Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B

I had to rewrite this review because I wasn't allowed to use all caps to express how furious I am about this biopic Lifetime movie of Aaliyah. This movie gets ONE star. If I could give it a zero, I would. The Biopic was poorly executed. The casts had me so confused. Alexandra Shipp acting was a joke. *sigh* I didn't know Missy Elliot was biracial; didn't know Timbaland was Puerto Rican, and R. Kelly, didn't know he was from Nigeria. No. I'm not being racist, because I am a black woman but you would think the cast would have some similarities with the actual artists. I know the beautiful Aaliyah just looking down from Heaven and wondering why they would do this...they only focused on her romantic life than her music. Terrible! I usually don't write reviews at all but I felt it was only right for me to do so and give you guys my honest opinion about this biopic. Don't waste an 1 1/2 of your life watching this movie that you can't get back. I'd rather for you to watch paint dry than to sit through this mess of a movie. Please!!! I beg! Don't watch it. You will be highly disappointed!! LOL!!! I've warned you!!!

I did not like this movie very much. First of all, none of the actors in this movie looked like the real people, in some instances, Alexandra Shipp almost looked like Aaliyah, but I still believe that Lifetime could have chosen a better actress for such a role. Don't even get me started about the guy they presumed as R. Kelly, not only did he looked too thick, the man looked like he was tired and he looked NOTHING like the King of R&B! Then you've got this tall brown pretty boy wannabe gangster look-a-like that they chose for Damon Dash, PLEASE! Your network needs to fire the casting director of this movie. This movie was poorly done and I believe it was rushed. They did not even portrayed the relationship that Aaliyah had with with DMX which was much more of a value than what she had with Damon Dash. Honestly Lifetime, if you could not have handled a story as Aaliyah's better than this, I think you should NOT have taken up the responsibility of doing a movie like this for the Princess of R&B! This was an UTTER insult!

I have never watched a movie about a musician's life that did not feature any hit songs that helped to make them popular. Did the director and writer think that Aaliyah's fans was going to over look this massive flaw? Well, I didn't. And to top it off, none of the characters looked like the people they were meant to portray. Really, you used a skinny woman to play Missy Elliot? Although the girl was pretty who played Aaliyah, someone else that favored her more should have played the role. I couldn't get past the small details that were missing. Sometimes it's the small things that can make a big difference. Also, they made this movie without Aaliyah's family blessings, and I believe this one of the major reasons this film is such a big disappointment. I am so upset. Please, someone remake this movie for the sake of her memory.

I refuse to give this movie a rating because eventually it'll add up to a good one. I was 11 yrs old cleaning up my room when I saw the news Aaliyah died. She was my idol I wanted to be her when I got older I know every little girl at that time did. I remember my cousins, friends and I would record her videos on VHS and watch them over and over to get her dance moves down so the next time one of her videos come on we would be right there in the living room doing her dance moves. While watching this monstrosity of a biopic I actually thought it was going to be a good movie. I was routing for this movie because I THOUGHT it was going to beat the negativity and deliver. However, it was a BAD the script was awful death to the writer, and the actors... Now even with a bad script some actors can shine but I feel that these actors were just happy to be offered as role. They could have brought but they needed to put more into their trade. When playing characters do your research don't just watch an interview and think you got it down. Take the time and nurture your role perfect it. Then again we are talking about Lifetime they probably didn't give the actors that chance. Overall this movie shouldn't have been made it didn't portray Aaliyah the artist, the writer, the singer, the visionary, the young lady, nor the Woman.

Why make a movie about Aaliyah and not do it right. The actress portraying Aaliyah has a singing style that sounds like "pop" while Aaliyah's style is way more Hip/Hop-R&B. The actor portraying R. Kelly looks nothing like him, not even close, and it really bothers when these movies are made about blacks that greater care is not made to find the right actors to more accurately represent the people being portrayed. This production is a massive fail. Aaliyah was a fabulous singer and dancer, how could Lifetime attempt to make a movie about her life and exclude her hits and not include more dancing and singing in it? Her greatest hits are not even in this movie. How can this be? It gets 2 stars simply for attempting to pay homage to the late songbird who deserves so much better than this.