecurity, and other setbacks.

Leo Movie Review: Script Analysis

In talks since 2016, the ‘Adam Sandler Lizard Film’ is finally here, and it’s not really the perfect mix of Young Adult comical drama I was expecting it to be. I know I’m not its target audience. Still, even if I try to understand from a 5-year-old’s perspective this, I would definitely not get the death jokes like “Mummy’s gonna be gone someday,” an awkward Mr. Skin reference a character makes, or making fun of a pregnant teacher.

That made me think, which age group is this movie even targeting? From its cartoonish treatment, it looks like it’s for kids, then it suddenly turns into a musical in between, and then you feel it’s for teenagers, but the adult jokes in between aren’t really targeted at anyone below 13, at least. Who does even Adam want to target with this? It has its moments, but as mentioned, those will be enjoyed by separate people in scattered age groups.

Leo Movie Review: Star Performance

Adam Sandler continues to milk his SNL sketches’ babbling dramatic baritone voice as Leo to give the 74-year-old lizard an adorable likableness. It sounds like he had a lot of fun while voicing Leo, and that’s evident with the quirky output.

Bill Burr as Squirtle is just about what it should be, but that’s not up to the talent of what he could’ve done with better writing. Leo, being the titular character (and Adam being the writer and producer), Squirtle takes a backseat, which shouldn’t have been the case for a better film. Cecily Strong’s voice for Mrs. Malkin goes perfectly well for the uncompromising teacher she plays.

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Leo Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Thalapathy Vijay, Trisha, Arjun, Sanjay Dutt, Sandy Master, Gautham Vasudev Menon, George Maryan

Director: Lokesh Kanagaraj

What’s Good: Vijay & Anirudh save Lokesh Kanagraj’s ship from sinking all the way in

What’s Bad: Lacks emotional depth showcasing a done-to-death concept

Loo Break: It’s almost 3 hours and not a good film; you’ll need a few!

Watch or Not?: Only and only if you’re a Vijay fan!

Language: Tamil

Available On: Theatrical Release

Runtime: 2 Hours 44 Minutes

User Rating:

It opens following the textbook definition of “How to make your hero’s entry more heroic?” gives him a problem to solve that no one else was able to do. We meet Parthiban (Vijay), who’s an animal rescuer-cum-cafe owner – 2 extreme-end professions you would’ve never thought could be labored by one person.

So, because he’s an animal rescuer, he’ll, of course, get a wild animal to tame so that the audience should know the hero is here and he’ll be solving all the problems from now. Later, we get to know some people are targeting him, saying he’s not Parthiban but Leo Das, a Mafia boss who everyone is scared of. But what’s Parthiban’s reality? Is he an animal rescuer-cum-cafe owner or mafia-boss-cum-cafe owner?

Leo Movie Review: Script Analysis

Lokesh Kanagaraj teams up with Master & Vikram’s writer, Rathna Kumar, adding Jil Jung Juk’s Deeraj Vaidy, which doesn’t help in any way. I had a doubt when Loki kept saying how he had just rehashed the done-to-death concept but added a proper theatrical experience to it. I don’t know why I would expect something else when he has said this multiple times & that’s what he delivers. The story is so stale that even if the film is retitled as ‘Deo,’ it would still stink.

But, there are elevation moments, as promised, enriching the theatre experience for those particular scenes. The problem is, what apart from that? Because these high moments are too little even to count, and the rest of the time, you’re like, “Vikram chala do wapas!” (Play me Vikram again!). Manoj Paramahamsa smartly tried to hide the pretty ordinary VFX through his camera tricks & Philomin Raj through his editing skills. Still, whenever there are high-quantity VFX scenes, you’ll be able to feel its substandard quality in some sequences.

Even the hollow screenplay makes you lose the connection with the characters way sooner than you’d expect it to end. A prime example of a sub-par screenplay is Vijay telling the story of a serial killer, corpses on the ground to his school-going daughter, and closing her ears only when he wants to say “bleeding”. I mean, what parameter is this?

Leo Movie Review: Star Performance

Thalapathy Vijay has been getting very comfortable in doing such roles and, hence, getting pretty monotonous at what he does. I’ll never deny the amazing star power he has, but even we thought the same for Salman Khan, and we all saw what happened when he got repetitive.

Trisha adds zero value to the story or Parthiban’s life. She fights over him getting their ‘anniversary’ shirt torn, completely ignoring that he has saved so many lives while defeating a wild Hynea. Arjun is royally wasted, and so is Sanjay Dutt; I wish we could’ve seen more of both. Sandy Master creates the desired with his lunatic serial killer. He should’ve stayed the main villain till the end.

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