Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B (4 Stars)

This is a biographical film about the singer Aaliyah, who was called the Princess of R&B during her short life. She might be well known to many of my readers, but I had never listened to her music before watching the film today. I only know her as an actress in two films, "Romeo must die" and "Queen of the Damned". She was playing the role of Zee in "The Matrix Reloaded", but she died before the filming was complete, so her scenes were re-shot with another actress. That's the role that would have made her an A-List actress, but it wasn't to be.

Although Aaliyah (full name Aaliyah Dana Haughton) was an extremely successful singer, her goal was to become an actress. She looked up to Whitney Houston as her role model, but that was a bad example to follow. Whitney appeared in three films, of which only one was successful, after which she returned to singing.

Aaliyah was introduced to the producer R. Kelly when she was 13, and she released her first album when she was 14. It sold over six million copies worldwide. She was involved in a controversy because of her relationship with R. Kelly, who was 12 years older than her. They got married when she was 15 by faking her birth certificate. Her parents had the marriage annulled.

She made her second album with the producer Timbaland. She insisted on having him as producer, even though he was only moderately successful at the time. It was the right choice, and it was even more successful than her debut album, selling eight million copies.

This film has been criticised by Aaliyah's fans, in particular the casting of Alexandra Shipp in the title role. They say that her singing is not up to the quality of Aaliyah's. I have to shake my head. What do they expect? Nobody could possibly have imitated Aaliyah's voice perfectly. After comparing the songs in the film with the originals I have to say that Alexandra did a reasonable job. My question is, if the fans think Alexandra Shipp was the wrong person for the role, who else would they have picked? I can't think of a better actress for the role. She looked enough like Aaliyah to carry the role.

More than anything else, Alexandra Shipp was able to behave like Aaliyah. She studied her mannerisms and perfectly imitated her. She says that she's a big fan of Aaliyah's music, so we can see that she was playing the part with the greatest respect.

The film could have been made better with a bigger budget. I miss not seeing scenes with Aaliyah making her films. "Queen of the Damned" is only mentioned in passing, when she says that she's going to play a character from one of her favourite books.

The impression that the film leaves me is that Aaliyah was a beautiful person. She was modest and unassuming, but at the same time she was determined to succeed. Most of all she was a family person. She still lived in the simple room in her parents' house, even when she was rich. If the film has given me admiration and respect for Aaliyah it's done its job.