'Vivo' Review
PG: Some thematic elements and mild action
Runtime: 1 Hr and 35 Minutes
Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Kirk DeMicco
Writer: Quiara Alegría Hudes, Kirk DeMicco
Cast: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ynairaly Simo, Zoe Saldana, Juan de Marcos González, Michael Rooker, Brian Tyree Henry, Nicole Byer, Gloria Estefan
Release Date: August 6, 2021
Netflix
Vivo follows a one-of-kind kinkajou (Lin-Manuel Miranda), who spends his days playing music to the crowds in a lively square with his beloved owner Andrés (Juan de Marcos González). Though they may not speak the same language, Vivo and Andrés make a perfect duo through their common love of music. But when tragedy strikes shortly after Andrés receives a letter from the famous Marta Sandoval (Gloria Estefan), inviting her old partner to her farewell concert with the hope of reconnecting, it’s up to Vivo to deliver a message that Andrés never could: A love letter to Marta, written long ago, in the form of a song. Yet in order to get to Marta, who lives a world apart, Vivo will need the help of Gabi (newcomer Ynairaly Simo) — an energetic tween who bounces to the beat of her own offbeat drum — to fulfill his owner’s wishes.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is like a hydra monster who simply can’t be beaten. You cut off one head of a project he’s working on and another one grows, ready to be released right around the corner. He has four projects with his name on them in some capacity this very year (In The Heights, Encanto, Vivo, and Tick, Tick... Boom!) That being said, Vivo is a project that went through a perilous journey for the past decade. The film was originally being developed at DreamWorks based on a pitch Lin-Manuel Miranda did in 2009, shortly after the success of In The Heights’ Broadway performance. The movie was being made until 2015 when DreamWorks did some internal restructuring due to some of their features failing to make a satisfactory profit. A ton of the projects in development, Vivo included, were dropped. But in 2016, Sony Pictures Animation swung in and acquired the film and put it back in development. Out of all the DreamWorks Animation features that had a falling out around this era, Vivo was the only one to find a new life.
Sony Pictures Animation has had unbelievable range as far as film output, unlike anything I’ve seen before. The studio went from a sci-fi comedy to a Chinese folktale to, now, their first-ever musical feature. In terms of storytelling and animation style, each film is so distinct in tone and presentation, yet all visually spectacular in their own right. So it’s not surprising to say that Vivo is a beautifully animated musical with its own stylistic flair that leaves you breathless. From a visual standpoint, the film’s style is similar to Kirk DeMicco’s previous feature, The Croods, and Pixar’s Luca where it mixes its own vibrant character designs full of bug-eyed, rounded, and angular features with state-of-the-art lifelike detail in lighting and texture to make it cinematic as hell. Like The Croods, Vivo has visual consulting from legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins and his influence shows with the use of lighting in every scene. Because the film is a musical, the lighting is thoroughly visualized to add an extra layer of artistry to some of the sequences, especially to match the emotional status of Vivo himself.
The film features eye-popping character designs, ranging from the people of Cuba and Miami to the animals who inhabit the Everglades, who all come in such unique shapes and sizes. As the film opens in the heart of Havana, Cuba, the area is populated by Cubans of all skin tones — light to dark — to authentically represent the city itself alongside breathtaking and strikingly detailed production design. I love the design of the central characters, specifically Vivo’s owner Andrés and his great grand-niece Gabi. Andrés is an old Cuban man with detailed wrinkles and an eerily accurate physique who loves this honey bear as if it was his son. With Gabi, you have this new-age punk-styled 10-year-old Latina with purple hair and an exuberant personality to match.
Apart from the character designs, the background designs of the various locations that Gabi and Vivo trek through are absolutely breathtaking. While most of the narrative takes place in Florida, production designer Carlos Zaragoza does his darndest to make every set piece visually stand out. Though many of the backgrounds delve into hyper-realism, especially in the Cuba and Everglade scenes, they’re brought to life with distinctive color and detail to make the film visually pop, and that’s not even including the fantastical musical sequences.
