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Main Characters
Vivo
A musically-talented kinkajou.
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Vivo wears only a white hat and a green ascot.
- Defrosting Ice King: He thinks that Gabi's boundless optimism is annoying. Then they start to bond while he gives her drum lessons in the Everglades, and the first sign that he's caring for her is when they get separated and he calls for her while roaming the marshes.
- Diurnal Nocturnal Animal: Vivo is very active during daytime due to his time with Andrés, even though kinkajous in the wild usually sleep all day and only move around during the night.
- Informed Species: His most distinctly kinkajou traits are his tail and his thick, plush fur. Apart from that, he looks, moves, and even sounds like a monkey.
- The Gift: He is talented in music, enough that he figured out how to strum a guitar within a few seconds of meeting Andres.
- Motor Mouth: Considering his voice actor, it's unsurprising that Vivo performs fast rap in several of the musical numbers (such as "One of a Kind" and "Tough Crowd").
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Both as a baby and as an adult, he is adorable. The Sand Dollars even fawn over how cute he is, before identifying him as a wild animal.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: A platonic, interspecies example. Vivo's practical, quick-thinking and down-to-earth personality contrasts with Gabi's hammy and playful exuberance.
Gabi Hernandez
Gabriela Maria Rosa Hernandez a.k.a. "Gabi" is Andres' cute, quirky, energetic grand-niece who befriends Vivo.
- Bespectacled Cutie: Gabi has big, blue-and-green glasses and is cute as a button.
- Chronic Pet Killer: Implied with the pet-sized gravestones she keeps in her cupboard, calling them her "petting zoo".
- Friendless Background: Gabi doesn't get along with other kids, she implies in her song that she gets her own sit on the school bus because the other kids apparently find her to be weird and Gabi's own reluctance to approach the other kids doesn't help but deep down she did want a friend and even made matching friendship bracelets before she even made friends. When Vivo came along and she immediately tried to give him one but he didn't accept it until she managed to help him get Andres' song to Marta and Vivo realized he had grown to care about Gabi and that they needed each other.
- Friendship Trinket: The two matching bracelets she usually wore in one arm until she met Vivo and tried to give him one but he refuses until he realizes he had grown fond of Gabi during their adventure and accepts the offered bracelet.
- From the Mouths of Babes: She has quite an astute perspective of the world, saying that she beats to the sound of her own drum.
- It Runs in the Family: Like her great-uncle, Gabi becomes enamored with music, and reaches out to Vivo on realizing he's sad, scared, and alone after the funeral. She tries to invite him to stay with her and her mother, as Andres did when he rescued Vivo as a baby. One of Andres' neighbors even says that she has a lot of Andres in her when hearing her practice the recorder. Vivo eventually realizes that Andres would want him to stay with Gabi, because she needs someone in her life.
- The Load: Zigzagged. On the one hand, Vivo gets mad at her when her attempts to put a bike on a raft cause the raft and the bike to sink. Then again, it was her idea to try and get on the bus, since Vivo found out he couldn't go on his own, and keeps trying to find ways to make it to Miami.
- Mirror Character: Vivo realizes that he and Gabi have a lot in common. They lost someone who meant the world to them but they never made up, she's passionate about music and delivering Tio Andres's letter to Marta, and she believes you have to stand up to bullies.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: A platonic, interspecies example. Gabi's hammy and playful exuberance contrasts with Vivo's practical, quick-thinking and down-to-earth personality.
- Stepford Smiler: It's revealed that while Gabi's genuinely a Genki Girl, she's masking her grief about her father's death behind a lot of energy. Towards the end of the movie, she says this quest was important to her because she never told her dad that she loved him, and feels Andres should have that chance with Marta.
Supporting Characters
Andrés Hernández
An elderly musician from Cuba who raised Vivo.
- Advertised Extra: Appears on the poster. His death closes Act 1.
- Expy: His relationship to Vivo is the same to Usnavi and Abuela Claudia. Both are elders who came from Cuba, raised a child as if they were their own, died in their sleep shortly after making plans to take a flight to another country with the now-grown child, and were remembered with candles and a song by their communities after they passed.
- Friend to All Living Things: He shoos away the dogs chasing a baby Vivo by waving his hand. Then he sits under the tree, and starts playing to comfort the little one. We see that he's also good with kids, patting one on the head during his opening performance.
