I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this movie but I then cried, so clearly I did.

Vivo follows a monkey who works with an old man making music in Cuba, however he unfortunately passes away but not before telling Vivo about a lost love that he once had that has come back in contact. Vivo now wants to grant this man’s dying wish of getting a song he wrote for her, to her, in Miami.

Going into this film I wasn’t super excited for it. I love Lin-Manual Miranda, I think he’s a brilliant songwriter and very, very creative, however it didn’t reel me in to start with…what did reel me in however was Gabi.

Gabi was an absolutely mad character! She was so interesting, had a lot of layers to her, and while she was so annoying at the start I really feel she came into her own in the rest of the film. While the overall story is about this man and his lost love, I feel that her story arc was the one that really glued me into the movie, and was the one that I really enjoyed…although Vivo is super cute.

Vivo as a character was quite interesting. I especially liked how we could hear him talk English, but the characters heard him make monkey noises, which was really interesting because I feel sometimes it can be quite hard to distinguish what the characters can hear vs what the audience can hear (looking at Stewie from Family Guy here). But he was a really cute character, he had a lot of heart, and I loved his little hat, and I definitely feel they can sell a lot of plush toys of him.

While this wasn’t my first choice film to pick up and watch I did see a lot of people online talking about it so I thought I would give it a go. Would I watch it again? Most definitely and I would 100% listen to the soundtrack. I’ve had ‘My Own Drum’ stuck in my head since I watched the film and while it is very repetitive, I can’t say I’m not enjoying it.

This is a movie that can rival Disney movies very easily. It has that sweetness about it of the lost love story but also has the comedy the children will enjoy. If you enjoy those films that you can watch when you’re a child and really enjoy and then watch it again as an adult and see it in a different light then you’ll love this one. I really appreciate movies like that, that stand the test of time as you grow older.

What do you think of Vivo?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding