Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B (2014 TV Movie) User Reviews

Terrible someone needs to redo this movie

[Sequoiab86 · 2/10 · 15 November 2014]

I'm so mad at this movie. The transitions were terrible, she didn't perform her hit songs, they didn't show how much of an impact Timberland & Missy made on her career...... This movie was too small to portray her life. Also they needed to use her real voice. I'm a true fan of hers and if you didn't follow her very well then you would probably think this is a great movie. This truly disappoints me & I wish someone would redo her life. Don't bother watching it if you are a true fan because it will let you down. VH1, Debbie Allen , someone please, please don't let her legacy be minimized like this. The actress did not portray Aaliyah she should have really studied her, but she tried her best. Terrible production.

Massive Fail!

[laneeset · 2/10 · 16 November 2014]

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.

It really was that bad

[Seth_Rogue_One · 3/10 · 16 March 2015]

I was wondering if I should click the spoilers button for this or not as the only thing I'm spoiling is stuff most people already knows about, anyways let's go.

"The Brittany Murphy Story" look like a masterpiece in comparison.

The characters were complete empty shells and Lifetime was scared to bring up any controversial subjects, it made R Kelly seem like a nice guy who just happened to fall in love with the 15 year old niece of a friend (when in fact that was not the last or probably the first time that ever happened, the girl he peed on in that infamous video was another under-aged niece of a friend and colleague of his)

And Damon Dash is (or used to be before Kanye got a voice to speak with) the biggest douche in Hollywood and his portrayal came out like nothing like that, I'm sure he wasn't douchy to Aaliyah but even when he was supposed to be angry towards those guys breaking his expensive vase he was about as threatening as a bumble bee without wings.

And yeah there just wasn't any sort of story in this movie and it was flooded with song performances (of non Aaliyah songs sung by someone who didn't have half the talent Aaliyah had).

And they even dodged making it an exciting plane-crash ending where the pilot knew they had over-packed the plane to the point where it wasn't safe to land, but not wanting to rub any elbows they decided to just end it right before she went to shoot the vid.

It was just the definition of bland and not taking any risks whatsoever, and no wonder that the family didn't give their support to the making of this movie.

Oh, No. Just Oh, No

[the_remixer08 · 1/10 · 16 November 2014]

It is rare, and I mean rare that I give a negative critique all the way through even through bad productions. I normally give even bad productions the benefit of the doubt. As a matter of fact, I have never even given a bad production a low scale like this. For the first time in HISTORY I have rated a movie a 1. Drumline 2 wasn't even this bad compared to this film. This was so, so disrespectful to Aaliya's legacy, and I'm just hoping and praying that Missy and Timbaland, whenever they feel they want to, will do this movie justice the way it is supposed to be done. The fact that they weren't even apart of this production, and the parents even said no to the production, why would you even waste your time writing and producing this garbage!? Not only that, you didn't even have the rights to put any of her best hits in the film, which is a HUGE part of Aaliya's story. If you're going to tell a story, tell it right. Don't tell it based on an unauthorized book and Wikpedia. The actors didn't even come close to matching the original people, and even though Ship was only the slightest exception, she did not do Aaliyah justice at all. It didn't seem like she even studied on how Aaliyah, spoke, how she moved or anything. The timeline of the story was even off, and most of the movie felt rushed. I feel really bad for those actors. They will never be able to live this one down because of someone's poor decision of greed and a buck. I'm just so upset. It's bad if Timbaland is even making a mockery out of you because you didn't listen in the first place to leave this story alone! smh....

This movie sucks

[shenise-12 · 1/10 · 16 November 2014]

If I could give this movie a zero star rating, I would. First of all, I assume the absence of her greatest hits was attributed to the fact that they failed to obtain the music rights, hence why they used music from soundtracks. Second of all, the acting... all around was pitiful. I have never seen a biographical movie done in such poor taste. I feel for the family. They didn't want the movie produced in the first place and then this is the best that lifetime could do in honour of her life? I found the movie to be so bad that it was actually disrespectful. There was very little thought put into the movie. I found out that Wendy Williams was one of the producers which I suppose makes sense... The movie was just about as great as her show. I respect Zendaya for stepping away from the role and in all honestly, she dodged a bullet. This movie did no favours for any of the actors in there. There was no real character development, everyone seemed to just be dropped in there for the mere purpose of name dropping, but there was no real need for their existence in the movie. Poor, poor, poor. I apologize to the family on behalf of everyone involved in this crap-storm catastrophe "movie". And by movie, I mean a bunch of random clips lumped together into about 85 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Don't waste your time on this one.

I am very upset.

[Youshouldntsaythat · 1/10 · 16 November 2014]

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.

What The "H" Was This?

[kimone-smith07 · 1/10 · 16 November 2014]

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!

