Posted by You see Leo on the first day it came out of Netflix, and you already know it will be one of the year’s biggest successes. The film produced by Adam Sandler landed on the platform in November 2023, a vision for the entire family and a way to teach a couple of important lessons to our kids. The wise lizard was able to help the students with their little problems, and the movie still managed to make us smile. Among its most memorable aspects, viewers couldn’t help noticing the hilarious way kindergarteners are drawn in Leo, and that became something that needed to be explained, together with the many hidden messages of the plot.
The wisdom pearls Leo gives to every student are all educational messages that help the children deal with their big little problems: it’s basically primary school explained for everyone. Every difficulty seems unbearable at their age, but that’s just because so few people are genuinely able to get close to these kids, listen to them, and put their vision into a different perspective. Like what Leo the lizard does with the bully in one of the most meaningful moments of the movie. The kid explains he feels different, less intelligent than the others, and that reveals a common aspect of every bully: insecurity. But the film says something more: that kid is bullying others to avoid drawing attention to the fact that there are many things he doesn’t know. And Leo tells him the simplest yet most effective thing: there will always be many things we won’t know, it doesn’t make you anything “less” than others.
It’s a perfect example of how Leo manages to make the children see things in a new way, and that’s how the movie has explained the interaction between experience and youth. We see it many times in the movie, with the rich girl, the spoiled kid, the sad daughter, and so on. Up to the point that Leo gives up his dream of escaping civilized life, living at the Everglades. No, Leo discovered he loves being around kids, symbolizing the patience and generosity we all acquire with kids when we get older.
Analyzing how the different ages are portrayed in the movie, people couldn’t avoid noticing the hilarious appearance of kindergarteners. The whole movie is a beautiful metaphor for the potential every adult has if they really get closer to children, but the truth is that this lovely concept works only after a precise age. Leo showed it perfectly: when it comes to kindergarteners, it’s just a whole different story. It’s not the time to teach any complex concept or life lesson. With them, it’s all about energy. It’s about helping them channel it, driving their enthusiasm, and supporting them whenever their emotions become too big to handle. That’s why kindergarten teachers have a different set of skills than the others: it’s much more about emotions, much less about words.
This is why the movie Leo drew the kindergarteners in that specific way. Every time they jump into a scene, they are like little hurricanes that will permanently erase any hope for order. With the choice of depicting kindergarteners in such an explosive shape, the movie has explained how every age has its peculiarities. As adults, we need to constantly adjust to the children’s needs, following how they evolve while the kids grow up. This is also why someone wondered if there will ever be a sequel of Leo with the kindergarteners: there is still no rumor about it, but if that’s the main context, it would be a totally different kind of movie. And the film would still have to find another way to let Leo teach something to older kids and adults.
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