Sunday 8 October 2017

Not So Mini Movie Review: Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B (2014) #badmovies

Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B
2014
Biopic 



Aaliyah's tragic death in 2001 sent shock-waves in the music world, not just to the R&B community and her fans, and yet her music still lives on. I am not a follower of her music, but she was talented and I liked some of her records. This film came out 10 years + after her tragedy - and 10 years too late I reckon. I think that had it been released in the early 2000s and was given just as much attention and the high production quality values as we saw in the Tina Turner biopic, ''What's Love Got To Do With It?'', this would have been a whole lot better than what Lifetime have dished up here. For starters, Aaliyah's music would be included, which didn't happen with this movie. In fact, only one song of hers is in this film.

Sitting through this Lifetime biopic, all I could think of was this is a TV movie trying to be a legitimate feature film. Low-budget, lesser-known performers playing the roles, amateur performances, this whole movie feels so insincere. The actors playing R. Kelly and Damon Dash bare little similarity to the singer and producer. Alexandra Shipp, who is mixed race, also bears little similarity to Aaliyah, in terms of looks. 

Without the permission of Aaliyah's family, Lifetime did a disservice to them, Aaliyah, her friends and her fans by making things up as they go along and putting it on screen. & with that, that is wrong. This film just didn't feel right and I had an inkling as I sat through it that this is nothing but an amateur attempt of Lifetime's trying to pay respect to Aaliyah - when really they are paying a disrespect to her. But then, I shouldn't expect much when it comes to TV movie standards, really. 

But once Lifetime got the message that her family said no, that should have been the end of that. Full stop.


Is It Worth Watching?

For die-hard fans of the late singer or people who want to know more about Aaliyah, listen to her songs and read more about her past life elsewhere, instead of giving this movie any of your consideration or time. One of the worst music biopic films I've seen.


Overall: 

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