Listener's Choice #2: Leo

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, this is Henry with the Film Buds podcast. Please make sure to rate review and subscribe

[00:00:06] Let's get to our second

[00:00:08] listeners choice

[00:00:10] Special if that's what you want to call it

[00:00:12] Which if anyone out there would like to see something reviewed on the show in whatever way

[00:00:16] Please use the contact information in the show notes

[00:00:19] We'd love to hear any suggestions ideas whatever and thank you very much to the people who have

[00:00:25] So this one comes from Brady and I'll read the message first

[00:00:29] Says hey Henry. Have you by chance seen the new ish?

[00:00:33] Adam Sandler movie Leo on Netflix

[00:00:35] Wanted to pass along for your listeners pick show curious as to your thoughts love the pod sincerely Brady

[00:00:42] Thanks Brady really appreciate it man

[00:00:44] Means a lot

[00:00:46] This was a first time watch for me. I just watched it last night

[00:00:50] so Leo is a Netflix original is

[00:00:56] Directed by Robert Marri and Eddie Robert Smigel and David watch it time. Sorry if I said those names wrong

[00:01:04] Stars Adam Sandler Bill Burr Cecily strong Jason Alexander Rob Schneider Allison strong

[00:01:10] most of Adam Sandler's family and

[00:01:13] The synopsis is a 74 year old lizard named Leo and his turtle friend decide to escape from the terrarium

[00:01:20] Of a Florida school classroom where they have been living for decades

[00:01:25] So I had heard about this one when it came out. I think it came out late in

[00:01:30] 2023 so not too long ago was curious. I like Adam Sandler a lot even his biggest duds

[00:01:36] I will watch whatever he does. He just has that effect. I think and he does on a lot of people it seems and

[00:01:44] I also like one-off animated films that aren't done by Disney or Pixar or Dreamworks

[00:01:50] I like weird one-off stories and they're not part of a franchise at least not yet

[00:01:54] So I was in some ways looking forward to it

[00:01:57] I heard fairly mixed things so I didn't really know what to expect and with Adam Sandler

[00:02:02] You never really know sometimes the quality is top-notch masterpiece and then sometimes it's horrendous

[00:02:09] But long story short. I thought the movie was alright. I thought it was passable

[00:02:14] I think that it started off a little weak a little slow

[00:02:18] So it took me a little while to really get vibing with it

[00:02:22] But the biggest thing and I'll get into stuff that I liked about it

[00:02:26] Which were surprising some things but the big issue and I don't know if I'm in the minority here with this movie

[00:02:33] but the pacing of this movie was

[00:02:37] horrendous like it's about an hour and 45 minutes which is already too long for a movie like this

[00:02:42] It should be 80 minutes

[00:02:44] But I don't know if it's a script issue a

[00:02:47] Direction issue an editing issue whatever but this movie felt like two and a half hours long and I don't know why

[00:02:54] It did feel like that necessarily, but I was struggling to

[00:03:00] Maintain focus in this film at points like the first act felt really long

[00:03:04] I was thinking oh wow we're already halfway through probably and I checked the runtime and we were only like 20 minutes in

[00:03:10] It's like what the hell so I think that especially the first act and then the third act going way too long

[00:03:17] And so that was something. I don't really have

[00:03:21] Issue with typically with animated films, but that was my big big point big flaw

[00:03:27] With this film and so that definitely

[00:03:32] brought the star rating way down

[00:03:34] Which is too bad because I think one really big point in the movie that I

[00:03:40] liked or a concept and idea is

[00:03:43] the main focus of the movie is

[00:03:45] Leo's character the lizard Adam Sandler and he's taken home by the different kids in the classroom like a fifth grade class and

[00:03:54] They all discover that he can talk and then they end up opening up to him

[00:04:00] talking about their problems their worries their

[00:04:04] Insecurities whatever it might be and over time the kids grow more and more

[00:04:09] happy and because they feel like they have someone that they can open up to and connect with and so I think

[00:04:15] It really does emphasize

[00:04:18] the importance of listening to children in a variety of ways and also making sure that they have someone to open up to

[00:04:24] That they can feel like they can express feelings towards and so I think that's something I've never really seen surprisingly

[00:04:31] in an animated film or at least to that extent because it really does

[00:04:35] Show you like a variety of how kids think and what they might be dealing with and what as adults

[00:04:42] We may not be thinking of necessarily so all that really worked for me

[00:04:47] It really hit for sure that was the main like second act

[00:04:51] But sadly everything else around it really was sluggish

[00:04:56] So I feel like when it diverted away from that

[00:04:59] I was a little

[00:05:01] Flatlined and it's really not that funny. It's mostly Adam Sandler just doing a funny voice

[00:05:06] It's one of those performances not that he's bad, but I think the writing

[00:05:11] humor wise and the performances are a little

[00:05:14] Average not much. I really didn't laugh at all in this movie, which is alright

[00:05:19] Not a big deal, but I wish I had been funnier

[00:05:22] And the animation overall like it looks good. It's very brightly lit

[00:05:27] But at the same time I sort of didn't like that because it almost felt like I was watching a computer game or something like

[00:05:34] I was watching someone play the Sims

[00:05:37] so

[00:05:38] Quality wise it looks good. I just found it over time

[00:05:41] The bright lighting really bright lighting

[00:05:44] to be a little repetitive and boring after a while

[00:05:48] So it's not one I would rush out and watch

[00:05:51] Like it's got some good heart to it and some good intentions. I think despite the flaws surrounding it

[00:05:58] You could do worse. I think it's one of adam sandler's at least more

[00:06:03] thoughtful

[00:06:04] Films as of late, especially when it comes to comedy

[00:06:08] And you can definitely see his business model not to say it's a bad thing because

[00:06:11] business goes in with art most of the time successful art

[00:06:14] And where he wants to do like all right, let's do a kid's movie

[00:06:17] All right, let's do an indie art house film like spaceman that just came out. Let's do a raunchy already film

[00:06:23] You know, so he definitely has a great reach and sense of

[00:06:27] growing his audience

[00:06:29] And not that's not a bad thing. That's smart really so

[00:06:33] Yeah, I would give it a look if you're curious if you like Adam Sandler if you'd like animated films

[00:06:38] It's worth a watch

[00:06:41] Thanks again Brady for the recommendation

[00:06:44] Appreciate it and again as always send

[00:06:47] questions comments suggestions

[00:06:50] Our way for the listener's choice or whatever else it might be would love to hear from everybody out there

[00:06:56] So that is a three out of five