The film recounts the brief life of Selena Quintanilla Perez (Jennifer Lopez), a life that was built around her father's broken dreams. Her father (Edward James Olmos) had himself had a band in his youth called "Los Dinos". Now a married man with children, his dreams have stalled along the wayside. When he realizes, however, that his young daughter has some musical talent, he builds a band around her, "Selena and Los Dinos", and begins living vicariously through her.

Under the watchful eye of her martinet father, years of forced, musical practices and life on the road follow. Loving, possessive, and controlling, he succeeds in almost losing her, when she marries her guitarist without her father's permission. They reconcile, however, and he places Selena on the path to stardom, a tejano sensation on the cusp of becoming a crossover musical star. Unfortunately, her path crosses that of a fan, Yolanda Saldivar, whom Selena befriends, only to have her be the one who cuts her down in her prime.

Jennifer Lopez is sensational as Selena, big booty and all. She charms. She beguiles. She entertains. She is every inch the star. This has been her best role, and her performance is stellar. She should have won an award for her performance, because she most certainly deserved one for her portrayal of Selena. It is unfortunate that her acting career has been downhill ever since.

Edward James Olmos is perfect as Abraham Quintanilla, the father who pushed his daughter to heights that he had dreamed for himself but had been unable to reach. His performance is powerful and rich. He, too, should have had his award calibre performance acknowledged in some way, as it was close to perfect. Mr. Olmos is a wonderful actor who deserves more recognition than he has gotten, thus far.

All in all, this is an interesting, absorbing film with some great music. No wonder Selena was a hit!

Well, now that that is out of the way, "Selena" was an incredible piece of work! From the very beginning where her last Houston concert was re-created I could tell that Jennifer Lopez did the best, she acts so much like the real Selena, it really amazed me!

The films major pluses are the fact that her killer is not in it that much, becuase the film has to do with her life, and not about a killer that everyone would rather forget existed. Secondly, the fact that the movie did not go into what happened after Selena died, when a movie comes out about the life of a legend, it should stick to her life and not to what happened after she died.

The DVD version is great aside from the GREAT AUDIO and PICTURE , "Selena" comes in both Pan and Scan and Widescreen formats which is great for me cuase I really like alternating. And the Menus make it more enjoyable and interesting.

"Selena" was a remarkable film! Although I do think that the fans that knew her in life will relate to it more, It will touch everyones hearts if they see it for what it really is: A loving and humble tribute to Selena and her fans.(See the ending to see what Im talking about)