Selena (1997)

Nice effects though.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film starts off right at the height of her career. 1995 was a big year for Selena. She had just won a Grammy the year before for Selena Live and had started working with the label to record her English album. As a Selena fan I enjoyed that the film humanized Selena and her humble upbringing. When she passed away, there were many negative rumors surrounding her death and the woman who killed her. This film does a great job in focusing on her talent and career. I gave this video a 8/10 for a few reasons. 1. Certain key elements in Selena's career were left out of the movie. For example, Selena y Los Dinos when they first appeared on the show Johnny Canales. Johnny Canales gave a young teenage Selena the opportunity to be featured on live television multiple times throughout her career. You can literally see her progression as a singer, dancer and even her fluency in Spanish. The moment and events leading up to Selena getting signed by Capital EMI Latin (now Universal Music) were also left out of the movie. *NOTE: In the deleted scenes of the movie it is shown how they received the news and their excitement of being signed with the label. Jose Behar (signed Selena) has said in multiple interviews how he came to discovering Selena y Los Dinos. He describes attending a TMA event in search for an artist to sign up. There is where he saw teenage Selena perform for the first time. Selena and the Dinos eventually did perform in Disney World. Referencing from the scene where young Selena optimistically believes in her dad's vision of the band making it and performing in big venues like Disney World. It would have been nice to have had that concert replicated in the movie. The concert that was recorded and titled "Selena Live" in 1993 was not featured in the film. That event was the most iconic and epic concert in her career. She won a Grammy the following year because of it. Her wardrobe for that concert was also very beautiful. She wore a purple rhinestone jacket/ boots and a bustier ( it is the inspiration of the official Selena wax figure at Madame Tussaud's Hollywood). 2. The way Selena and Chris actually met was far off than what the movie depicts. Read "To Selena with Love" by Chris Perez (Selena's Husband) and you will learn how they truly met and fell in love. The cast for the film was the best that anyone could ask for. Jennifer Lopez did an amazing job in acting, performing and capturing her charisma. Selena would have been an international star by now. We can only dream of what could have been.

When I saw the movie for the first time I don't think I listened to Selena's music. Jlo portrays Selena so well. Her acting is so great in this film and you can tell that she wants to honor the musician and icon. After seeing the movie, I fell in love with her music and her songs are so catchy and fun and I love dancing to them! The acting from the other characters are so good as well. Selena seemed like such a beautiful, likable, and sweet person and I wish that she was alive today. This story is so heartbreaking. But I am so glad that it was told and I will always love this movie. I really like the dad character in the movie as well. He really cares about his daughter and wants what's best for her.

I never really knew of Selena until I first watched the Selena movie. I must say I was very young when she died so I didn't know much of what happened until I saw the movie. From the first time I saw Selena I fell in love with this movie. Selena is one of my all time favorite movies. The movie Selena starts with her at a young age and ends with the day she dies. I really like how the movie incorporated her childhood and how her music business started because it is an important key part of her life. In the movie they also incorporated the use of the real Selena's voice when they show her making her music and in her concerts--I thought that was a brilliant idea. Since I have seen the movie Selena, I now enjoy listening to Selena's Tejano music. Overall the movie is very well put together and shows the most significant parts of her life to show her success. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has not seen it.

I was afraid of this movie when I was a kid, but when I grew up, I realized that "hay mas a esta historia que el ojo" (Translation: "There's more to this story than meets the eye".) The biopic Selena is one of my favorite movies. The reason why is because in the 90's, Jennifer Lopez was a Fly Girl in the sketch comedy show "In Living Color", was co-starring in "Money Train" and "Blood and Wine" and made her biggest starring role yet, even before her music career went big. There was a few controversies involving the movie, where Lopez was a Puerto Rican from New York, and the real Selena was a Mexican-American from Texas. But then again, all of us accepted Lopez playing Selena and we enjoyed the way she made Selena a real star. In Gregory Nava's film, it begins and ends at the big concert for Selena to become a very huge crossover star at the Houston Astrodome in 1995. Then it really ends with the death of Selena being done by her insane employer (Lupe Ontiveros). (No name spoiler here, but you already know.) In the good ol' days in Corpus Christi, young Selena (Rebecca Lee Meza) was raised well by her father, Abraham (Edward James Olmos) who was in a failed band called the Dinos with two other friends back in the 50's. After hearing Selena sing "We Belong Together" with him, this sparks Abraham to bring The Dinos back to life. Who knew that years later, we get to meet Selena, all grown up and living "la vida dulce" (Translation: "The sweet life") as a Tejano star who would be the biggest Tejano star ever. During the movie, we get to see everything in a condensed, but fast, pace of 127 minutes, the relationship involving her family including mama Marcela (George Lopez's Constance Marie), her romantic relationship between the rock-and-roll guitar player, Chris Perez (Jon Seda), her music (done by the real Selena, not Lopez) and yes, we do get to meet Yolanda herself, with a lot of character developing. Lopez gave a really great performance as Selena, and with the help of Miranda Garrison's choreography, captures the essence of Selena, the way she talks, the way she moves and the way she delivers the energy. The same can be said for Olmos, who can be both funny and dramatic at the same time. (Please pay attention to the argument between Selena, Abraham and Chris.) He also delivers what should've been a washed-down speech about Mexican-Americans into a very smart and charismatic speech. Selena is "muy, muy entretenido" (Translation: "Very, very entertaining.") However, when you do get to the end of the film, there are hankies to be of good use when the candlelight vigils and the archival footage shows and the mourning of a fabulous star comes on-screen. It's very heartbreaking and very emotional in the way that has been done and the final image will make you cry in a good way to prove that she was still there with us after all.