Vivo is a one-of-a-kind kinkajou that plays for audiences in Havana, Cuba. He may not be able to speak to his human Andrés, but they bond over music and companionship. One day, an Old Flame from Andrés' past invites him to her farewell concert in Miami, but tragedy strikes before he can leave, forcing Vivo, along with Andrés' grand-niece Gabi, to go on a quest to deliver a love song in his place.
The film was released on Netflix on August 6, 2021.
Tropes for this film include:
- 100% Heroism Rating: Andrés is beloved by everyone in Havana because of his music performances with Vivo. His death shocks those close to him, and a vigil is held in his honour. This also made local news, as shown by the website printout given to Marta about his death.
- Actor Allusion:
- This in not the first time Lin Manuel Miranda's character found his elderly parental figure (who came from Havana and raised him from an early age) dead in their sleep shortly after they'd made plans to take a flight to another country with him, and whose community remembered them with candles and a song.
- There’s also a song called "Running Out Of Time", and Vivo gets to the USA by boat.
- The girl tries to dramatically leap onto a small sailboat but comes up short.
- Aerosol Spray Backfire: Vivo tries to lose the Sand Dollars by spraying silly string at them, only to end up spraying it backwards into his own eye.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Andrés purposely held back his feelings towards Marta after she learned that she could perform in America, in order to prevent causing her conflict between him and her dream. 60 years later, he decides to finally return his feelings by performing one last song with her on her final concert. He dies before he could do so, but after Marta is delivered his final song, she understands and accepts his feelings towards her posthumously.
- Alternate History: In this movie, relationships between Cuba and the United States are much better than they are in real life. Marta left Havana to build her music career in the States sometime in the early 1960s (if the current year in the film is the same as its real-life release), as Andrés tells Vivo before packing for their trip, and she's able to include a plane ticket for Andrés with her letter. Gabi and her mother travel to Havana without issue for Andrés' funeral. The Mambo Cubana is also one of the biggest concert halls in Miami Beach, given the long line of people going into the concert that Gabi has to skip.
- Androcles' Lion: Because Vivo helped Dancarino the Roseate spoonbill talk to his crush Valentina, Dan comes to save him from the giant python in the Everglades. He later assists in helping Vivo rescue Gabi.
- Animals Not to Scale:
- Lutador is far larger than any real-life snake; his head alone is big enough that a 10-year-old human child would fit in his mouth.
- Red-bellied cooter turtles in real life don't grow larger than 40 cm (about one foot). The one Gabi encounters is closer in size to a Galapagos tortoise and is big enough to be initially mistaken for a crocodile.
- Animal Talk: Vivo can understand humans perfectly well, but he can’t speak like one — so while the viewer can understand him, all the in-story humans hear his words as standard animal vocalizations. However, he can fluently converse with other animals, such as snakes and spoonbills.
- Artistic License – Biology:
- Dancarino, a roseate spoonbill, is shown digging a ditch with his bill. Spoonbills use their bill to dig through mud, but they cannot dig into solid ground.
- Lutador is sensitive to noise, which is ironic because snakes actually have very poor hearing, listening to ground vibrations instead of airborne sounds.
- Kinkajous make a vast array of noises
, but Vivo's monkey-esque chitters aren't among them.
- Art Shift: The Imagine Spot scenes with Andrés and Marta are animated in 2D.
- Bilingual Backfire: Since Gabi wasn't able to buy a ticket to Marta's concert, she tries to sneak in past security. When a kind lady asks for a ticket, Gabi lies that she only speaks Spanish. The lady reveals she speaks fluent Spanish and asks for a ticket again. Any Miami native can tell you that knowing Spanish is a prerequisite for a good number of jobs within the city.
- Black Comedy Burst: While trying to keep away from Gabi after ending up in her house, Vivo finds pet-sized graves in her closet. Gabi casually brushes it off and calls it her "petting zoo".Gabi: …Or, was my petting zoo.
- Book Ends: The movie starts and ends with Vivo performing "One Of A Kind" in a plaza. The first time, it's with Andrés in Havana. In the end, it’s with Gabi in Key West.
- Calling the Old Man Out: In an O.O.C. Is Serious Business moment, Gabi quietly calls out her mother for not even trying to understand her. She says that her father always knew how she thought and never tried to change her ways.
- Cassandra Truth: Gabi keeps trying to tell her mother the truth about the way things are, and her mother doesn't believe her. She reveals the Sand Dollars are bullies, but her mother says that selling cookies is good for morale building. Vivo finds out, to his bewilderment, that they’re worse than bullies. Gabi gets frustrated when her mother doesn't believe her about the quest to deliver Andrés' last song to Marta Sandoval, yelling that she never gives her a chance.
