User reviews

Hilary Duff stars as Terri Fletcher, a 16-year-old anxious to explore her musical talent at a performing arts academy in L.A. for the summer. After a little persuasion, she makes it there, and the movie is more or less about her exploits therein.

The film starts well; the Three Days Grace concert helps set the musical tone for the movie. That was an unexpected surprise, although I suppose I'm partially biased since I like the band.

A beautiful performance by Hilary Duff. I am more and more impressed with her with every movie I see her in. She brought me to tears twice in the first twenty minutes of the movie. I was impressed by the colorful array of teens at the school, even if they were chosen primarily to make it believable that they're in L.A. I appreciated that none of the teens were written to fulfill any particular stereotype and all seemed like real people, for stereotypes are a sore spot for me, as my teen years were not all that long ago.

I loved the scenes with Denise playing the violin; again, very refreshing and stylistic. John Corbett turns in a innovative performance as a progressive music teacher, breathing a little more life into the film.

The direction really helps to further the movie along, as it is pretty anti-climatic. The 'unwanted kiss' was a bit predictable, however an element of predictability is generally assumed in movies of this persuasion. The make-out scene was completely unnecessary and should've been cut.

And it should be noted that the film is more or less like a Crossroads (2000) for a slightly younger generation, but despite that, it still maintains its own life.

I absolutely love the last song in the film—that was the perfect song for the theme of the movie. And I don't care what anyone says, Hilary Duff is a true performer, even if she isn't that great of a singer. She just always has this glow about her, and no matter how I feel, seeing her perform always makes me smile, and that's something to be commended.

VERDICT: Very enjoyable musical film despite its predictability. Recommended to anyone with kids, who's young at heart, who likes Hilary Duff, or just needs a good smile, but be forewarned—you might get a little teary-eyed before that smile reaches your lips.

6.5 out of 10.0

This film did shock me in some respect. I expected it to be extremely cheesy (more so than what it was!) The music in it fitted so well. and the acting was actually at times believable (apart from the guy who played Hilary duff's dad in the film) He just wasn't right for any of the hospital scenes.

One thing that did disappoint me was the way after the crash the film used fade in/outs to get the point across that the brother had died, there was a funeral and that the friends didn't know how to act around her now. The film should of explored that a bit more rather than comment &fade out.

Overall i thought it was good. I've actually watched it more than once, but its mainly for the reason of the music and the type of instruments.

I liked the movie. It was very predictable and a bit sappy. That I could excuse. It's just incredibly unbelievable because this movie showed Hilary Duffs lack of vocal ability. I enjoy her songs but I just think that she was not of the same caliber that anyone real teen in a performing art's school would be. Duff's precious as can be in a world where you really don't need to be able to sing well to sell a record. It would have been better if they had her dubbed over entirely as opposed to just the "high" notes she couldn't hit. Once you get past that, it's a cute movie. It has an excellent cast to sell it and does just about enough to holds one attention. I can't completely trash it because I did sit through the whole movie wondering about it's outcome.

In my review of "Cheaper by the Dozen"(2003), I mentioned the difficulty Hilary Duff is going to have breaking away from typecasting as Lizzie McGuire. The fact that this movie was a Brookwell/McNamara Production, a staple of the cable network that made her famous may be another obstacle from that typecasting. Make no mistake though -- Hilary Duff *IS* a talented actress and singer(in spite of corporate punk pretensions), and even with this formulaic material she proves it. But the way things are looking now, she couldn't break out of the Disney universe if she did hardcore pornography.

Terri Fletcher(Duff) sings in a local church chorus, and for her own personal enjoyment. She also thinks her singing can make her a star, and so does her brother Paul(Jason Ritter) who secretly recommends her for a scholarship to a school for the performing arts in Los Angeles. But her father(David Keith) wants her to stay at home and wait tables at the family diner. After she and her brother sneak out to go to a concert one night, some drunk driver plows into them on the way home. Her brother dies, she survives and is left with crippling flashbacks and survivor's guilt. But just when she thinks she's going to have to spend the rest of her life at the bottom of the barrel, along comes that scholarship to the performing arts school she didn't even know she entered. Of course, the only reason she doesn't want to go is because she's afraid to face the wrath of Dad, so Mom(Rita Wilson) and Aunt Nina(Rebecca De Mornay) tell Daddy she's going to spend time with her aunt, while smuggling her off to that school. And the rest of the movie involves Terri trying to make friends in the big city, cover-up her lie to her father, and deal with her own fear of bright lights, courtesy of that random drunk driver.

