The film opens with a young Aretha Franklin as a child before following her life and fame. From this introduction, we learn about her upbringing and what life was like with her family. Aretha would always be honoured to sing at dinner parties and is also invited to sing at her father's church. But even as a child, Aretha encountered many heartbreaking moments. Some of these moments include the fact that she was forced to deal with a tragic loss within her family and experienced betrayal and sexual assault, all of which led to her lacking trust in others. For most of the runtime, the film focuses on Aretha as a young adult when her desire to make smash hit records was her prime focus. We also see how Aretha overcame many challenges along the way in love, domestic violence, racism and how she conquered her past. Performances, for the most part, are great. When it comes to singing and performing on stage, actress Jennifer Hudson nailed her portrayal of Aretha. During the scenes where her character expresses deep emotions, sometimes Jennifer does a solid job. Most of the time, I enjoyed what she delivered on-screen, and the task of bringing this incredible woman to life would not have been an easy one. Side performances from actors Forest Whitaker as Aretha's father and Marlon Wayans as her future lover and husband were quite surprising. I was quite happy with their supportive roles on screen. As you might expect, as this film is about Aretha Franklin, there are several musical numbers. This is certainly one of the biggest highlights, and each musical item looks and sounds incredible. Other major standouts for me were hair, costumes, makeup and the set designs, which were all flawless. Throughout the different time periods portrayed, these were highly convincing and wonderful to experience on the big screen. Overall, this is a heavy and touching story that focuses on the life and journey of Aretha Franklin. The film gets many things right such as musical numbers, side characters performances, costumes and hair designs. Thankfully, the film also delivers a powerful finale. The story focuses on specific details of Aretha and other character's lives that I was curious about. Respect is a touching and powerful story that I enjoyed witnessing and experiencing. *This review has been written for Sanity. For more reviews from Walkden Entertainment, check out the link here: www.walkdenentertainment.com