245. Vivo; movie review

 

 

VIVO

Cert U

95 mins

BBFC advice: Contains very mild bad language, threat, violence

Ever since I watched Jungle Book as a child, I have been a sucker for singing cartoon animals.

And I am pleased to say that Netflix's Vivo picks up the much-passed-down baton with gusto.

Kirk DeMicco and Brandon Jeffords' film centres on a musical kinkajou which is apparently a rare member of the raccoon family distinguished by a long tail, short muzzle and low-set, rounded ears (yep, I didn't know that either).

Anyway, Vivo (voiced by Lin-Manuel Miranda) is the best friend of Andrés (Juan de Marcos González), an elderly Cuban and together they have regular shows in the square of the town where they live.

Life is hunky-dory until Andrés receives a letter from a long-lost love asking him to perform at her farewell show in Miami.

He then reveals to Vivo how he had never told the singer of his feelings but that he had written a love song he had never shown to her.

For a reason, I shall not reveal why the reunion can't happen but Vivo sets about trying to get the tune to Florida and ends up in dazzling fast-paced adventures along the way.

During his race against time, he is accompanied by Andrés' feisty and little-bit-wacky great-niece (Ynairaly Simo).

She likes a plan but it has to be carried out away from the eyes and ears of her melodramatic mum (Zoe Saldana) and often go wrong.

Thus, buses, boats, exotic animals and a girl scout troop become part of the chase.

Along the way, there are some cracking songs, reminding me a tad of La La Land's soundtrack.

Oh, and did I mention, Gloria Estefan? Yep, she throws in a song too.

Reasons to watch: Lively, amusing animated chase musical

Reasons to avoid: No big laughs

Laughs: Only chuckles

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None 

Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? Vivo is Zoe Saldana's fourth animated film, after The Book of Life (2014), My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) and Missing Link (2019).

The final word. Kirk DeMicco: "The thing about Lin (-Manuel Miranda)'s music in this film is that it crosses so many musical identities, it's not just one tone or idea. Yes, we start with mambo but then we go into R&B and hip-hop, and come back into a ballad, it crossed all these divides that we were thinking we wanted to play with the visuals within the songs." CBR.com

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