Too much about this movie is predictable; The overbearing father, sympathetic avant-garde artistic aunt, the tragic car wreck, the boyfriend with an ex-girlfriend who won't let go(who Terri catches putting the moves on and thinks is unfaithful to her), and yes even the triumphant concert at the end. Having said all that, I must reiterate that I don't want my criticism of this movie to be interpreted as another Duff-bashing tirade. Because regardless of the cookie-cutter plot line, Duff is still outstanding. Yes, she's a better actress than a singer, but both of these aspects of her are far superior to the movie. And if you DON'T believe she can play anyone else but Lizzie McGuire, you should've seen her in a highly publicized episode of Joan of Arcadia from the Spring of 2005. So while it's nowhere near the fluff-piece that her first big series was, it makes you wish there were more parts out there that are better for her.

Now always, does this website have appropriate ratings for movies. This is one of the case. I admit, this is not the best movie ever made, but why do people have to criticize it? Yeah, okay, it gets pretty boring in the middle, but the ending makes up for it.

At first, Hilary Duff (Terri)loses her brother as he dies in a car crash... who wanted her to be a singer. She uses this as a motivation to become a singer. Oh, and when she goes to this music school, she meets this dude Oliver James (Jay) and they kinda fall in love. Although, Hilary Duff's acting is not at all convincing. But give her some time, won't you? She'll catch up! But I loved that girl, who plays the piano and looks rather cranky all the time. She's cool! On the whole, the movie is very, very touching, especially in the end... because of the song, called 'Someone's watching over me', sang by Hilary Duff. It's an awesome song! And I suppose this is what compensated for the all the little flaws in the film 7/10

Hilary Duff needs to tread carefully - at the moment she's playing more or less the same character in every film she does.

Unfortunately, Raise Your Voice does little to shed that image, but on the other hand the role of Terri Fletcher has given Duff the opportunity to show off her dramatic skills as well as her "fluffy" skills, and also show the audiences that she's got quite a voice on her.

Terri Fletcher (Duff) has applied to a music college in LA, but her Dad doesn't want her to go. But when her supportive brother dies, Terri has to choose whether to obey her father or do what her brother would have wanted. Even though she blames herself for the accident, her mum and Aunt Nina (played well by Rebecca De Mornay) devise a plan to scoot her off without her Dad knowing where she's really gone. When she arrives at the college, Terri finds it hard to fit in, and memories of the car accident which left her brother dead and her wounded still come back to haunt her. But, miraculously enough, Terri manages to overcome what's holding her down, and tries to achieve the best she can.

The film has to be complemented on the fact that when they say "music college", they don't just mean lots of wannabe pop stars flocking to some high school searching for a record deal. This is actual music, with any imaginable instrument, different teachers, and a variety of people. Duff also pulls off one of her best performances to date, even though for the first bit the viewer would be forgiven for thinking they were watching the new Lizzie McGuire movie. The story itself is also enlightening, but the characters besides Terri don't develop as much as they probably should.

Still, although Raise Your Voice lacks the comedy of other teen movies such as American Pie, The Girl Next Door, and Mean Girls, it can't be faulted very much on sentiment and dramatic value, and could be Hilary Duff's best role yet.

First of all I have to say that I really love Hillary Duff, I laughed out loud when I watched A Cinderella Story and together with my sister I've seen most of the Lizzie McGuire episodes.

So, I was really curious about this new movie. But if you're making a movie about a girl with an absolutely stunning voice it's really important for the actress that she actually can sing and has an absolutely stunning voice! I've heard some songs from Hillary and they were okay, but this was really horrible that all I could think was: When will she stop? But for the rest? The story is simple and done many times before and even better. At school I learned that it's really important for your characters to change, this change is what makes a simple character a good character (why would the audience want to see a movie about someone who stays the same?) but the only character changing is Hillary and her father...