- Cool Uncle: Andres was this for Gabi, who affectionately refers to him as her beloved "Tio". When a neighbor gives her Andrés’ instruments as a gift, she's ecstatic.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Gabi's mother tries to lay this on Gabi when driving her from the concert hall. She tries to tell off Gabi for going off on a long trip without telling her and doesn't believe her about the quest. Gabi shuts her down when pointing out rather angrily that she did try telling her mother that they needed to go to the concert to see Marta Sandoval. What's more, if her mother had believed her about the Sand Dollars, the quest to see Marta, and her daughter in general, then it's likely the trip would have been much smoother. Her mother is forced to admit that she was wrong when Vivo reappears and confirms that Gabi was telling the truth.
- Counterpoint Duet: The last portion of "Keep the Beat" becomes this between Vivo and Gabi.
- The Cover Changes the Meaning: In-universe, Andrés writes his song to Marta as a love letter, saying that no matter how far she travels, he wants to be in her heart. When Marta sings it, the same lyrics become a eulogy to Andrés, promising that though they are apart now, she hopes that if he is out there, he has her in his heart. To accentuate the point, Vivo sees an image of Andres approaching Marta's piano with his guitar. They briefly become young again and dance, before present Marta lets Andres go with a bittersweet smile.
- Dance Party Ending: The movie ends with one last show on the Key West boardwalk, and everyone gets a chance to sing with Gabi and Vivo. Even the spoonbills have a chance to rap!
- Dancing Bear: In-universe, it's zigzagged. Vivo is a performing kinkajou and wows crowds by being a rainforest honey bear who can play music, but he’s sapient and legitimately enjoys performing music.
- Deadpan Snarker: When jamming with Gabi, Vivo has some comments on her drum-playing, that it sounds more like "noise". Later he says that she has "raw talent". From Gabi's point of view, he qualifies as a Snarky Non-Human Sidekick.
- Deconstructed Trope: The movie takes a potshot at the Grand Romantic Gesture. Marta Sandoval is revealed to never have stopped loving Andrés for sixty years, and he feels the same way; she sends him a letter inviting him to perform at her farewell concert in Miami. Vivo lampshades that sixty years are a long time to wait to profess your feelings. It's implied that Andrés doesn't have a phone or Internet connection — which makes sense since as a street musician he performs to make people happy and bring joy into their lives, not to rake in cash — but nevertheless, Marta dialing a neighbor to reach her ex may have allowed them to reconnect and confirm he could make it. Andrés decides that, rather than try to send a letter in response to Marta, he'll surprise her by planning a spontaneous trip to Miami and perform with her. Marta maintains the belief that he would show up just like that. This gesture backfires when Andrés dies the night after he plans to go, and no one can reach Marta to break the bad news to her until her five-minute call to show time.
- Determinator: One thing to credit Gabi and Vivo, they don't give up. They miss the bus? Gabi rides her bike to the next stop. Sand Dollars are chasing them? Gabi puts Vivo on distraction duty so she can focus on the road. They end up on the water, on a barge heading in the wrong direction? Gabi and Vivo figure out how to make a boat and sail through the Everglades, and she cheers him up by doing drumming with him when he doubts that they can do it. Sheet music to Andrés' song gets destroyed by falling into the Everglades? They realize they each remember one part of the song (Gabi the lyrics, Vivo the melody), so they use a piece of paper, a crayon, and a piano app on Gabi's phone to recreate his sheet music from memory.. No ticket to enter the concert? Gabi simply hops the line and runs for her life so that she and Vivo can deliver the sheet music, both singing a Triumphant Reprise of "Keep the Beat". Even when when a locked door blocks her from following Vivo, Gabi allows herself to be caught so that Vivo, who slipped through the open window above, can continue to Marta's dressing room unimpeded since it's her they're after.
- Disney Acid Sequence: The animation can get very surreal in some of the musical numbers, such as in "Mambo Cabana" when Andrés imagines traveling to Miami and performing with Marta, and in "My Own Drum" to show Gabi's chaotic and overwhelming personality.
- Downer Beginning: After deciding to finally reciprocate his feelings towards his Old Flame Marta, Andrés dies overnight on the day of the concert before he could do anything, leading Vivo to deliver his last song.
