The new Netflix animated musical, Vivo, was recently screened by the Hispanic Federation and Netflix in New York with Lin-Manuel Miranda, voice of Vivo himself, in attendance. Set to stream on Netflix starting August 6, the film is about love and music and so much more. After the screening, Lin-Manuel Miranda answered a few questions about the film.
Coming off his success with Hamilton (which had its filmed stage production debut on Disney+ last summer) and the recent release of In the Heights, the Tony/Emmy/Grammy-award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda stars in the new animated movie musical, Vivo, coming soon to Netflix. And it’ll be a great time for the whole family. The film follows the adventures of a musically talented kinkajou voiced by Miranda, as he goes from Havana, Cuba all the way to Miami, Florida to deliver a love song.
This past weekend in New York’s West Village, a screening was held at the Village East by Angelika and hosted by the Hispanic Federation to showcase the film in the week leading up to release.
“This film has been twelve years in the making,” said Miranda as he started working on this movie in 2009. It’s being released now after development with Sony Pictures Animation. This is also his first time acting in a main role for an animated film.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
“This film has been twelve years in the making.”
Vivo is about a kinkajou (also known as a South American honey bear) named Vivo, who spends his days in Cuba singing with owner Andrés (Juan de Marcos González). The two enjoy what they do and everyone in town seems to love them. But Andrés receives a letter from his old duo partner who’s now a famous singer, Marta (Gloria Estefan), as she is set to retire and would like to see him before she does. Andrés wishes to deliver a song he wrote for her to confess his romantic scene, and Vivo must leave his comfort zone of the Havana square and go all the way to Miami with only music and his new friend Gabi (Ynairaly Simo) to deliver the ballad. Throughout the film, there are numerous and memorable songs created by Miranda for both children and adults to enjoy.
Following the closing of the film, there was a moderated panel with Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer Alex Lacamoire (In the Heights), playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes (In the Heights), and voice actor Ynairaly Simo. Miranda talked about how this movie has been in the making for over a decade, and how it was originally pitched to DreamWorks Animation.
“Some movies get to be made and others don’t. I’m just glad this one did, no matter how long it took,” said Miranda. This was Simo’s first feature role, and she felt with Miranda’s help, she was able to be herself, marching to the beat of her own drum.
Vivo is all about the power of song and the difference it can make. Like his other musical hits in films like Moana, you can probably expect some of these new catchy tunes to hit your playlist when Vivo begins streaming on Netflix August 6.
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