- Loved by All: Andrés, together with Vivo, has become a Havana mainstay in the present. He and Vivo perform for locals and tourists alike, motivating them to sing and dance with them. By the end of each song, they receive enough money for rent and food, but Andrés enjoys putting smiles on people's faces. When he dies, a whole crowd of people attend his funeral and light candles for him.
- Nice Guy: What else do you call a guy that takes in a scared baby kinkajou, reassuring him that he can stay? He also doesn't get mad when Vivo is huffy about going to Miami, letting Vivo take time to think about it and process the situation.
- Organ Grinder: One of his musical instruments is a street organ. It even comes with a monkey-like creature (Vivo himself).
- Parental Substitute: He adopted Vivo as a cub and raised him as a parental figure and musical partner.
- Retirony: He tells Vivo they're going to Miami to see Marta, and maybe start a new life with the three of them. The next morning, he dies in his sleep.
Marta Sandoval
A glamorous singer and Andrés's old love interest.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Marta put on some significant weight with her age but is still a glamorous-looking singer.
- Honorary Aunt: The ending implies that she considers Gabi and Vivo part of her family as thanks for their quest in delivering Andres's final song for her. She comes to visit them in Key West and gives them a big hug.
- Nice Girl: Marta is shown to be a caring, sentimental and modest woman.
- Older Than They Look: She's roughly the same age as Andrés, who is a wrinkly old man with white hair in the present day, whereas Marta looks like a more heavyset version of her young self. Presumably, her hair is dyed black and she wears make-up to cover her wrinkles.
- Old Flame: Andrés was in love with her when they performed together, but they parted before he could tell her how he feels.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: She's very regal and classy, as befitting a singer. Management is worried for her when news of Andres's death causes her to sob in her dressing room and she refuses to perform.
- Parting-Words Regret: Lack of words, rather. She sends a letter to an old boyfriend, inviting him to come see her in Miami. Due to Andrés not having an Internet connection, she doesn't find out he's dead until she's already in her dressing room getting ready for her farewell concert. She understandably starts crying with regret, feeling that she waited too long. Vivo helps her find closure.
Rosa Hernández
Gabi's overbearing mother.
- Hartman Hips: Her hips are shown to be huge and wider than her chest.
- Jerkass Realization: She feels like a jerk when refusing to believe Gabi about the quest to deliver Andres's sheet music to Marta Sandoval, and Vivo appears on their car window before climbing in through the sunroof. Rosa apologizes to Gabi and Vivo, resolving to listen.
- Parents as People: She means well, but her idea of helping Gabi is to sign her up for the Sand Dollars, whom Gabi doesn't like, to help her find a group of friends, rather than actually listening to her daughter. Gabi calls her out for this, first by saying that the Sand Dollars aren't actually good people but bullies, and later says that Rosa doesn't really know her at all.
- Relative Button: She smarts when Gabi tells her, in a Disappointed in You tone, that her dad never tried to change her. Rosa responds that she knows that she isn't her husband, and there is no replacing him. But she is here, and the only parent that Gabi has.
The Sand Dollars
A group of girl scouts chasing Gabi and Vivo. They are named Becky, Eva and Sarah.
- Big Eater: Eva is usually seen eating cookies and was fully prepared to eat Andres' song on Becky’s command.
- Bully Turned Buddy: They are initially very mean to Gabi, but after feeling guilty about destroying her music sheet, they have a change of heart and help her deliver the restored music sheet to Marta.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: They eventually warm up to Gabi and help her get to Maria's concert.
- Girl Posse: Eva and Sarah are basically this for Becky, hiding behind their self-righteousness about helping the planet. Gabi outright says they're about stamping out individuality.
- Hero Antagonist: The Sand Dollar troops technically are this in their attempt to quarantine Vivo, in that they think Gabi is violating international rules by not doing so. They don't understand how important it is to Gabi that she performs this last rite for her great-uncle. If they weren't such jerks about it, and bullies to Gabi about her great-uncle's sheet music, they would be sympathetic.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Becky loses Andres' music sheet and it gets destroyed, she and her posse seem to understand how much they hurt Gabi and Vivo so they stop bothering them and let them ride along on their boat while giving them their space and symphatetic looks. When Gabi and Vivo manage to make a new music sheet with the song for Marta, the Sand Dollars help them get to Miami.