- The Dreaded: All other animals in the Everglades fear Lutador; we see a lizard, a titmouse, a group of frogs and a pair of dolphins trying to hide from him and not make any sound.
- Due to the Dead: Gabi decides to help Vivo deliver the song to Marta Sandoval so they can both honor Andrés' life. She later admits she went on this quest to make up for never telling her dad that she loved him before he died.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After the heck of a quest to deliver a song to Marta Sandoval, Gabi and Vivo find each other as musical partners to help each other in their grief, performing on the Key West boardwalk to an adoring audience. Thanks to Vivo teaching her, Gabi is a blossoming musical performer. Her mother finally understands her, and Marta sometimes comes to visit. Vivo feels he has earned his second chance and processed Andrés’ death.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Vivo sings to himself that he doubts that Gabi is the right person to have on a journey for an important mission. A crocodile grabbing his makeshift paddle and snapping it causes him to hide. Gabi mistakenly thinks that he's scared in general, and starts singing to cheer him up.
- Evil Is Bigger: Lutador is the largest animal in the Everglades (larger than any real-life snake), and also the meanest, menacing anyone who makes any noise.
- Free-Range Children: Subverted. Gabi tries to discreetly get on the bus to Miami with Vivo before her mother can find out. The Sand Dollars bust her and chase her down for the crime of not quarantining Vivo, even as she tries to do the sensible thing and ride her bike to the next stop. Her mother then chases down the bus when she sees the ticket receipt on Gabi's computer, berating the bus driver when she mistakenly thinks he let her daughter ride such a long distance.
- Genki Girl: Gabi is more than willing to go on a journey with her great-uncle's honey bear and mistakenly thinks that she's taught him how to play drums while attempting to cheer him up with a song.
- Giftedly Bad: Subverted with Gabi regarding her instrument playing; her mother and Vivo think that she's tone-deaf. One of Andrés’ neighbors say that music is in her blood. They're right- the only reason she’s bad is that she’s self-taught and never had proper lessons. Once she gets some drum lessons from Vivo, under the mistaken impression that she's teaching him, she starts sounding better.
- Gut Punch:
- Vivo lets Andrés sleep after leaving him in a huff. Then he goes to wake him up the next morning, and sees his limp hand.
- The scene of Vivo realizing that Andrés is dead is bad enough. As Marta's getting ready for her farewell performance, her stage manager knocks on her dressing room door. She asks her if Andrés is there... but the manager sadly gives her a news clipping of the news of his passing and her condolences. Marta starts sobbing uncontrollably and refuses to leave her dressing room. Vivo has to give her that last push, and Andrés’ final message, to help her reach the stage.
- Hard Truth Aesop: Being self-righteous isn’t the same as actually being good. The Sand Dollars are ostensibly “good” girls who want to help the planet, but are really bullies who don't appreciate Gabi’s individuality. What's more, their Holier Than Thou attitude leads them to needlessly yell at a man just for driving two blocks when he could’ve walked, and say that Gabi can't take Vivo anywhere unless he's quarantined for ten days simply because that’s what the rulebook says, and therefore it’s the “right” thing to do. Because they’re such overzealous sticklers for the “rules”, they don't understand how important this quest is to Gabi, that she wants to deliver her great-uncle's final song to his Old Flame as a means to honor his last wishes. Gabi may not be righteous or focused, but she does more good in the movie by helping Vivo reach Marta and successfully deliver the music.
- Hartman Hips: Gabi’s mom has hips that are wider than her chest. Marta had a similar body shape in her youth, but by the present day of the movie she put on significant weight with her age.
- Heel–Face Turn: The Sand Dollar troop leader, Becky, wanted to capture Vivo and put him in quarantine as the rule book dictates, but changes her ways and decides to help Vivo and Gabi after Vivo saved the Sand Dollar's lives.
- Heel Realization: The Sand Dollar girls realize they are in the wrong when Gabi, rather than leave them to a giant snake, tries her best to save them and she's actually better at handling a dire situation than they are; not to mention it means they lose their grip on the sheet music and it ends up in the water. They know that trying to say sorry is not going to help, so instead they help Gabi and Vivo go to Miami after the two recreate the music.
- Hero Antagonist: Apart from Lutador, all antagonistic characters are well-intentioned. Rosa simply wants her daughter to be happy and safe but does not listen to her; the Sand Dollars want to follow the rules and protect the environment, but they are a little overzelous in their methods; the bus driver has every right to not allow a wild animal on the bus (although he's rather smug about it); and the security guards at the Mambo Cabana are doing their job by not allowing people without a ticket to attend the concert.