Terrible

[tsg0003-162-462942 · 1/10 · 17 November 2014]

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!!!

About as incredibly dreadful as a old toilet paper from the 90's.

[afijamesy2k · 1/10 · 16 November 2014]

Now Aaliyah will always be the greatest singer of my generation and the princess of r&b, but this lifeless, dull and hack and completely truly dreadful biopic of the great singer is so bad in all fronts that it makes all of the others like classic masterpieces, it brings nothing new to the story, no plot, the performances are really bad, we all know the story, aaliyah was born in 1979 and in 1994 at the age of 15 she meets R. Kelly and marries him under aged after that they got divorced, then in 2000 she meets dame dash formally of the defunct rocafella and one year the plane crash and she was killed instantly, just 2 weeks before 9/11,the story is completely and absolutely flawed, there is nothing remotely good about this TV movie, it is embarrassing, silly and very predicable and truly absolute pointlessness, this is a terribly truly dreadful TV movie and the absolute worst of tube of 2014, no doubt about that.

I Gave it my lowest rating an F.

A very disappointing movie

[rvillegas775 · 1/10 · 16 November 2014]

Wendy Williams shoved this movie down our throats for weeks. It was awful! I didn't even finish watching it. Okay the girl that played her was pretty but that's about it. As for Elise who played Gladys Knight just confirmed she is a lousy actress. There were just so many things wrong with this movie. The guy that played R Kelly looked nothing like him. It was bad acting all around. Wendy Williams just shut up when you are endorsing a a project. Maybe you jinxed it. The character that played AAliyah did not seem confident in her role. It has to be chalked up to bad direction or just bad acting. It just didn't do Aaliyah justice.

Disappointed

[chadavis89 · 17 November 2014]

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.

Alexandra is Great!!

[writeguyr · 9/10 · 15 January 2016]

I was very impressed by the star quality of the star of this film Alexandra Shipp. Although the film was just fair to average. Alexandra charisma shone like a bright star and it is because of her brilliance that I gave this film nine stars. I did not know too much about the real Aaliyah or Alexandra Shipp before seeing this film. But I must say that I was blown away by Alexandra's warm personality and her gifted singing. When I saw her singing in the studio scene, I just loved her voice, it has such soulful heart. She has the voice and appearance of a beautiful angel. Like Aaliyah Alexandra Shipp should be known be her just her first name Alexandra. Her name derived from Alexander the Great. Alexandra has greatness of her own!!

Aaliyah's rise to stardom is chronicled but without the essential things needed for a decent biopic.

[Amari-Sali · 6/10 · 4 October 2016]

With all the negative press about the movie, I was certainly not expecting a film like CrazySexyCool. However, I was hoping it would perhaps at least be like Jimi: All Is By My Side and be a neutered film which at least got the casting right. Though, with Zendaya leaving, and being replaced by the unknown Alexandra Shipp, that idea flew out the window. Leaving the question: Is this movie worth seeing at all?

Characters & Story

The movie covers the time period from Aaliyah (Alexandra Shipp) being on Star Search to before she went to shoot the "Rock The Boat" video. So in the film you will see her relationship with R. Kelly (Clé Bennett), her meeting Missy Elliott (Chattrisee Dolabaille) and Timbaland (Izaak Smith), to her becoming a film star, and then her meeting Damon Dash (Anthony Grant).

Praise

Despite the slew of issues the film has, I must admit it did leave me with a strong sense of nostalgia. For seeing Shipp dress up as Aaliyah really does lead you to want to watch one of her old videos, see one of her old movies, and just sort of imagine where she might have been if she were alive.

Those depressing thoughts aside, perhaps one of the best things about this film is that there wasn't much romanticizing what happened between R. Kelly and Aaliyah. For, the way I see it anyway, he does come off as a predator in the film who is using his fame, and name, in order to woo a child who sees him as the man capable of making all her dreams come true. Outside of that, I was glad a handful of Aaliyah songs, which were covers, made it into the film. Such as "At Your Best."

Criticism

I'm not going to go as far as most people did when it comes to this movie, if just because I knew from the get-go it wasn't going to be a definitive biopic. With that said, perhaps the main issue I had with this film is that because the movie didn't secure Aaliyah's music rights, it meant more dialog. Of which, the more you hear Shipp talk, it takes away from her trying to emulate Aaliyah and makes it so she is just playing dress up. For Aaliyah has this sort of mystery to her, and swag, which Shipp doesn't have. Shipp has the appeal and look of a girl next door who plays the love interest, not a star. So while she may have the clothes, and has her hair styled like Aaliyah, neither her acting, singing, nor persona, make you forget you are watching an actress imitate the Aaliyah they saw on TV.

