Another bland, prefabricated feel-good vehicle for another chirpy Disney-cultivated pop-singer teen queen, Raise Your Voice thinks it's a brave movie full of life lessons for young people because the main character's older brother is killed by a drunk driver in the first act--a tragedy that comes back to haunt 16-year-old Terri (Hilary Duff in terrible platinum tresses) as she spends a summer at a prestigious music academy in Los Angeles. But given this opportunity for genuine depth, the movie blows it by recycling the most banal story elements in the misunderstood-teen lexicon. (Will her unconvinced dad have an on-cue change of heart after seeing Terri perform in the Big Finale? Well, duh!) Predictable to a fault, overflowing with feeble soap-operatic contrivances, and straining desperately to seem at once hip and harmless (it's packed with surprisingly subtle messages of faith and chastity), Raise Your Voice can't even manage to get Duff's lips synced up to her own overproduced and studio-polished (yet supposedly spontaneous) bubblegum-rock songs. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include a seven-minute "making-of" featurette, five deleted scenes (5 min.), four minutes of outtakes, an “Interactive Jam” make-your-own music segment with various instrument choices and generic text “professor critiques,” the music video “Fly” by star Hilary Duff, a brief “Orchestra Sequence” montage, trailers, and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a paint-by-numbers film.] (R. Blackwelder)
Raise Your Voice
New Line, 107 min., PG, VHS: $61.95, DVD: $27.95, Feb. 15 Volume 20, Issue 1
Raise Your Voice
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: