Adam Sandler’s senior class pet is on a mission to live out his last days in the world outside his elementary school terrarium, but when he escapes he finds something even better in his students in the first full trailer of Lion.
On Thursday, Netflix released the first full trailer for the animated musical, which also stars Bill Burr, Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, Rob Schneider, Jo Koy and Stephanie Hsu. The latest look at the coming-of-age comedy features Sandler’s lizard and Burr’s turtle, both jaded and desperate for a change after a visitor to their class suggests Leo looks old.
“No animal wants to be locked up,” you hear Sandler’s Lion lament. “I wasted my life!”
So when the opportunity to break away into the wider world presents itself as a take-home assignment for students, Leo jumps at it. But his plan to go home with a student, escape and “really live” is disrupted when a child discovers he can really talk.
Leo soon discovers that while the world has something to offer him, he also has things to offer his elementary school class. With each student who takes him home, the 74-year-old lizard finds a new way to help them cope with the pain of growing up. From tackling growing back hair to people thinking you’re weird, Leo offers every child the kind of wisdom that only an aging lizard can provide.
Eventually, the class pet discovers that what he was looking for was right in front of him all along. “You made me feel like I could do anything,” says one of Leo’s students in the trailer, before adding, “These are tough times, but these are your best years, believe me.”
Leo also stars Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler, Jackie Sandler, Heidi Gardner, Nick Swardson, Nicholas Turturro and Robert Smigel. Directed by Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim, the animated film was written by Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler and Paul Sado, and produced by Sandler’s Happy Madison company.
Lion debuts on Netlfix on November 21.