Local News
Youth News: Media with a Message: ‘Raise Your Voice’
Published: October 21, 2004
Megan’s Rating: 2 stars out of 5
The two main forces behind New Line Cinema’s family-friendly movie “Raise Your Voice” are director Sean McNamara and star Hilary Duff.
They are both alumni of the Disney Channel, involved with “Even Stevens” and “Lizzie McGuire,” respectively. Unfortunately, the Disney Channel is exactly where this too-slick, overdone teen flick belongs.
Duff plays Terri Fletcher, a 16-year-old small town choir member stuck in Flagstaff, Ariz., with her strict, toothpick-chewing dad (David Keith), an extremely passive mom (Rita Wilson), and an eerily overly supportive older brother Paul (“Joan of Arcadia’s” Jason Ritter).
On the last day of school, as a graduation present, Terri gives her brother tickets to see his favorite band, Three Days Glory, live in concert that night. The two sneak out of the house together to attend and all goes well until the siblings are hit head-on by a drunk driver on the way home. Although Paul is killed immediately, Terri escapes with barely a scratch.
Even though Terri learns that she was accepted into the ultra-competitive Bristol-Hillman summer music program, her sadness and guilt over Paul’s death cause her to rethink her musical dream. The grief over his only son’s death also reaffirms Terri’s dad’s earlier decision to forbid her from going to Los Angeles by herself for an entire month. However, her mom and funky bohemian Aunt Frances (Rebecca De Mornay) persuade Terri to follow her dream and fulfill Paul’s last wish—that she use her musical talent to escape from the constraints of Flagstaff.
Under the pretense that she’s staying with Aunt Frances in Palm Desert, Terri decides to go to L.A. for the summer without telling her dad. When she is ostracized by the various stereotypical snobs at the camp, and also has difficulties with the rigorous music program, Terri questions her decision to attend. However, with a little encouragement from her cool, though scruffy teacher, Mr. Torvald (John Corbett), and her British semi-boyfriend Jay (Oliver James), she eventually finds her confidence and accomplishes her dreams.
Although the movie is squeaky clean and Duff is entirely wholesome, the plot and dialogue are filled with clichés. Random jam sessions in the school courtyard, where everyone magically starts playing music in perfect unison, seriously distract from the limited point of the film. The typical teen movie stereotypes also are in full force here. The music academy is full of punks, recluses, nerds, catty girls (especially Jay’s ex-girlfriend Robin), and a lone poor student, who conveniently happens to be African-American and is forced to play a violin on the street to earn extra money.
Even though her girl-next-door image has made Duff a role model for many young girls, this movie should leave even her most devoted fans unsatisfied. Her face is constantly plastered with too much eye make-up and the perpetually goofy grin on her face is unabashedly fake.
In addition to her sub-par acting skills that consist of delivering lines rather flatly, Duff’s voice is not remarkable. She is clearly lip-synching throughout the movie, and her voice sounds falsely produced.
However, the main problem with this movie is its distorted message. Although this is supposed to be the overdone “believe in yourself and follow your dreams” saga, it’s hard to agree with a message that glorifies lying to one’s parents in order to get what you want.
Terri didn’t intentionally mean to create harm, as she was simply attempting to honor her commitment to her brother and follow her heart. However, at the end, Terri’s dad is forced to admit that he was wrong for forbidding her to go to L.A.
But wrong for what? Prohibiting his underage daughter from the dangers of being alone in a large city with little supervision? Showing that he loves her and that he doesn’t want Terri to suffer a similar fate as her brother? There is also a scene in which Terri’s boyfriend Jay drinks after messing up their relationship and attempting to win her back. Since Terri does forgive him after this incident, underage drinking is wrongly portrayed as an acceptable problem-solver. These misguided ideals greatly stunt any chance of success this movie had.
Although “Raise Your Voice” deserves recognition for being a fairly wholesome movie in a cinematic world littered with inappropriate films, its limited commercial and critical success indicates that simply being family-friendly is not enough. Audiences want and deserve entertainment and quality, but sadly that cannot be found in this movie.
Megan Sennett is a junior at Chattahoochee High School and a member
of St. Brigid Church, both in Alpharetta.
