VIVO

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

Havana, Cuba – An elderly musician named Andres Hernandez (Juan de Marcos Gonzalez) goes to the town plaza with his pet kinkajou Vivo (Lin-Manuel Miranda). The two perform a song (“One of a Kind”) to an excited crowd, as they have known Andres for years and view him as a great musician. Vivo explains through song that Andres found him when he was little and alone after saving him from two big dogs. The two have spent the last few years together making music, and Vivo couldn’t be happier.

Andres receives a letter from his old flame, Marta Sandoval (Gloria Estefan), who is a famous singer and is performing her farewell shows, with her hoping that Andres will join her in Miami to perform together once again. Andres brings Vivo home and explains to him that he and Marta used to write music and play together, and he was deeply in love with her, but when she got her big break, he chose not to tell her for fear that she may miss out on her dreams because of him. He even wrote her a song (“Mambo Cabana”) to express his true feelings for her. When Andres tells Vivo that he is planning to make the trip, Vivo scurries out of the apartment in a huff because he doesn’t want anything to ruin what he has right now. However, after some reflecting and realizing that Andres has always been there for him, Vivo decides to go back and help pack Andres’s suitcase.

The next morning, Vivo is ready to go, but he sadly discovers that Andres passed away in his sleep. Soon, the other citizens in town learn of his death and mourn him in the town plaza. There, Andres’s niece Rosa (Zoe Saldana) goes to speak while her daughter Gabi (Ynairaly Simo), who knows who Vivo is and wants to keep him as a pet, but he refuses because he thinks Gabi is weird. When Vivo overhears Rosa telling Gabi that they are heading home to Florida, Vivo stows away in the luggage of Andres’s belongings and returns home with Gabi and Rosa so that he may personally deliver Andres’s song to Marta in Miami (“One More Song”).

Upon arriving in Florida, Vivo tries to get out of the luggage but gets his tail caught in the zipper. Gabi finds him and is excited, thinking he stowed away for her, and she brings him to her room where she expresses how she is different from everyone else (“My Own Drum”). However, she is still missing her late father Carlos. Rosa wants Gabi to put on a uniform and sell cookies with the Sand Dollars troop, but Gabi refuses. She then comes across Marta’s letter to Andres, and Vivo gives Gabi the song Andres wrote. Realizing what Vivo came to Miami for, Gabi agrees to help him deliver the song to Marta, and she promptly books a bus ticket for the trip.

While heading to the bus, Gabi encounters the Sand Dollars – Becky (Katie Lowes), Eva (Olivia Trujillo), and Sarah (Lidya Jewett) – who are well-meaning but overzealous in their efforts to get Gabi to join them. She shows them Vivo, whom Eva and Sarah start cooing over, but Becky points out that a kinkajou needs to be vaccinated and kept safe. Gabi sees the bus leaving and she gets on her bike to chase after it but ends up falling through a rising bridge and onto a boat with sand. The Sand Dollars vow to get Vivo to safety, while Rosa finds the website for bus tickets and realizes what Gabi is up to.

Gabi makes a small boat to sail on as they get off the larger boat. They end up sailing into the Everglades and try to navigate through an increasingly dangerous storm (“Keep The Beat”). The song flies away from Vivo, so Gabi goes after it, causing her and Vivo to get separated. Vivo wanders through the forest and comes across a spoonbill named Dancarino (Brian Tyree Henry), who is despondent that the other birds have successfully found mates while he is alone. Vivo agrees to help him woo a female spoonbill named Valentina (Nicole Byer) if he helps Vivo find Gabi. Dancarino succeeds and has found his mate (“Love’s Gonna Pick You Up”), but he flies away with Valentina and leaves Vivo behind as he comes across a large python named Lutador (Michael Rooker). He attempts to eat Vivo but the kinkajou scurries through the trees and leaps high until Dancarino catches him and fulfills his end of the deal.

