REVIEW: Netflix’s Energetic & Colorful Animated Musical ‘Vivo’ A Perfect Movie For Family Night

SALT LAKE CITY —  Lin-Manuel Miranda is back on the movie screen, but this time he looks a little different.

In “Vivo,” the new animated musical from Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation, Miranda voices the title character Vivo, an animal that looks like a monkey but is actually a rainforest mammal called a kinkajou.

Vivo and his owner, an elderly musician named Andres (Juan de Marcos Gonzalez), play music together each day in Havana, Cuba. When famous singer Marta Sandoval (Gloria Estefan) sends a letter asking her old music partner Andres to come to Miami to play in her farewell concert, tragedy prevents him from going.

So it’s up to Vivo and an energetic 13-year-old named Gabi (Ynairaly Simo) to deliver to her a song Andres wrote especially for her.

Miranda and composer and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire (“Hamilton”, “In the Heights” and “Dear Evan Hansen”) have created some toe-tapping songs that will definitely get stuck in your head.

I liked the variety of beautiful animation styles you see throughout, apparently a nod to “Fantasia.”

You’ll meet some fun and unique characters as well.  There’s Gabi’s exasperated mom (voiced by Zoe Saldana), a python who lives in the Everglades (voiced by Michael Rooker), a couple of awkward and lovesick birds, and some well-meaning but overzealous girl scout-type troopers.

“Vivo” is rated PG with no objectionable content at all.  It is a fun and beautiful movie, with vibrant colors, catchy music and likeable characters. The whole family can enjoy this together.

“Vivo” would have looked fantastic on the big screen. It was originally supposed to be released in theaters, but eventually moved to streaming thanks to COVID-19. It’s available exclusively on Netflix.

Interested in this movie?  Watch the video at the top of the page for my full, in-depth review & final rating.