Vivo (2021)

August 8, 2021 6:17 AM

A music-loving kinkajou embarks on the journey of a lifetime to fulfill his destiny and deliver a love song for an old friend.
posted by ellieBOA (3 comments total)

We put this on not knowing that Lin-Manuel Miranda had anything to do with it, and then we were confused about why the opening number sounded exactly like Hamilton. Killing off the old guy in the beginning felt cliched and unnecessary. There seems to be a weird anti-environmentalist slant to some of the jokes. I didn’t particularly enjoy the music, but If you liked Hamilton, you probably will. There’s a few good jokes for the parents hidden in here (“I need you at a three”) but otherwise this is a pretty unremarkable kid movie. The quality is pretty high for a “Netflix Original” and I’m sure in a different time this would have gotten a theatrical release.
posted by jordemort at 8:37 PM on August 9, 2021

To me, Moana is an animated Disney movie that LMM wrote some songs for, and Vivo is a LMM musical that happened to be animated. Both movies have the strengths and weaknesses of their respective categories.

It feels like the heart and soul of Vivo are at the beginning and the end, and the middle just felt like a whole bunch of obstacles were half-heartedly raised and overcome because the movie had to be two hours long. I like Brian Tyree Henry's voice, and Ynairly Simo was charming, but I wanted a little more substance in the middle section.

I am a huge fan of LMM and Missy Elliott, so of course I instantly fell in love with My Own Drum. I could play that one all day long. But Keep the Beat has grown on me a lot as I've been listening on Spotify. It feels like the slogging-through-the-pandemic anthem that I didn't know I needed:

All I can do when the road bends
Is lean into the curve
And all I can do when the tank's run dry
Is see what's in reserve
And all I can do when the plans break down
Is stay on my feet
And all I can do at thе end of the day is play on
Play on and keep the beat
posted by creepygirl at 10:41 PM on August 17, 2021

I too put this on knowing nothing about it.
It was fine I guess but not amazing.

The music felt pretty cookie cutter LMM in a way that Moana didn't.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:09 PM on August 27, 2021