- Hope Spot: Against a lot of odds, Vivo and Gabi actually make it to the Mambo Cabana Concert Hall five minutes to Marta's concert. Then the usher stops them because they don't have a ticket, and she does Bilingual Backfire when Gabi lies that she only speaks Spanish. Before Gabi can either try to buy a ticket or talk her way past the usher, she hears her mother speaking in Anger Born of Worry, ordering her to not move. Realizing they don't have a choice if they want to reach Marta in time, Gabi scoots past security with Vivo in her backpack. She manages to get Vivo to an open window, but a padlocked door stops her from continuing.
- I Am Not Weasel: Gabi calls Vivo a possum when trying to pass him off as her "emotional support animal" to the Sand Dollars, whereas Lutador refers to him as a rat (though it's probably meant to be an insult) and a gibbon. Both of them get corrected.
- "I Am" Song: "My Own Drum" is one for Gabi, presenting herself as an exhuberant, eccentric, independent-minded girl misunderstood by others.I bounce to the beat of my own drum
I'm a wow in a world full of ho-hum
I'm a wild young lady, but you know 'sum?
But I'd rather be at home with my own drum. - Informed Species: Vivo is a kinkajou, a relative of raccoons with a prehensile tail, however, Vivo looks hardly anything like one, instead more closely resembling a generic monkey with a cat-like pink button nose. Netflix itself lampshaded it in a clip explaining what real kinkajous look like and their behaviors.
- Lutador is supposed to be a Burmese python, but he looks more like an anaconda and is much larger than a regular snake.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: When it starts to rain, Gabi assures Vivo that will die any second, of course no sooner then she says that, the weather ends up getting much worse.
- Irony: Marta sent Andrés a ticket to see her at the Mambo Cabana, but Vivo doesn't think to take it with him when Andrés dies. If he had, Gabi wouldn't have needed to hop the security line in her and Vivo's attempts to reach Marta before the concert.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: This was the justification why Andrés never told Marta that he loved her: if he did so, Marta would have hesitated to follow her dream of becoming a famous singer in Florida.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Gabi and Vivo manage to elude security in the Miami Beach theater, using a stairway...only to encounter a locked door. While Vivo can slip through an open window, he can't undo the padlock. Gabi, on realizing that Vivo is losing his window of opportunity, tells him to go because getting the song to Marta is more important than her being grounded forever. He goes back for her once he accomplishes that mission.
- Kick the Dog: Becky and the Sand Dollars threaten to destroy Andrés’ sheet music so they can force Gabi to go home and surrender Vivo for quarantine, knowing how much he meant to Gabi. When it gets destroyed by accident anyway, they all go My God, What Have I Done? on seeing how upset Gabi and Vivo are.
- "King Kong" Climb:
- When hiding from Rosa in Gabi's room, Vivo hangs off a model skyscraper built from something like Lego.
- In "My Own Drum", Gabi grows to gigantic size, grabs Vivo and climbs on top of her loudspeaker, resulting in the image of a Giant Woman clutching a small, monkey-like creature on top of a tower.
- Knotty Tentacles: This is the way Lutador gets defeated: as he chases Vivo around a tree, the kinkajou runs all around and tricks the python into tying himself up in a huge knot.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: The Sand Dollars may be adept at spouting wildlife facts and guilting people into buying cookies, but when it comes to actual survival skills, they got nothing. Vivo has to save them using his wits when they encounter a giant python.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Dan and Valentina are supposedly goofy spoonbills that trip over each other while declaring love. They rescue Vivo when he runs afoul of Lutador, and help him out when he says they need to rescue Gabi and the Sand Dollars from the giant snake.
- Logo Joke: The Columbia Pictures logo is the "classic" 1936-1976 iteration animated in the manner of the current version of the logo. It is then transformed into an outline of a big city, as the outline of the Torch Lady becomes a flutist.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: At the end of the movie, Marta performs Andrés's song in the Mambo Cubano. As she sings his words with heart, the animation shifts to 2D, and Vivo sees Andrés approach her, playing his guitar. He takes Marta's hand, and they start dancing, becoming young again. It's unclear if Vivo is imagining the reunion that he dreaded, or if Andrés's ghost came to properly say goodbye to Marta, and to Vivo. He tips his hat at his friend when he finishes dancing, and Vivo returns the gesture.
- Meaningful Echo: Andrés sings "It's not too late" when talking about reuniting with Marta. Gabi and Vivo sing, "It's not too late" as a Survival Mantra when they reach the Mambo Cabana and flee to avoid security, only this time they want to deliver the song to Marta before her concert.