Say what you will about Lin-Manuel Miranda and his music, but when he puts his name on a project, he pours his soul into the music. The songs Miranda provides have so much life and love to them and they honestly have to be some of his best work since Moana. Though some songs are more impactful than others and his signature rap and lyricism are present, there are an ample amount of songs that have more personality and soul than his other recent works. With Miranda being the voice of the titular kinkajou, I was blown away by the remarkable improvement he has made as a vocalist. Seriously, from the 2016 taping of Hamilton to 2021’s Vivo, there’s been much growth in Miranda’s voice. Given that he’s developed this project for a whole freaking decade, you feel the effort through the songs and the lyrics. There are a few Guajira and Mambo songs by Cuban performers Juan de Marcos González and Gloria Estefan, but the film also features other genres of music like pop, techno, and rap, which all surprisingly fit.
Given this is Sony Animation and director Kirk DeMicco’s first musical feature, the direction on all the musical sequences are full of life and personality. Each musical sequence personalizes the worldview and perspective of the characters. Since we’re in Sony Animation’s new renaissance era of features post-Spider-Verse, they take bold, experimental risks combining — and sometimes straight-up delving into — stellar 2D animation with a wide array of art styles. One that’s very prominent is the Andrés-centric ballads, for those sequences include 2D art styles that are influenced by old-school Cuban album covers and posters. The musical sequences venture into different art styles outside of just CGI in order to make these songs stand out amongst the crowd. I kept rewinding specific musical numbers to admire the detail of each set-piece, for they have such richness to them that not even Disney animation would dare to explore. I know I’ve said this with each animated-to-streaming feature today, but GOD, I WANNA SEE THIS ON A BIG SCREEN.
I wanna say this plainly and nicely because I adore Lin-Manuel’s music in the film, corny raps and rhyming scheme and all: he feels so miscast as the titular lead. Hearing his voice on this adorable small creature doesn’t really make sense. This isn’t his first voice acting gig either, for he voiced Gizmoduck in the underrated DuckTales reboot, but for some reason, his voice got under my skin in Vivo. Maybe it’s how this character was written or his personality where he constantly complains whenever life throws him an unexpected obstacle, but with Miranda delivering his lines in a somewhat irritating high pitch, it takes a while for this cute little honey bear’s voice to resonate. What grounds him is newcomer Ynairaly Simo as the voice of Gabi. I loved their “cynic versus upbeat optimist” dynamic where they are vastly different in personality and outlook while processing their grief. Ynairaly Simo breathes so much life and personality into Gabi who has such an amazing archetype and personality that she ends up elevating my emotions towards Vivo more so than Vivo himself.
Much like other animated features, Vivo is your standard “point A to point B” narrative with formulaic plot points we’ve seen dozens time before where you’re there for the journey more so than the destination itself. While I do like how the film is structured, it becomes a different movie once the two leads separate in the Everglades and Vivo comes across other animals, including a large Everglades python (voiced by a perfectly cast Michael Rooker) and two socially awkward but lovey-dovey spoonbills (Brian Tyree Henry and Nicole Byer, who I didn’t even know could sing!) It plays a huge part in his arc to find his courage, but it takes such a long time to get to other animals. For the most part, you’re with Vivo as he makes observational commentary on his journey while nobody around him understands him.
This year in animation has made me groan ample times, wishing that these visually incredible and emotionally rich animated features got the theatrical treatment they deserved. Vivo is no exception. It’s a vibrant, cinematic, and unbelievably gorgeous animated musical with a style that simply stands out as one of the year’s best animated features. It pains me to see how long it took Netflix to even promote this special movie because Sony Pictures Animation did not come to play this year. With The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Vivo in this post-Spider-Verse era, the animation studio keeps changing the game, providing one-of-a-kind entertainment for everyone. Well… this doesn’t include their upcoming adult animation slate. God, I hope Sony doesn't sell those to Netflix.
