Celia

****Some spoilers***

I watched a few episodes back when it first came out and decided to watch it on Netflix as my next binge show. First and foremost this a biopic telenovela. As such characters and story lines have been embellished or created for drama and entertainment. If you expected a accurate biopic move along. People were upset about the additional characters and story lines taking center stage must understand what medium this show is produced for telenovelas are shown long runs and the main story is sprinkled in to milk the episode#.

That said the production value is superb almost movie-like. Costumes, set designs and such were very nice, the acting was pretty good and they choose people who resembled the real life Celia and Pedro albeit much more attractive as TV shows do.

The music had the Cuban-flavor despite it not being completely accurate as others noted only 3 songs of hers actually being sung in the show, blame Sony for that they own her music catalogue and charged the studio an arm and a leg for the rights.

Overall its really entertaining, beautiful to look at from costumes, sets and actors overall an easy 10/10 as a telenovela, as a TV drama i would say its a 7-8 out of 10.

PLEASE read the opening credits so that you will know this is NOT an actual biography of Celia Cruz? Even with this being said I am really enjoying the series, and it is getting more interesting as it moves along. Jeimy Osorio is doing a good job and I think Celia would be proud of her, the other cast members performances are extremely moving as well (Modesto Lacen as Pedro Knight, Carolina Gaitan as Lola Calvo,Brenda Hanst as Ana, Indhira Serrano as Mirelys, Luciano D'Alessandro as Alberto Blanco just to name a few). Even though it's NOT Celia's biography, the performances are good (some outstanding), but it would have been a little bit better to get Celia's still living husband's take on some of what's being presented (if he didn't have any that is). Feel sorry about her Mom and didn't know she (Celia) died without ever being able to go back to Cuba (according to Wikipedia). She really was one talented lady. Can't wait to see how this ends.

Some characters turned 45 or older and the others hardly aged. raquel's child was only about 6. pedro's kids were still in high school. the inconsistencies were distracting. the original cast, the younger versions of the characters, particularly carolina gaitan was more enjoyable to watch. good, convincing acting. the mature Lola overdid the fingers over the mouth gestures, like she had to make sure to do the thing that Lola does, all the time! would've given more stars if not for those inconsistencies. Loved the representation of Afro Latins, loved Celia and the bands, salsa, rumba, the rhythm and music ! that's a 10!

I am a big fan of Celia Cruz. I loved her. She was a unique world-class talent. I don't know where to start in listing the worst aspects of the telemundo series. But It may be helpful to start out by saying that, despite the fact, that they cast an excellent singer in the role, she rarely sang. I scanned through the ridiculous story line to find moments where she was actually singing. Not surprising they got the racial aspects all wrong for Cuba at the time. Celia was a black singer, singing an African based musical form they could've done so much to educate the audience about its origins and history. Despite the fact that Cuba has many people of mixed race at that time black people knew who they were and Sonora Mantancera was predominantly a black group. Almost all of the plot lines were ridiculous.But most egregious was the depiction of Pedro Knight as a horny buffoon. Shame on Telemundo!

I just complete the entire season of Celia, the life and times of Celia Cruz on Netflix and I have to admit, I was very impressed with all the actors in the series. Wow! is all I can think of. Each character portrayal was done with gusto and exhausting dramatization of her story. Most impressive was the actress who played Lola Calvo. It's almost as though she studied to play that role for years. I never knew Celia's story, but it was a bittersweet and romantic one. If anything, it's climbing the charts as one of the most romantic true stories of our time. I rarely ever write reviews because life is so time consuming, but I had to make mention of this one. If they could make it in English for Americans to watch without the subtitles I'm sure that everyone would share the same thought. Excellent series. Excellent actors. Excellence! Excellence! Excellence!