I am a big fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work, so I was excited when I heard Vivo was going to come out. When I finally watched it I was split on how I thought of it.

Vivo is a movie about a music-loving Kinkajou who goes on a journey from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida to give a song to his friend’s lost love.

While I liked the animation style of the film, it looks a bit different compared to other animated films that use CGI; it looked like it had some hand-drawn effects, like Gabi’s hair for example. I also liked the characters because they were entertaining and fun, My favorite would be that girl scout trio in the chase scene since they were hilarious there.  I also liked the music as well, It is both catchy and can tug on your heartstrings. And I will say my favorite part is the opening as the scene looks so majestic seeing the animation and music run so smoothly. The vocals are amazing.

I do wish the movie was longer than an hour and forty-three minutes because the movie seemed to be a bit short. It felt like it introduced new characters but didn’t develop them enough. Some were for minor antagonist roles and others were just to be obstacles. There were characters I didn’t like such as the pair Roseate Spoonbill birds. They are built up for a Deus Ex Machina to save Vivo from falling and they were enjoyable though they seemed to be a bit annoying because it didn’t feel like they had a lot of personality. However, I will admit the first scene with Dancarino (the male Roseate Spoonbill) and Valentina (the female Roseate Spoonbill) interacting with each other was funny.

I really like Vivo, but the movie had so much potential and it felt unsatisfying that the movie didn’t deliver on that.