Vivo
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) | Release Date (Streaming): August 6, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
IGNRafael MotamayorAug 18, 2021
Vivo's animated musical sequences are gorgeous to look at and fun to listen to, even if the plot loses the rhythm about halfway through. Read full review
78
PolygonPetrana RadulovicAug 6, 2021
When the movie leans into the music and the love story at its core, it shines, evoking poignant emotions. But when the filmmakers try to smoosh in wildlife hijinks, it falls into the all-too-familiar trappings of the most cliché animated kids movies. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichAug 6, 2021
Have tissues ready, and thank Vivo for teaching the little ones a valuable lesson: Do not go into a swamp alone, or you will meet a tree-size python who sounds just like Michael Rooker. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 6, 2021
This sinks or swims on its songs, and Miranda as a busking/hustling/rhyme-spitting monkey makes it swim. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiAug 6, 2021
Vivo is a heartfelt piece with catchy songs and a much more cohesive plot than Miranda’s Moana, which gets tangled midway through. Sure it could do with a touch more depth, but in the kids movie genre, you could do a lot worse. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireAug 6, 2021
What begins in lively and vibrant fashion as the title would suggest gets bogged down in a literal and figurative swamp in Vivo. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdoñaAug 5, 2021
Vivo takes off with a cute kinkajou, some good music and some interesting visuals, but ultimately doesn’t stick the landing. Read full review
60
The New York TimesMaya PhillipsAug 5, 2021
Vivo, despite its exuberant beginning and heartfelt ending, struggles to offer more than odd turns and clichés in the rest of its story. Read full review
74
Paste MagazineAmy AmatangeloAug 5, 2021
Part adventure, part wistful romance—alongside some nice lessons imparted about friendship, family and taking risks—Vivo is enjoyable and familiar. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 5, 2021
Through it all, the Latino-influenced ballads, dance numbers and hip-hop numbers infuse the story with great life, and how can anybody possibly resist Lin-Manuel Miranda as a kinkajou with a tiny hat? Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 5, 2021
Last year’s biggest animated feature was Pixar’s Soul. The best thing about it was a rare feeling for music, an ability to express jazz visually and rhythmically. At times, Vivo does the same even better for Latin music. Read full review
67
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Aparita BhandariAug 5, 2021
It’s glorious in some parts, stretches out your willingness to suspend disbelief in others. Nevertheless, a movie that leaves you with a Missy Elliott style grrrl power anthem as an earworm is totally worth a lazy summer afternoon sprawled in front of your TV – as you make mental notes to sign up your kids for musical theatre classes the minute you’re allowed. Read full review
70
CNNBrian LowryAug 5, 2021
A sweet if slight love story. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 4, 2021
While a majority of the movie is a rambunctious road trip with a few call-outs to Studio Ghibli (Michael Rooker’s Lutador the giant python would likely earn a smile from Miyazaki), there’s heart in the evolving relationship between Gabi and Vivo and a solid emotional payoff at the end. Read full review
67
Original-CinLiam LaceyAug 4, 2021
If the Miranda musical touches are getting familiar, they’re still a lot fresher than the script here, yet another story of a pet animal on a mission and its special bond with a lonely child. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonAug 2, 2021
Like practically every other animated movie meant for mass consumption, the movie gets lost in the chase — the point where story flow is interrupted so that characters get lost as they try to achieve their objective and a manufactured villain is trying to keep them from their goal. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentJul 30, 2021
More family-friendly than for-all-ages-friendly — but lively work from the thriving Sony Animation makes this energetic Lin-Manuel Miranda musical mostly worth your time. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeJul 29, 2021
Vivo is strategically contrived to hit audiences’ pleasure spots, blending a grown-up-friendly story of a Latin-music couple whose careers took them in separate directions with all the hyper-caffeinated comedy action the kiddos expect from the medium. Plus, the songs build on one another, hooking in your head and snowballing as the movie develops. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckJul 29, 2021
The film’s computer-animated visuals, vividly rendering such locales as Cuba, Key West and the Everglades, are consistently arresting. But it’s the joyous musical numbers and sentimental but never treacly tale at its center that make Vivo such a winning effort. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJul 29, 2021
The eye-popping gloss of Vivo will probably lure in impressive numbers for Netflix (the animation itself is generic but impressive) but in a genre that promises so much magic, the spell cast by Miranda and co is a brief one. Read full review
60
SlashfilmJosh SpiegelJul 29, 2021
Vivo is plenty colorful, with a bright pastel palette both when the film’s action takes place in Cuba and in Florida, though the backgrounds are far less detailed than would be ideal. It’s good, but not good enough. The same is true of the story, and of the songs. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJul 29, 2021
Vivo grows increasingly generic and forgettable as the film goes on, and the closer its furry hero gets to finding a silver lining, the more viewers wish that he never went looking for one at all. Read full review
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