Adam Sandler’s Newest Role: A Cranky Old Animated Lizard in ‘Leo’

That’s Bill Burr (left) and Adam Sandler above in a still from the latest Netflix animated movie, Leo. (I don’t know who is voicing the little bugs.)

Sandler, who also produced and co-wrote the film with Robert Smigel (the longtime Sandler collaborator who is also known as the man behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog), has previously appeared in animated form as a wacky Count Dracula, and a small-town schlub who looked exactly like Adam Sandler. So why not voice a cranky old lizard who realizes he has wasted his life as a elementary school class pet and endeavors to live out his final years experiencing the world? Makes total sense to me.

The twist here, as the new trailer reveals: Sandler’s Leo can actually speak English, but he and his fellow animals keep this fact secret, a la the toys in Toy Story. (Come to think of it, it is also the premise of Zookeeper, the Kevin James comedy produced by Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions.) Anyway, here’s that trailer:

The voice cast beyond Sandler, Burr, and Smigel includes Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler (who both recently starred in Sandler’s other 2023 Netflix comedy, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah), Rob Schneider, Jo Koy, Nick Swardson, and Stephanie Hsu.

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

Actor and comedian Adam Sandler (Hotel Transylvania, The Wedding Singer) delivers signature laughs in this coming-of-age animated musical comedy about the last year of elementary school – as seen through the eyes of a class pet. Jaded 74-year-old lizard Leo (Sandler) has been stuck in the same Florida classroom for decades with his terrarium-mate turtle (Bill Burr). When he learns he only has one year left to live, he plans to escape to experience life on the outside but instead gets caught up in the problems of his anxious students — including an impossibly mean substitute teacher. It ends up being the strangest but most rewarding bucket list ever…

Leo premieres on Netflix on November 21.