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Vivo Movie Review

Vivo is a 2021 animated adventure film directed by Kirk DeMicco. It is yet another solid Sony Animation outing released this year.

Sony is really on a roll this year, at least when it comes to quantity as the quality of these titles is questionable as judged by the mediocrity of ‘Wish Dragon’. But ‘Mitchells’ was definitely pretty good, and Vivo is one of their most authentic experiments in quite a while.

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First of all, it’s a totally Latin America-centric movie in storyline, setting and especially the music. I loved that different flavor and it pleasantly reminded me of the first ‘Rio’ movie. Although the opening promises a more serious drama, eventually the film settles comfortably at the family-friendly field. It is best for children for sure, but it’s fun and colorful enough that parents can enjoy it as well.

I really enjoyed the dynamic between the titular creature and Gabi. The fact that they did not understand each other, but both talked was also interesting. Vivo is so cute and definitely has an attitude and a great sense of humor. Gabi is your typical weirdo girl who is strange, yet inspiring for female viewers. She is familiar, but well developed and quite likable.

I did not care for the girls that act as the villains of the story. They were tiresome and forgettable. I did, though, love that snake as it reminded me so wonderfully of ‘The Jungle Book’. The spoonbill and his romance were also charming. It’s crazy, but this is the rare time when the mid section, the sidekicks and goofy humor as well as adventurous moments appealed to me more than the main storyline in the remainder of the flick.

Vivo is certainly only passable in the storytelling and dialogue department, but visually speaking, it’s just a joy to watch. The colors pop off the screen in gorgeous palettes while the jungle is particularly arresting. The more artistic hand-drawn scenes were scene-stealing.

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I liked the music as well, but to a degree. Lin-Manuel Miranda has gotten rather stale and repetitive with his signature musical style and the rap songs here were especially grating, but I did enjoy the more standard love ballads and especially the Latin-infused pop songs. I wished there had been more of those energetic numbers in the final product.