It was with some apprehension that I sat down to watch Vivo, the latest movie to feature the musical stylings of Lin-Manuel Miranda. I‘ve not yet seen In the Heights, but I had seen “the discourse” around its release and the issues with it’s casting. Signs that maybe after Hamilton and Moana, some of his musical signatures might be getting a little stale. Would Vivo provide further evidence for his detractors?
Things didn’t get off to a promising start. The opening number felt “So Lin-Manuel,” and I was put off by the design of the film. I didn’t find the titular Kinkajou, with his jaunty hat and scarf, overly appealing, and disliked the designs of the humans surrounding him, with their big heads, big eyes, and small mouths. Like characters from Hotel Transylvania. I was ready to write off the film and settle in for a ho-hum children’s movie, but thankfully directors Kirk DeMicco and Brandon Jeffords had much more in store.
A Mission of Love
Vivo is a Kinkajou, not a monkey (“kinkajous are carnivores in the family Procyonidae, which includes raccoons, coatis, ringtails, and olingos”), who somehow made his way to Cuba (Kinkajou’s are usually found in tropical rainforests from southern Mexico through Brazil.)
Taken under the wing of local musician, Andrés (Juan de Marcos González of Buena Vista Social Club fame who we talked to about the film here), Vivo has, what he considers a great life, performing with Andrés in the local square. Until the arrival of a fateful letter.
Andrés old flame, Marta Sandoval (Gloria Estefan), who left Cuba years before, to find fame as a singer, is retiring, and has invited Andrés to her final farewell concert in Miami.
Due to reasons that will be obvious to anyone familiar with the darker tropes of family animated films, it falls to Vivo to make it to Miami and deliver a message that Andrés was unable to give to Marta all those years ago; a song he wrote for her. Along the way he’ll have to deal with Andrés’ irrepressible grandniece Gabi, who has some issues of her own to deal with.
Sony Pictures Animation is responsible for an unusual mix of films. Yes, they produced the stellar Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and the fun The Mitchells vs the Machines, but they’re also responsible for The Emoji Movie and the Angry Birds sequel (the first film may not have been a masterpiece but it was so much more fun than the second).
With Vivo they’ve produced something in between those poles but thankfully much closer to the “good” end.
Lin-Manuel and Ynairaly Simo are great as the central pair, the teenager giving Miranda a run for his money, despite the film establishing that while Vivo talks, the human characters don’t understand him.
Gabi is a weird kid, but unlike so many other animated protagonists she’s perfectly fine with it and wishes her mother, Rosa (Zoe Saldana), would stop forcing her to hang out with the girls from the Sand Dollar Girl Scouts and just let her get on with doing her own thing.
Visually, the film holds the eye, moving between Cuba, the Florida Keys, and the Everglades, with wry sense of physical comedy. Things really get interesting, however, when the film stars to play with the conventions of animation.
New Meets Old
Unlike The Mitchells vs the Machines, which took a Snapchat/Instagram sticker-like approach to mixing 2D elements with its 3D world, some of the most striking moments in Vivo see the film transform into what appears to be stylish 2D-style animation. It’s an effect made all the more fun as Vivo himself does not like it exclaiming, “what’s happening,“ as the world collapses to flat shades.
It’s one of the features that elevate Vivo from the standard “kids animation” from studios other than the big hitters (Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, etc.). The other one being the music.
Yes, some of the tracks here do feature Lin-Manuel “sing-rapping” in his unmistakable high speed style (like that opening track), but he has still delivered a soundtrack full of songs that will stick with you long after the credits have rolled.
Beat of Its Own Drum
The biggest earworm being the aural assault that is “My Own Drum,“ a Missy Elliot tinged barrage that, combined with a disorienting trip inside the mind of Gabi, made me want to physically run away from the film. Naturally I now can’t get the song out of my head. (Parents take note: You should probably check out “My Own Drum” before exposing your children to it, because you will not be hearing the end of this one any time soon. Make sure you can handle it.)
“My Own Drum” also reveals an interesting point. Despite the Cuban flavour to much of the music, there’s still plenty on offer for those who didn’t fall in love with Buena Vista Social Club. (Sorry!)
“One more song” is a classic “I want” song, that feels like an audition piece for the Oscar for Best Song.
“Love’s Gonna Pick You Up (And Never Put You Down)” is the funky pop, love song that you’re sure you’ve heard a thousand times before (but is original to the film), and “Keep the Beat” builds beautifully through the film and will leave you with a lump in your throat before it’s end.
Slightly less enjoyable is a diversion in the third act that separates the central pair just as things were coming together and introduces some unnecessary spoonbills with romantic problems. Still, this section does give us “Love’s Gonna Pick You up (And Never Put You Down),” and an opportunity for a wild Michael Rooker to appear as a giant snake, so I guess it all balances out.
After an inauspicious start, Vivo unfurls into a heartfelt mix of 2D and 3D styles, Cuban music, and songs that you WILL NOT get out of your head. Like Gabi, Vivo has a style all of it’s own and is perfectly happy with it.
Highly recommended.
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