LogFAQs > #975231520

19. Vivo

Suprak: 6
Red: 8
Ermine: 10
Inviso: 13
Karo: 16
Johnbobb: 23
Mythiot: 23
Evillord: 24
Plasma: 30

Total: 153

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Red: We don't necessarily have a parent to kill off here, but we start with a heartbreaking death because we've set that up as formula to hook people early in animated movies. I'm torn on this because there is a decent story in here, some songs that are definitely above average. And then at times things like Gabi trying to sing come up and her characters doesn't quite walk a great line between annoying and misunderstood.

Ermine: We're getting to the point in the list where I started losing interest in these films...
And I have this at 10th place. So take this as my benchmark. Vivo and everything I have under this is considered MEH or worse.
The bulk of this list really isn't all that good if VIVO gets 10th for me.
Not to say this film is all that bad. I think it has a really strong opening, and I do quite enjoy Vivo as a character. Lin-Manuel is just over here trying to earn his paycheck, alright?
There were actually a bunch of songs that I enjoyed in the film!
And then there was Gabi! Gabi is terrible awful no no bad! And god her songs... WHY?! Why do this to me?!
I'm picturing a film where they replace Gabi with an actual good character and it's like... wow! Maybe this could have been something special!
The movie is FINE, it's amusing at times but I feel like there was a lot of lost potential here sadly.

Inviso: This was the most emotional Ive gotten over a film through 2021 on this list (granted, there are still 12 more movies left after this one), and yet, it doesnt entirely work for me the way that some of the higher-ranking films do. On the one hand, this is the most musical movie I can remember watching in a long time. Like, there are plenty of animated musicals out there, but they dont follow a stage musical formula the way this one does, and I kept finding myself entranced by the fact that Lin Manuel Miranda was able to blend his musical stylings into an animated format so expertly (keeping in mind he did Moana and Encanto, which are musical, but dont follow the stage musical format). That, to me, was interesting. I also loved Vivos story in general, trying to make good on his dearest friends final dream. It made for a solid, emotional throughline to the film.
There are negatives though, and they all revolve around Gabi. Gabi is annoying. She is over-the-top obnoxious, and her introductory song is the most irritating song to listen to in the entire film. But shes just this hyperactive brat all movie long, and while she does eventually chill out, once she realizes how important Andres song is to Vivo...shes just a little bit too much for me to deal with as the deuteragonist of the movie. Plus, her entire presence leads to the middle of the film, where we have an ultimately pointless girl scout subplot, and a trip into the Everglades that feels like its only in the film to fill time and add more animal characters beyond the titular Vivo. If wasnt for that chunk of the film (or if Gabi was toned down like, 75%), I could see myself ranking this higher than I did.

Vis Cry Count 10: When Andres dies and his music page gets swept up by the wind, and Vivo is desperately chasing after it, since its the last thing he has of his best friend.

Vis Cry Count 11: When Gabi is singing the lyrics of the destroyed song, and Vivo starts playing the melody, only for them both to realize that they each know half the song, and its not really gone.

Vis Cry Count 12: This one wasnt earned, but I cried anyway. Just Gabi revealing to her mom that she wanted to deliver Andres music, because he never got to tell Marta he loved her, just like she never got to tell her dad she loved him.

Vis Cry Count 13: The performance of Andres song, specifically when Vivo started envisioning him getting to play alongside Marta, and be with her, fulfilling the dream he died before he could accomplish it.

Karo: A pet monkey tries to honor the wishes of his late master and deliver a piece of sheet music to the dark and noisome land known as Florida. It hits both the emotional and musical beats very well, but something feels scuffed and unfinished about the whole thing.
Front and center for the problems is animation that feels a decade old at the very least. I feel the acceptable bar in the 2020s for a CGI movie from a major studio is 'it has to at least look as good as Illumination' and this does not at all come close to the mark. The film is rife with questionable character modeling and putrid texture work that make it feel like a PS3 game in places.
Though the movie starts out very strong, it loses its way with an arbitrary journey through the everglades full of useless side characters that doesnt add anything to the story. Like seriously these fucking spoonbills have got to be the most unfunny and irrelevant animated comic relief characters since the two moose in Brother Bear.
It is cute and touching in places, but the rocky production really hampered its potential, not to mention delaying it into a most unfortunate year headlined by that OTHER animated Lin-Manuel Miranda musical.
Quite a shame.

Johnbobb: Vivo does what a lot of "pretty good but not amazing" animated movies do. Starts really strong and emotional, has some goofy time filler in the middle, and then ends strong and emotional again. As much as I'm used to father figures dying in the first act of animated movies, the death of Andres still hit hard. Gabi definitely gets annoying at times, but overall I liked her friendship with Vivo (she does get the worst song in the movie though, which gets an EXTENDED version in the credits). It's not a movie that I think will stick with me but I enjoyed it

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*