Leo

Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim directed it together, the first feature for Marianetti and Wachtenheim. The classroom’s old resident is called a lizard nearly everywhere, the BBFC classification note included, but he is not one: Leo is a tuatara, the only surviving species of the order Rhynchocephalia and native to New Zealand. Its nearest living relatives are lizards and snakes, yet it is neither. The plot comes out of that lifespan: Leo hears tuatara live to 75, finds he is 74 and decides to get out; at the end wild tuatara tell him he can pass 110. The classroom is in Fort Myers, so a New Zealand reptile ages in a Florida terrarium. The animation came from Australia’s Animal Logic for Netflix Animation. Robert Smigel wrote the songs, Geoff Zanelli the score. It screened at Annecy in June 2023 before reaching Netflix, and Adam Sandler won Favorite Male Voice from an Animated Movie at the 2024 Kids’ Choice Awards. A good fit if you want the fear of dying spoken about plainly, and a section handed to each child in turn. Not for a viewer who would rather skip the BBFC’s PG advice with a young child; the substitute teacher throws ninja stars, pulls out a knuckle duster, and Leo’s tail is cut off with a knife.