- Memento MacGuffin: Andrés’ last-written song intended to be sung and performed personally with Marta. However, he dies before he could do so, leading it to belong to Vivo and become his Memento. It accidentally gets destroyed halfway through the plot, but it's thankfully recreated.
- Misplaced-Names Poster: As seen on the image at the top, Andrés is on the left-most end of the poster but his voice actor is credited on the right side next to Marta.
- Misplaced Wildlife:
- Addressed by Vivo, who lampshades the confusion the viewer would have, since kinkajous are actually native to the South American rainforest and don't live in Cuba. He explains that as a baby, he accidentally fell in a shipping crate bound for Havana, and the crate fell off the delivery truck. After a pack of hungry stray dogs chased him up a tree, Andrés (who was playing guitar nearby) shooed them away, rescued him, and named him.
- Pythons like Lutador aren't native to the Everglades. While not explained in the movie, this is a case of Truth in Television, as snakes bought as pets have been released into the Everglades and thrived, becoming a threat to the native fauna.
- Mood Whiplash: After an adorable scene where Gabi and Vivo bond playing together on the boat, they end up separated in the Everglades. The sunlight becomes dim as Vivo scurries through the marshes, frantically calling for Gabi. Then he runs into Lutador, who tries to kill him for being "too loud".
- The Musical: The first Sony Pictures Animation film to be such. Lin-Manual Miranda composed all the songs and performs most of them as Vivo.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The Sand Dollars have this reaction when their attempts to corral Gabi and Vivo end up destroying the sheet music they were delivering to Marta Sandoval. As an apology, they help the duo get to Miami.
- Nostalgia Filter: Implied with Andrés's memories of the Mambo Cabana. He describes it as a magical place where the notes come together, along with love and instant communication. When Gabi and Marta reach the actual Mambo Cabana, it's an ordinary concert hall, complete with security and dim stairways. Vivo sees Andrés's vision of the Mambo Cabana when Marta plays his song, and Andrés appears with a guitar to dance with her one last time.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Not that Gabi can understand him, but she says that when she's scared, her dad would sing to her. Vivo whispers that Andrés would do the same for him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Whenever Gabi is frowning or upset, that's a sign that things are bad. She begs the Sand Dollars to not destroy Tio Andres's music, saying she'll do anything if they leave it intact. Later, she uncharacteristically calls out her mother for being an oblivious parent, not seeing Gabi for who she really is. Vivo knows that she must be upset when she cries and says that she wishes she had told her dad that she loved him before he died, and comforts her.
- Papa Wolf: He claims that Gabi isn't his partner, but when they get separated in the Everglades, Vivo's more worried about her than about the sheet music. He desperately calls out to her while scurrying in the swamp, and finds that the giant snake that intimidated him is about to kill her and the Sand Dollars. Vivo risks his life to save them, all to protect Gabi.
- Parting-Words Regret:
- Vivo walks off in a huff as Andrés starts to pack for his trip to Miami, because he doesn’t want to be left behind for Marta. After realizing how important delivering the song is to Andrés, he cools down, comes back and, seeing Andrés asleep in his chair, continues to let him rest… only to find him dead the next morning.
- Gabi starts crying when she reveals to Vivo that she never told her dad that she loved him before he died.
- Patter Song: "One of a Kind", "Tough Crowd" and "Grand Finale" all feature fast rap sequences, performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
- Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Lutador does not appear until 45 minutes in the movie and even then, he is only in the movie for 7 minutes and he isn't even the central conflict.
- Protagonist Title: The movie is named after Vivo, who is the main character.
- Reactive Continuous Scream: Gabi screams joyfully upon seeing that Vivo stowed away in her luggage, while Vivo screams back in fear upon seeing that the coast is not clear.
-
Realism-Induced Horror:- The idea of dying before you either fulfill your dreams or reconnect with someone you love dearly. Or worse, having a fight with someone and never getting the chance to apologize. Vivo has regret and sadness when Andrés dies, and decides to deliver a letter on his human's behalf to an old flame. He sadly sings to himself how he thought it would be the two of them traveling, rather than him and Gabi.