Which is another issue for this film. It is like someone listened to a handful of Aaliyah interviews and then crafted a character based on how they perceived her. Meaning, nothing in the film makes you feel privy of what Aaliyah was like behind the scenes. If anything, it is like a groupie is telling you the story and embellishing when needed.

Overall: Skip It

Honestly, the film was doomed from the start. Lifetime isn't the type of station which seems to give a damn about anything but money and ratings. So without the family support or music, the film ends up focusing on too much dialog and thus makes the film tedious. Add on the casting choices and then it leads you to believe that Lifetime just didn't want to waste whatever money they put into the production, hence this product. Though perhaps the main reason why this film is being labeled "Skip It" is that it neither provides the insight CrazySexyCool did nor, at the very least, have a talented lead who seems deserving of being the iconic figure which is Aaliyah.

Wow.

[tina-262-320202 · 1/10 · 26 November 2014]

I am a middle-aged woman who knows nothing about Aaliyah. I also don't watch Lifetime that often but, this afternoon, their programming seemed to suck the least. This movie came on in the middle of the afternoon after something else I was watching went off; I kept it on for background noise. Began to pay enough attention to start realizing this was going to be a true waste of 2 hours. The dialog is sappy. The acting is ridiculous (although, I think they probably did the best they could considering the material they were given). the "performance" scenes were badly produced and choreographed. I Googled to find out why a movie about a girl that young was being made. What happened to her was horrible, and this was a horrible way to tell her short life story. If this is typical of what Lifetime produces, they need to give up trying to do this on their own.

What a catastrophe

[staciebeautiful · 1/10 · 17 November 2014]

Wow, I'm completely shocked and appalled at the tragic events I witnessed on Lifetime. The "high ratings" were a result of people wanting to give it a chance... well we did and it was terrible. I bet if the results were calculated halfway through the move the ratings would have dropped severely. I myself could not carry on watching because I knew for a fact Aaliyah would haunt me from the grave. I apologize to Aaliyah, her family, Tim, and Missy... even R. Kelly for being disrespectful and watching. I would like to take this time and tell Lifetime and the "actors" to donate all proceeds to charity. PLEASE stop going against family wishes by destroying the legacy of wonderful people.

1.) You pronounced her name wrong 2.) She had an attitude toward Tim and Missy when they fist met 3.) Horrible props jewelry. 4.) Cast TERRIBLE 5.) Couldn't use original music

The movie was improvised without doing any research at all on anyone. They could have pieced the movie together by interviews, or not do it at all which was requested.

Pathetic

[Cartidewin · 1/10 · 17 November 2014]

I am very disappointed in this movie. I was extremely excited for this movie due to being a huge Aaliyah fan. However, the outcome was almost a slap in the face to her fans. It was underwhelming, very poor acting, horrible scripts, no plot, bad choice in casting, none of her hit songs..the list goes on! I am shocked being that Wendy Williams was involved and allowed such a tragic movie to be played out for the fans to witness. So dissatisfied and feel sorry for her family. It was incredibly selfish to go forward with this movie without the approval of her family and the people who mentored her. Shameful! I'm still shocked at the ending! Absolutely No words!

Disrespectful

[nunbetta12 · 1/10 · 17 November 2014]

I would score it a 0 if I could. This movie had me so upset. How dare the procedures put out such garbage It's almost like they didn't know anything about Aaliyah's story and just threw a movie together for a check! They didn't even pronounce her name right in the movie. I can't even believe how outright pathetic the acting and choice of casting was. It was nearly the worst biopic I have EVER seen and I hope for Aaliayh, her story will be portrayed much better in another film worthy of her legacy. I will NEVER watch another movie produced by the directors of this movie nor will I ever watch another movie starring Alexandra Shipp. She also failed in Drumline 2. She needs to maybe try modeling because acting is not her thing.

shame

[mohammedali19921 · 1/10 · 20 November 2014]

Yes this movie was terrible but

Why not have a documentary movie instead?, which screens all of Aaliya's music videos, behind the scenes work, video through her career and life in one big movie edited with all her music, include her ups and downs. I would watch something like this on IMAX.

Movies on legends are difficult to do and to do them you need a big budget to get the emotions correct, casting even more correct and so on. You cannot find someone that looks exactly like Missy Elliot and acts her out exceptionally well. Just have missy and timbaland themselves give their experience working with Aaliyah.

Worst movie I've ever seen !

[breannaanderson-96841 · 1/10 · 19 June 2021]

Of course I finished it because I had nothing else to do but this movie was horrible. It was just thrown together, none of her good songs, the girl singing sounded nothing like her or looked like her. The other actirs looked nothing or acted nothing like their characters. If I could give a 0 I would. The actors and producers should be ashamed of theirselves for even letting this movie happen !

This was what Exactly?

