Tear Jerker / Vivo

• The moment Vivo realizes Andrés is dead. What makes it worse is the night before, Vivo left Andrés in a huff, thinking Andrés would leave him behind for Marta. But after remembering how Andrés saved him when he was a baby, Vivo comes back and, upon seeing Andres sleeping, decides to let him sleep and packs his suitcase for him as an apology. The next morning, after finishing packing, he goes to wake Andres up and properly apologize to him... only to discover he died in his sleep. Even worse, Andrés wasn't mad at him for being huffy, knowing Vivo needed some time to process and would come around. But because Vivo didn't talk to him, he feels guilty regardless.
• The number of people at the funeral. They bring candles and each person takes a flower, to honor Andres. It's amazing how one musician touched so many lives.
  • The absolutely heartwrenching song Vivo sings.
  You fell asleep humming music
  The sun came up, you stayed at rest...
  • It's even more sadder when it repirses the song when Vivo looks at the river, at the reflection of Andres after failing to keep the song safe. And shed a tear.
  Vivo: Dan, you don’t understand. Andrés gave me everything. And when he needed me, I turned my back. This was my one chance to make things right. And I’ve let him down.
• Gabi finds Marta's letter to her uncle. When Vivo returns from his attempt to get on the bus, she asks why he needs to see Marta. Vivo hands her the sheet music. Gabi reads it, and whispers, "He never got to tell her, he loved her." Then she looks at a picture of her and her father. It's the first time Gabi is sad and muted, a departure from her Genki Girl attitude.
• When the song gets destroyed after the encounter with Lutador. Vivo nearly gives up and prepares to just go all the way back to Cuba.
• Dancarino who spent most of the film as a spoonbill clumsy and funny, now he's quite dejected and sad, when Vivo gets depressed because the sheet music is destroyed. Dancarino doesn't do anything funny, instead he tries to comfort and encourage Vivo and that he did his best to save the sheet music.
• For the whole movie, Rosa has been tough on Gabi, telling her to get ready for Sand Dollars and to try and fit in, ignoring whatever Gabi protests. Then when she finally reaches the bus that she mistakenly thought Gabi had taken, Rosa desperately asks the driver if he saw her daughter, showing a picture and the ticket on her phone. You can see that she really does care and is worried.
• The moment when Marta finds out, as she's getting herself ready for the concert. Her manager knocks on her door...and when Marta asks if Andrés is there, she hands her the newspaper clipping and says that she's sorry. We next hear that Marta is refusing to perform, and Vivo sees her crying in her dressing room when he comes with the song. When he pats her shoulder, she's surprised but then sees he's the same kinkajou that performed with Andrés. They share a look that speaks volumes of the loss, especially when he hands her the recreated sheet music.
• Gabi crying as she tells Rosa that she went on the trip with Vivo because she never told her father that she loved him before he died, and she didn’t want Marta to go on not knowing that Andrés loved her too.
• Marta plays Andrés's song to finish the show, after thanking Gabi and Vivo for giving her one last piece of her love. As she sings his lyrics and the band takes up the song, the art shifts back to 2D, and we see Andrés approaching Marta, playing his guitar, as the stage turns into Havana with palm trees. We're not sure if Marta sees it, but Vivo does. They dance together becoming young again, like a newly married couple, spinning into old age. When the dance ends, Marta lets go of Andrés, who tips his hat to Vivo. Vivo does the same.
  • The song itself is ultimately bittersweet. Andrés wrote about how he loved Marta, but let her go knowing that the world deserved to see her shine and that she ought to have the music career that she desired. He asks that no matter how far apart they were, or where she went, to keep his song and him in her heart. When Marta sings it, she's asking for her love to always remember her, even beyond death.
• Three characters lost Andrés and mourned him: Vivo, Gabi, and Marta. They all know nothing can bring him back. Yet in the Dance Party Ending, Gabi sings her uncle's Havana song "One Of A Kind" and Vivo joins in, with new lyrics about the journey they had in Andrés's memory, and the friends they made along the way. Marta then comes and gives the two a big hug. Grief brought them closer together, as did Andrés's music.

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