- Scout-Out: They are obviously based on the Girl Scouts but, as usual, they cannot use that name and are only referred to as the Sand Dollar troop.
- Soapbox Sadie: Becky is very self-righteous about the enviroment. Her first appearance has her chewing out a customer for using a plastic bag instead of buying a cloth bag (worth noting that she was the one selling the cloth bags), she antagonizes Gabi for having an unvaccinated kinkajou and she screams at a neighbour in a car for driving.
- Too Dumb to Live: They chase down Gabi and Vivo in the swamp, without telling any adults where they are or taking a guide with them. This nearly gets them killed when they bother the local python.
- Took a Level in Kindness: They stop bullying Gabi and trying to steal Vivo from her by the end of the movie and even refer to Gabi as "The Fabulous Floridian" during Vivo and Gabi's show.
The Bus Driver
- Catchphrase: "Not on my watch", which he believes he came up with himself.
Dancarino
An awkward, nervous spoonbill whom Vivo helps.
- Androcles' Lion: Because Vivo helped him 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.
- Artistic License – Biology: Dan digs a ditch with his bill. Spoonbills can use their bills to dig through mud, but they cannot dig a hole into solid ground with it.
- Big Damn Heroes: It's handy to have a bird on your side when you are trying to escape a python that hates any noise whatsoever. Dancarino may lack grace when it comes to flirting, but adrenaline makes him graceful when it comes to flight.
- Birds of a Feather: No pun intended. Dancarino and Valentina are both dorky and awkward spoonbills, therefore being an oddly good match for one another.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He is a awkward and dork spoonbill who serves as a Plucky Comic Relief and the moments involving Dancarino are hilarious, but when the sheet music is destroyed and Vivo thinks he failed Andrés. Dancarino, quite sad and despondent, tries to comfort and encourage Vivo and tell him that he did his best.
- Plucky Comic Relief: The moments where he is involved are funny, Dancarino and Valentina provide some comedy lightening the situation a bit.
Valentina
A spoodbill that Dancarino has a crush on, and it turns out that she and he have a lot in common.
- Birds of a Feather: She and Dancarino have a lot in common, since they are both clumsy and silly rose spoonbills, even though their first interaction was a bit awkward, but the two managed to connect and become a very close couple.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She is quite clumsy, disoriented and distracted like Dancarino.
- Establishing Character Moment: When Valentina first appears, she is standing on top of a tree and looks like she is a vain and proud rose spoonbill. But when Dancarino tries to impress her by telling her that her eyes are like two swamps in front of her beak, Valentina seemed angry at first, but later it is revealed that she loved it and Valentina is shown to be just as clumsy and dork than him
- Girlish Pigtails: She has feathers on her head which give the illusion of having "pigtails". Which fit with her personality since, despite the fact that Valentina is an adult bird, she is a clumsy, misplaced and somewhat childish spoodbill.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Every moment with her is fun, as Valentina is a clumsy, absent-minded bird like Dancarino, and the scenes with the two of them provide some comedy, to ease the tension.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Unlike Dancarino where he suffers an O.O.C. Is Serious Business, Valentina disappears from the scene when the sheet music is destroyed, she only returns at the end, when the final conflict ends.
Lutador
A massive, noise-intolerant python who Vivo unwittingly provokes while traveling through his part of the swamp.
- Dark Is Evil: An evil snake with dark green coloration.
- The Dreaded: All animals in Everglades go quiet when Lutador is around out of fear of his wrath.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He straight up eats creatures who make any kind of noise around him.
- Faux Affably Evil: When he first makes himself known to Vivo, he puts on a facade of politeness by falsely complementing Vivo's voice, which is immediately offset by his distaste for Vivo's name mockingly renaming him "Noisy the singing rat". Even when he asks in genuine curiosity what kind of animal Vivo is supposed to be, it does nothing to conceal his intent to do Vivo harm.
- Snakes Are Sinister: He is an intimidating Burmese python who bullies everyone into silence.
- Would Hurt a Child: Lutador was perfectly ready to kill and eat Gabi and The Sand Dollars.
