Grade: C-

Verdict: Wants so badly to be fab, but pre-fab is more like it.

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
Cox News Service

Sure, the title says "Raise Your Voice," but we all know this picture's real name: "The Lizzie McGuire Movie 2" or, perhaps, "Seed of Lizzie."

Filling the perceived vacuum left by the Olsen Entity, Hilary Duff stars as Terri, a nice girl with a beautiful voice from small-town Arizona and, apparently, the only blonde in her high school choir. When her brother is killed by a drunk driver, after she'd coerced him to sneak out of the house, the song in Terri's heart is gone.

So she turns down an invitation to spend three weeks at a prestigious music school in Los Angeles. However, her mother (Rita Wilson) and her way-cool, arty aunt (Rebecca De Mornay, looking real good) convince her to go, promising they'll cover for her with her overly protective dad (David Keith) who, when he hears L.A., thinks bright lights, bad city.

The school itself is full of "Fame: The Next Generation" kids, frisking around in front of the camera, hoping to be the next Duff or the next Duff boyfriend, and a faculty of tedious stereotypes, like the hey, dude, music teacher (John Corbett) with long hair and leather pants; or the uptight professor mit the amusing accent.

Over the next hour or so, Lizzie — I mean, Terri — finds love with an uninteresting Brit (the uninteresting Oliver James) and friendship with her African-American roomie (cute and lively Dana Davis). Most importantly, she finds the music in her heart. Or, more specifically, the music in Duff's next album.

"Raise Your Voice" is more annoyingly bland than genuinely awful. However, the presentation of its cute-as-a-button star is genuinely, absolutely, immeasurably awful. Duff is so slavered with eye make-up, rouge and lipstick, she suggests a young Dolly Parton (only without the irony or talent). And when she sings, her voice sounds laminated, like it's coming from some studio session around the block. (More likely, it's coming from some studio session earlier this year.) The effect is a little eerie.