Leo Christian Movie Review (2023)

Guidance: Talk Together

Leo is light in tone but includes rude humor, gross-out jokes, and some peril. Its strongest value for Christian families is the way it opens up conversations about fear, change, friendship, and where children turn when they feel anxious.

Why This Guidance Level

Leo is a cheerful family comedy with mild surface content, but it is not just harmless noise. The rude jokes, gross-out humor, and schoolyard insults are frequent enough to notice, and the story also leans hard on themes of anxiety, self-image, and coping with change. For Christian families, the bigger question is the film’s message: it encourages kids to open up and be kind, yet it also frames identity and emotional security in fairly secular terms, so a short conversation afterward can help children think about fear, belonging, and hope in Christ.

Faith & Worldview Perspective

The film affirms empathy, inclusion, and the value of honest conversation, and it treats children’s fears with real tenderness. At the same time, it presents self-worth and emotional growth in a mostly horizontal way, with little sense of repentance, wisdom, or hope rooted in Christ.

Truths Reflected

• Children need trusted adults and friends who will listen.
• Fear and change are real parts of growing up.

Tensions to Discuss

• The film leans on self-acceptance and peer approval more than identity grounded in God.
• It treats emotional healing as a human process without pointing to Jesus Christ as the deeper source of hope.

Content & Discernment Markers

Occult & Spiritual Content

• Occult material does not stand out here. The movie stays in classroom-comedy territory rather than supernatural or mystical themes.

Sexuality & Relationships

• There is mild puberty and relationship chatter, including a child joking about not liking boys yet and another line about wanting to “look like ducks.” The tone is immature rather than explicit, but parents may want to discuss how the film handles growing up and body changes.

Identity Themes

• The fifth-grade kids worry about cliques, appearance, and being accepted, and one song celebrates being the “biggest kid on campus.” The movie pushes inclusion and self-confidence, which is positive, but parents may want to discuss identity in light of who God says we are.

Violence & Intensity

• The film includes classroom peril, animal mishaps, and threat language, but it stays in a comic register. The broader story also carries some heavier animal suffering references and fear around injury, which may matter more for sensitive children.

Language & Humour

• Language is mostly mild but frequent, with insults and crude phrases like “motormouths,” “weirdo,” “stupid,” “snotty,” “jeez,” and “Oh my God.” The humor also leans on vomiting, poop jokes, and other gross-out bits that some families will find distracting.

Other Content Notes

• The story centers on a lizard who learns he has only one year left to live, and the children around him face anxiety about fifth grade, divorce, and growing up. That emotional weight gives the movie more depth than a typical gag-driven kids’ comedy.

Notable Moments

• Fear of fifth grade: The children sing about the “last year of elementary school” and worry about getting older, changing routines, and moving into fifth grade. It sets up the film’s main emotional theme of fear around growing up.

  “Last year of elementary school”

• Classroom exclusion: The kids make a friend list and casually leave others out, showing how quickly cliques form and how social pressure shapes the classroom. Parents may want to talk about kindness and inclusion.

  “Yes, with no weirdos on it.”

• Gross-out disruption: A student vomits in class after a crude joke, and the moment is played for laughs. It is not intense, but it is one of the film’s clearest examples of bodily humor.

  “Sorry, guys. [sniffs] Man, that smells good.”

• Trusted adult theme: The film’s moral center encourages kids to share fears and problems with a trusted adult or friend rather than keeping everything inside. That is a good opening for a conversation about wise counsel and Christian care.

  “Find a trusted adult or friend to listen to you.”

Discussion Prompts

• Fear and change: What parts of growing up make the kids in this movie nervous, and what helps them face those fears?
  • Biblical guidance: The Bible says we can bring our anxieties to God and trust Him with tomorrow instead of carrying fear alone.
  • Scripture: Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 6:34
• Identity and belonging: Why do the kids care so much about cliques and fitting in, and what would it look like to value people the way Jesus does?
  • Biblical guidance: Scripture teaches that our worth comes from being made by God, not from popularity or appearance.
  • Scripture: Genesis 1:27, 1 Samuel 16:7
• Words and humor: Which jokes in the movie felt funny, and which ones crossed into mean or gross territory?
  • Biblical guidance: Christians are called to let our speech build others up, not tear them down with insults or crude talk.
  • Scripture: Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 3:8
• Hope in Christ: When people feel scared about life, death, or the future, where does the movie point them, and where does Christian hope point us?
  • Biblical guidance: Jesus Christ gives a deeper hope than self-help or fitting in, because He meets our fear with His presence and promises.
  • Scripture: John 14:1-3, 1 Peter 1:3