- When Rosa, Gabi's mother, mistakenly thinks that Gabi took the bus to Miami, she chases it all the way to the city because it's a far distance and Gabi's too young to be going by herself. When the bus finally stops, she frantically shows the driver a picture of Gabi, insisting she was on the bus because of the ticket she bought… only to be told that she wasn't with them, as they would've remembered if a little purple-haired girl got on. Rosa's reaction to this realization is a visible Oh, Crap!. She might have felt worse on learning that, thanks to the Sand Dollars hunting Gabi down, she and Vivo navigated through the Everglades to get to Miami, since buses don't usually have to deal with water hazards or giant snakes.
- A Simple Plan: Vivo gets the idea to smuggle himself in Andres's suitcase, which a neighbor gives to Gabi, and then make it to Miami to deliver the song to Marta Sandoval. When Gabi finds out, she tries to sneak him on the bus to Miami. Things go off-the-rails when the Sand Dollars insist that Vivo needs to be quarantined, and make them miss the bus.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Becky and the Sand Dollars think they have the right to detain Gabi and quarantine Vivo, merely because they have a manual. The movie reveals that they ought to have simply told Gabi's mother about her going to Miami since her mother has more of a right to put a halt to Gabi attempting to crash a concert, even if it's for the right reasons. They get over this when Gabi protects the girls from the giant python, and Vivo risks his life to save them.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Lutador attempts to eat Vivo, and later Gabi and the Sand Dollars.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Gabi tries to ask her mother if they can go to Miami to see Marta Sandoval's concert, without disclosing the real reason why. Her mother says no because it's short notice and Gabi never showed interest before. As a result, when Gabi does make it to the Miami Beach theater, security won't let her in because she doesn't have a ticket.
- Swiss-Cheese Security:
- Played straight at the airport, where the security detectors somehow fail to notice that there's a living kinkajou hiding in a bag next to the musical instruments.
- Subverted at the Mambo Cabana; for Marta's farewell concert, security is pretty tight. A lady won't let in Gabi without a ticket and reveals she speaks fluent Spanish when Gabi pretends to not know English. While Gabi and Vivo do temporarily give security and her mother the slip, they catch up to Gabi eventually when she encounters a locked door, while Vivo uses an open window to get ahead and reach Marta, at Gabi's insistence when Vivo is reluctant to leave her.
- This Is Your Song: The film's MacGuffin is a song that Andrés wrote expressing his love for Marta.
- Took a Level in Badass: Regarding music, Gabi at first is self-taught, meaning her rhythm and methods are too off for Vivo's liking. The movie ends with her performing as well as her uncle and belting at the top of her lungs. Vivo is visibly proud of her while they sing in harmony.
- Toy Disguise: Vivo pretends to be a plush toy holding onto a model skyscraper when Rosa checks Gabi's room.
- Two Halves Make a Plot: After Andrés’ song for Marta accidentally gets destroyed, Vivo realises that not only he remembers the melody, Gabi managed to remember all the lyrics. They use a piece of notebook paper, a crayon and a piano phone app to recreate it.
- Triumphant Reprise:
- "Running Out Of Time" starts as one for "Keep the Beat". Gabi and Vivo successfully make it to Miami, after recreating the sheet music and are only a few feet away from the concert hall, with minutes until Marta hits the stage. It segues into a Dark Reprise when Gabi realizes that she can't get inside without a ticket, and hops the line after seeing that her mother is right behind her. Yet Vivo makes it to Marta's dressing room.
- "Grand Finale", the last song in the movie, is a Triumphant Reprise of the first song, "One of a Kind". The former was already an upbeat song, but the latter raises the spirits even further with almost all minor and major characters joining the singing and dancing.
- Truth in Television: The movie accurately depicts how bad traffic gets on Miami Beach at night. Gabi's mother is stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, which fortunately allows Vivo to find them and reunite with Gabi.
- Vivo initially wants nothing to do with this Marta stranger, makes a considerable fuss over the idea of travelling, and takes a fair portion of the movie to even begin to warm up to Gabi. Real pet kinkajous bond very closely to their owners and don't take well to new people; they also generally don't travel well.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Most of the antagonists in this movie are well-meaning but overbearing, from Rosa to the Sand Dollars. Then we meet Lutador, who tries to kill Vivo for the crime of being too loud. He gives a toothy Slasher Smile as Vivo attempts to apologize and says he didn't know any better. Later, he comes very close to killing Gabi and the Sand Dollars, if not for Vivo and the spoonbills.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Vivo successfully delivers the song to Marta, who thanks him for giving her a last piece of Andrés. She whispers to the wind and Andrés that she loves him as well. As she goes to perform, Vivo realizes that he needs to go help Gabi, and reunites with her, convincing her mother that she's telling the truth about the whole quest.