I can understand why there is no big Studio involved...

Raise your voice wasn't disappointing at all, seeing Hilary Duff flounce her singing talent would be irrefutably appropriate. Honestly the story made me cry for seconds, the plot was great and the talents of the characters were comparatively astonishing, especially the recital of musical instruments. A bit of laughs, a gradual amount of drama and seriousness is mostly focused.

If you love to hear musical movies—but this doesn't purely focus musical anecdote but the achievement of the movie lies to the fact of music being the highest elevation of one's dream. Watch it you'll not be thwarted.

I thought this movie was amazing!A lot of people don't like Hillary movies but this one is worth seeing.There are parts that made me wanna cry and other parts made me laugh.I think this movie is really heart-warming so all girls should see it.Guys may like it too but I think it's more on the chick-flick side.The issues with Teri are very real and the movie is played out really well around them.I really enjoyed watching it.Even if you don't particularly like Hillary,you should still see it because this is one of her best movies.It's different than her other movies and she really shines in this.Oliver James is also very good in this movie along with the rest of the cast.

I went to see Raise Your Voice expecting the worst. What I left with was a lump in my throat and a sincere admiration for this young actress/singer Hilary Duff.

People are so hard on her and she just seems so unworthy of such criticism. Sure it's a squeaky clean Fame...and it's kinda cliché. But...the performances of Hilary as well as her supporting cast were honorable. This movie certainly doesn't deserve the bashing it's getting.

I was especially impressed with the young supporting cast including Kat Dennings, Johnny K. Lewis and Dana Davis. Not to mention John Corbett who by far was one of the greatest things in this film.

I cared...I cried...and when it was all over I honestly felt inspired.

I give this film a 6 out of 10...because it makes u care..it really does.

Raise Your Voice succeeds on a surprisingly tolerable and almost recommendable level, given the manufactured and star vehicle vibes it allows to seep through. The film ostensibly appears to be nothing more than an advertisement to young teen girls about how cool it is to be young, blonde, on your own, and possessing a singing voice any girl would envy. On the surface, I was almost ready to declare Raise Your Voice a film Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen should've starred in.

Yet, upon sitting through it, it dawned on me how much of a screen-presence and a good-natured soul Duff is. This is only my second outing with her, after the mediocre girl-power film The Lizzie McGuire Movie proved to be nothing but a forgettable retread of tired teen drama, and while she lacks the career-diversity of some other stars her age, she doesn't feel programmed and micromanaged to hell by executives like the Olsen twins. With Raise Your Voice, Duff has to at least try and be believable and convey emotion, playing Terri Fletcher, a teenager with aspirations of being a singer-songwriter for a living. These plans are wholly disapproved by her overprotective father Simon (David Keith), who takes after his father's work as a restaurant manager.

While her mother Frances (Rita Wilson) understands her dream, Terri is heavily supported by her elder brother Paul (Jason Ritter). After a family barbecue, Simon grounds Paul, who, in turn, sneaks out with Terri late at night to attend a Three Days Grace concert. On the way home, Paul and Terri get into a car accident that leaves him dead and her badly injured. After this, knowing that she's responsible in part for Paul death, loses all interest in singing and shuns off a music program offering a $10,000 college scholarship that she was previously very passionate about.

Frances understands that Paul supported Terri and her musical aspirations and would've wanted her to attend the program in order to have a shot at receiving a hefty scholarship and a networking opportunity for her voice. With opposition coming in the form of Paul, Frances tells him that their daughter plans to live at their aunt Nina's (Rebecca De Mornay) beach-house in Palm Desert over the summer. So now Terri is off to attend this music program to network, perfect her skills, make friends, and raise her voice.

Duff's Terri is forced to show a great deal of unbridled emotion in this film, moreso than I would've expected for a film that appeared to be a cut-and-paste assortment of teen dramas gone past. In addition, don't mistake Terri's emotions for typical sorrow and woe; numerous scenes show the grieving process and how Terri attempts to muster herself up to sing and carry on her potential carry but is simply brought down by the amount of turmoil and tragedy that plagues her emotions.

