I read on Netflix: Adam Sandler and a powerful lesson about facing our fears | Review | Review | Review | Streaming | Bill Burr | Mauricio Castillo | Mexico | USA | Skip – Enter

Maybe you want, Adam Sandler He cannot act in a new film every month of the year. Due to logistics, health or lack of time, the 57-year-old New Yorker has to measure his appearance, and in those ways, the first thing that occupies his mind, of course, is how to be completely current, but without satisfying the consumer with mass goods.

This purpose can be seen in the three cases we mention below. “Hustle,” an inspirational film with a sports tone, releasing in mid-2022, is an example of Sandler as the protagonist. He amazes everyone with his remarkable skills on the field. Following this profile, Sandler most recently starred opposite Jennifer Aniston in the second installment of “Mystery on Board,” an eerie tale with a crime undertone that has no shortage of luxuries and touches of fortune.

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Get a little off the plan and say, “You’re not invited to my Bat Mitzvah!” (August 2023), a youth-oriented proposition in which Chandler acts but gives full importance to his two daughters. In the film (his wife also appears), the actor-producer plays a father who, between indifference and aristocratic touches, understands his teenage daughter’s every outburst.

Another odd look, no doubt, “Leo”, a proposal published on Netflix a few days ago and it moves further from the formats already described above. Considered by some to be an animated musical comedy, the film features the famous ‘Sandman’ voicing an old iguana inserted into the final year of a primary school classroom. He is the producer and co-writer of the script in the story.

Obviously, Chandler doesn’t show his face here, and this actor is different from what we’re used to. However, this in no way means that the film – produced by his iconic production company Happy Madison – is not inspired by his style. Perhaps for that reason, and for other details discussed below, it has been a top 10 favorite on Netflix since its release.

Directed by Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim, “Leo” tells the story of a 74-year-old iguana who spends his days inside a simulated classroom at a fictional Fort Myers school in Florida (USA). This little lizard is accompanied by a tortoise called Squirrel, whose personality is complicit and overly ‘realistic’.

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The tape, which lasts over 100 minutes, quickly reveals its keys from the beginning, only through the voice, which we can hear. Leo “Starting tomorrow” he has to get up early again because school classes start. “Calm down, you slept 95% of the summer,” the squirrel replies. We’ll find out in a few seconds Leo Apparently he’s overweight, he’s nowhere near a ‘healthy’ diet, and he doesn’t want a life where exercise is a priority.

Secondary characters follow the introduction of the protagonist. In our region we are faced with what is called sixth form. These dozen little ones are led by Professor Salinas, who, due to her advanced stage of pregnancy, must soon give up her position as a substitute. However, the most important thing here is when one of the secondary characters makes an unexpected comment about the iguana: she’s getting old. This is where the Netflix film takes its strength: our protagonist fears that death is imminent, so he begins to share his knowledge.

This isn’t Adam Sandler’s first foray into animated films. However, this is the first time he’s been so deeply involved in the story, and one of the ways this experience feels has to do with the tone of humor the film has. Of course its target audience – the proud people at home – “Leo” abandon the focus on loud flattery or mockery (a hallmark of many ‘Sandman’ films). The mouth speaks The new, though innocent, takes us, therefore, through an experience that is sometimes described as an undeniable welcome.

An example of tape taking care of a scene would be good Leo He tries to count his age on his fingers, and suddenly Skirtle (always in a much bolder state than the old iguanas) says something else, “I’ll tell him,” “But there are children now. .” Immediately, the Turtle – voiced by comedian Bill Burr in the original version and Mexican comedian Mauricio Castillo in the Spanish version – looks at the screen and makes it clear that he doesn’t mean anything bad, but “He’s referring. To his line!”.

If humor is a first pillar”Leo”, there are other factors that are important. The primary is associated with a multiplicity of secondary characters that cluster around the primary. At the substitute teacher’s initiative, each child was required to take home a pet throughout the weekend. What should have been almost a ‘lab’ job turns into the complete opposite when our little protagonist reveals his big secret to every schoolboy: he knows how to talk.

In this release we see a different approach than the average movie with fictional roots: watching an animal talk is no longer news. If it is, the effect lasts for a few seconds. What immediately stands out here is the one-of-a-kind parade of personalities and conventions represented by the sixth-graders at Fort Myers Elementary.

A (older) daughter who talks a lot but doesn’t listen to others. A child who suffers from parental overprotection. A girl defends her parents’ eccentricity, but deep down she doesn’t fully understand them. A kid who seems to unleash his frustration by abusing his classmates. A super-talented girl who doesn’t fit into the world she inhabits. Among the many differences, these minors seem to hide common features: insecurity, but above all fear of the unknown. On screen, we have many personalities that certainly coexist today in classrooms in America, China or Peru. It has endless variations Leo He addresses us with his slow gait, enormous eyes and instructive words.

At some point in the plot, as always happens, everyone knows that by the end of the year they can be forgotten. Leo Why does he insist on being close to those children, chatting with them and clarifying their doubts? (Be careful, in perhaps the film’s most tender and brutally realistic moment, every schoolboy walks out of the classroom, leaving behind a cell phone. At his ‘home.’) Leo, to always maintain contact). Without thinking twice, in a phrase that suggests the most complete honesty, the septuagenarian iguana replies: “So my funeral will be full of moving memories and events.”