Viva Vivo!

 VIVO (PG for Language and Certain Thematic Elements) With the Talents Of Lin-Manuel Miranda,Ynairly Simo, Zoe Saldana, Juan de Marcos Gonzalez,Brian Tyree Henry, Gloria Estefan,Michael Rooker,Nicole Byer,Katie Lowes,Olivia Trujillo,Lidya Jewett,Christian Ochos,Gloria Calderon Kellett,Leslie David Baker,Paloma Morales,Danny Pino,Alex Lacamoire,Aaron LaPlante, and David Baida. Directed by Kirk DeMicco, Co-Director Brandon Jefferds. Screenplay by Kirk DeKicco and Quiara Alegria Hudes, Story by Quiara Alegria Hudes and Peter Barsocchini., Co-Producers, Daniel Chuba and John Clinton, Executive Producers Louis Koo Tin Lok , Laurence Mark and Lin-Manuel Miranda,Produced by Rich Moore,Lisa Stewart, and Michelle L.M. Wong, Original Music by Alex Lacamoire and Lin-Manuel Miranda, A Sony Pictures Animation Production for Netflix, Distributed by Columbia Pictures

A few blogs ago, I reported on the Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, usually staged at the chain's founding outlet at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in historic Coney Island (Brooklyn,NY) but, this year, held due to unprecedented demand at Maimonidies Park in the same area,and I mentioned that not only was it named for a trailblazing hospital (that sent a lot of real life super heroes off to battle the original strains of COVID-19, but it was also named (whether they knew it or not) for the father of modern Torah study.

Last Sunday, this reporter returned to the Park (or, as he likes to call it, Rambam Park) to see the home-standing Cyclones score a brilliant upset victory against the visiting Hudson Valley Renegade (Good luck wearing a mask at all times, guys!) on Jewish Heratige Day, but he was pleasantly surprised to see an ad on the Jumbotron for VIVO, a beautifully animated, illustrated, and written love letter to pre-Castro Cuban culture from the mind of Lin-Manuel (HAMILTON, IN THE HEIGHTS, MOANA, HIS DARK MATERIALS) Miranda, who plays the title character, a kinkajou who belongs to Andres, (Juan deMarcos of the group Buena Vista Social Club) a percussionist who played in Miami in those glory days alongside Maria (an old-school cabaret queen played by the multi-talented Gloria Estefan), but never told her his true feelings. He writes her one last song, and tries flying to Miami to get it to her before it's too late, but, unfortunately for him, it is, and Vivo, who used to pass the hat to pay for Andres' living expenses, meets his niece Rosa (Zoe Saldana) and great niece Gabi (promising newcomer Ynairaly Simo) after sneaking into Gabi's backpack and following them to their home in Key West, FL. We find out that Gabi hates her girl scout troop but she loves music, rapping, and being that one in a million, which is also an appropriate term for VIVO. Without giving too much of the movie away, VIVO jumps off the screen (big and small) with a combination of CGI and hand-drawn animation, smart, contemporary humor, a chase scene equal, to, if not surpassing, the greatest live-action chases in movie history, and, of course, Lin-Manuel Miranda's lyrical gymnastics, tongue-in-cheek humor, an ability to segue from traditional Cuban music, and other manifestations of Latin music to hip-hop, and even "Love Picks You Up," a ballad seemingly intended for (and definitely intended to mock) lite FM stations.

Although I'm determined to get outside and go back to living life to the fullest, today's triple-digit real feel temperatures made it difficult, if not impossible. VIVO is the best lemonade you can make from the lemons today's world can hand you, and, no previous knowledge of Spanish is required. (Gracias, subtitulos, or, to put it another way, thank you,subtitles!) Since I found out about VIVO at a ballgame, I can safely say this is one movie that hits a home run!

Arriba!

Esteban