Despite Duff's capable work here, it's too bad the film at hand has only subpar expectations for her. She is still forced to recite obvious dialog, follow an obvious path of circumstances, to an obvious ending of obviousness. The good news is at least writer Sam Schreiber recognizes pitfalls and certain brutal honesties character must overcome, such as a family death, parental disapproval of a decision, and the struggle to fit in at somewhere you thought you belonged but feel alienated in.

Raise Your Voice was released in 2004 to middling box office returns, when Duff's mainstream movie career was nearing a close and she'd be shifted to blurbs in tabloids and teen magazines rather than being front-page news. It marks a higher point in her career when she seemed to be desperately trying to release an inner-voice of her own, despite evident pressures from studios to keep her young, smiley, and untouchable. The film should be recalled as that, but also one that shows that while Duff may've tried to mature, that doesn't mean the same for her film's story lines.

Starring: Hilary Duff, Oliver James, Jason Ritter, Dana Davis, Kat Dennings, Rita Wilson, David Keith, Rebecca De Mornay, and John Corbett. Directed by: Sean McNamara.

I do not understand why anyone would rate this movie anything less than a perfect 10. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters were great (all movies make high-end music students look like snobby prima-donnas). I have seen every Hilary Duff movie to date and this is definitely her best work. Compared to "A Cinderalla Story", this movie has 10 times the quality and entertainment value. I thought Terri's relationship with her brother was very moving - and the scene where she first saw his DVD that was sent to the school was very well done - I could almost feel her grief. The teachers were well done. Thanks to everyone who made this film. I will be purchasing the DVD. Remember that Hilary is 16 years old when this was filmed - I look forward to the next decade as Hilary finishes her teens and goes into her 20's. My only complaint about Hilary - lose the fake hair - just let yours grow - it looks better.

As a music teacher, I was extremely disappointed with the quality of music performed by the vocal students in this movie. For instance, the choir teacher tells the choir on the first day of class that the piece he is teaching them is full of counterpoint and too difficult for them to learn and perform well... but it's just the "Hallelujah Chorus", a well-known and easy piece. And much is made of Duff's character getting into the "top music school in the country", but the way she sings, she would have no business being there. She has no breath support, doesn't open her mouth, and adds a pop flavor to the classic Italian aria "Caro Mio Ben". It doesn't make sense. This movie has too many musical holes in it to be enjoyable. Even the faculty ensemble that is shown playing at the beginning is not comprised of real musicians (except for the violinist?)And where are the chaperons... they're not keeping 16-year-olds from having free reign in the city of Los Angeles. Disappointing. Saving grace: Duff's character has a boyfriend but hesitates to even kiss him.

I loved this movie just from watching the previews ..and I'm a huge Hilary Duff fan the day it came out i went to the theaters and the day it was released we were proud owners so meaning owning a copy of this movie its excellent its very inspiring and uh my dream is to become a singer/songwriter so this movie was very very inspiring to me and showed me u could do anything u put your mind to..anyone who hasn't seen it i recommend it to u this is one of my all time favorite movies i cannot forget..(i cried from like the very beginning) go out to the store and get it. Everyone of course has different opinions and points of view. but this is my honest opinion on this movie not just because I'm a big Hilary duff fan or anything like but i relate to tiny things in this movie like the fact that her dream is to sing. It has lots of emotion (this movie) and if there are any Hilary Duff fans reading this rite now..heres an awesome website that tells you anything u like to know about hil. www.oh-Hilary.com

'Raise your Voice'; I wasn't expecting much from this movie, just the average Hilary Duff movie. Because of this, i almost wasn't going to see it, but my friends wanted to. I saw it and was surprised that it wasn't as stereotypical as i thought that it would be. I was quite happy with it and would recommend it to anyone between 8 and 14. What made the movie good was a small bit of drama which happened in the middle that no one really expects. This part takes away all the stereotypes and definitely changes the direction of the movie. Even thought there is more drama than you would expect from a Hilary Duff movie it is still a chick flick. In conclusion congratulations to Hilary Duff on this great movie.