Gabi is found by the Sand Dollars, and Becky pulls out the song that she knows Gabi is looking for. She promises to give it back on the condition that Gabi gives up Vivo so they can quarantine him. Gabi reluctantly agrees. As they make their way on the Sand Dollars boat through the swamp, Lutador comes across them and tries to attack. Gabi manages to keep the girls safe by hiding under a cage, but Lutador begins to squeeze it and nearly breaks through until Vivo swoops down on Dancarino and lures Lutador to get himself knotted up in a tree (“Tough Crowd”). Their victory is short-lived when the girls find that the song fell into the water and is now destroyed. The Sand Dollars are remorseful and begin to take Vivo and Gabi back home.

On the ride back, Gabi begins to sing the lyrics to the song to herself, but Vivo says that she is out of sync with the melody. He plays the tune on his recorder, and both he and Gabi realize that they can rewrite the song since she remembers the lyrics and he knows the melody (“One More Song (Reprise)”). The group then resolves to make it to Miami to finish the job. Meanwhile, Marta has been waiting to hear from Andres all day before her performance, but her assistant brings her a newspaper reporting Andres’s death, and Marta is devastated.

The girls make it to Miami, and Vivo and Gabi ride off on a bike to the Mambo Cabana to make it to the show on time (“Running Out of Time”). When they arrive, Rosa shows up as well and goes after Gabi. They are chased by security until they make it close to Marta’s dressing room, but only Vivo can make it through. Gabi says farewell to him and gives him the song. Vivo finds Marta, who recognizes him from the picture in the paper with Andres. He hands her the song, and Marta realizes that Andres was in love with her. She sees a photo of him and says “I love you too, Andres”. Her spirits are now lifted and she gets ready to perform.

Rosa is driving Gabi home and scolding her for running off as she did. In the argument, Rosa acknowledges that she is not as great as Carlos was but that she is doing her best. Vivo shows up, surprising Rosa since she thought he was still in Cuba, and she realizes Gabi was telling the truth about their mission. Gabi breaks down as she tells Rosa that she just wanted Marta to know that Andres loved her since she never got to tell Carlos that she loved him before he died. Rosa says that her father knew he always loved her, and she goes to hug Gabi and Vivo. She then turns the car around and they catch the end of Marta’s show where she performs Andres’s song.

Vivo returns home with Gabi and now goes with her to the town plaza to perform (“One of a Kind (Reprise)”), joined by the Sand Dollars, Rosa, and even Marta. The crowd adores them, and Vivo has found a new family.

Vivo is a kinkajou living in Havana, Cuba to perform music with his owner and friend, Andres Hernandez. Andres receives a letter from an old flame, Marta Sandoval, a famous singer who was also his former musical partner. Andres was always in love with her but never told her because he feared she wouldn't chase her dreams because of him. She invites him to perform with her in Miami for her farewell tour, but Andres sadly passes away before he and Vivo can make their trip. After Vivo meets Andres's grand-niece Gabi, he joins her and her mom Rosa on the trip back to Florida so that he can deliver to Marta a song that Andres wrote for her where he expresses his true feelings for her. When Gabi discovers that Vivo has stowed away and that he wants to bring the song to Marta, she takes him on a trip to Miami to complete the task.

On their journey, Vivo and Gabi are chased by the Sand Dollars troop that want Gabi to sell cookies with them, and they also want to get Vivo to vaccinated and quarantine him per animal safety regulations, but the two outrun them and fall onto a boat. They later get separated in the Everglades and encounter other animals before getting reunited when the Sand Dollars find Gabi. They are attacked by a python named Lutador but vivo outsmarts him. Unfortunately, the song is destroyed in the process, and Vivo and Gabi feel defeated. However, she remembers the lyrics and he remembers the melody, so they are able to rewrite the song and head off to Miami to finish the job.

Marta learns of Andres's death and is too heartbroken to perform until Vivo makes it to her dressing room, and he gives her the song, allowing her to realize how Andres felt about her, and Marta expresses her own love for him. Vivo goes back to Gabi and Rosa, and after Rosa realizes why Gabi did all of this (she wanted Marta to know Andres loved her since she failed to tell her father she loved him before he passed away), Rosa brings the two back to the concert hall to watch Marta perform Andres's song.

Vivo returns home with Gabi and performs in public with her like he did with Andres.