[Deamonghod · 1/10 · 21 November 2014]

I could not even call this a (TV)movie... It was so badly done a student with an assignment at a third rate movie academy with a blind eye one arm and half of his brain could have done a better job. There isn't a lot that wasn't already said here and throughout the internet about this crap!But since I am bored out of my mind, here are my two euro's ...:)

This should have been a tribute to a beautiful human being, I myself have had a the pleasure of meeting her during her tour in 1995 in Amsterdam. Her presence has stuck with me throughout all the years. so i was very upset when i heard of her passing. So in anticipation of this movie, I was already hesitant to watch it during the casting procedure. Mimicking such a unique and soft timbered voice is a feat by itself, hearing then how badly it was done my hope for the movie being any good disappeared like the Seattle sun. Alexandra Shipp was a close a enough fit in her appearance and she did a plausible job on the emulation of Aaliyah's mannerism. But that is as far as it goes. I mean the girl sings alright, but in noooo way close enough to Aaliyah's pitch or tone or voice.( "Journey to the past " what a terrible arrangement and Ms. Shipp's voice was horrible on it! Because the 'production'(if you can call it that) did not get the rights to any of the original music, everything sounded off key or badly looped and that made it totally 4th rate...( some fake and totally worthless" Timbaland-esque beat" for instances)just embarrassing!

This was more a showcase for Ms. Shipp to let people know what she can do, as opposed to actually playing a character. The crappy " I sound like I am Zen all the time dialog, like : "You don't have to roar to let people know your a lion" I mean reallay???

The way this crap was filmed and written where in some parts the actors dropped (Baby Girl) Aaliyah's nickname to family and friends so many times without any real conviction as if the cast felt that they had to say it at least 10 time to convince us that their acting was on point.

There were some very bad camera angles and movements in the "movie " as well. Parts where you see a character move out of the way so that the camera man could take the shot! No smooth transitions,I mean 'Come on!! The bad casting, the bad casting( yes i said it twice), the even worse music, a real smack in the face to especially Timbaland, the lousy acting , the toe cringing dialog, the even worse editing, I could go on and on about how bad this was. Please HollowWood make this right!

Butttt! on a bright note... There was the mystery ( to me then)of: " Who is that dude playing Aahliyah's Pappy??" I was just busting my head to see if it was him or not ( Bokeem Woodbine). Up to now i still don't know(IMDb doesn't show that it is him)...

So yes all In all Avoid like the plague or if you just can't believe how bad it is,have yourself a painful laugh and hope for something better to come out soon. Because normally I pride myself for not being a sheep to follow the masses...But this was just that bad and worse.... Shame on you Lifetime!!

Ermm no!

[susandav15 · 1/10 · 18 November 2014]

It's such a shame that the movie about the life of the amazing Aaliyah was this one!! Terrible acting! So cheesy! How was it allowed to go ahead?! I am SO embarrassed watching it, but thought I'd see it through to the very painful end!

Alexandra Shipp is not a good actress, nice voice though, perhaps she can have a career in music?

The film in memory of Aaliyah should have been bigger than this and with a bigger & better actress! I think that Alicia Keys would have been perfect!!

Such a disappointment!

Great acting, poor storyline

[davidadomson-908-546069 · 10/10 · 16 November 2014]

Even though the family disagreed with this movie, it all turned out pretty well. There were some things missing, but I wouldn't call this movie horrible. I don't know if this biographical movie portrayed Aaliyah's life 100 percent, but I honestly was being very entertained meanwhile watching it. The actors were brilliant, and even though the actress Alexandra Shipp didn't look exactly like Aaliyah, she had the voice of an angel and her acting skills are truly talented. Really hoping to see more projects from this actress coming in the near future. The ending was quite said and very well written, but, as I said, there were some things missing. As a movie, I'd rate this 10. But, as a biopic, about 7. But, the acting was brilliant so it gives the movie full rating, which is 10.

This film was completely underwhelming and dry

[oneza · 1/10 · 27 March 2018]

The film was the worst. The performances were dry and not at all convincing. None of the actors even look like the people they were hired to portray. The story line felt as though it was written by someone with very little knowledge about Aaliyah. Nothing in the film felt genuine. Though her career was short lived, she was an icon and deserved better than this. This film was incredibly disrespectful to her legacy. Im highly disappointed in Lifetime.

Bad movie

[tashacannady · 1/10 · 28 January 2022]

Omg!! Whoever put this movie together was wrong!! It was bad and why didn't they have her lip sing to Aaliyahs music???? They need to redo this movie..

Even the Music is Wrong

[ReZetamama · 2/10 · 28 January 2022]

This movie was bad on every level. The worst part? It's a movie about a wonderful vocalist who created some really good music; HOWEVER, the music in this movie was awful!! This was not Aaliyah worthy. It was trash. She was not.