Nata per vincere

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

Don't get me wrong, I really love Hilary duff's movies, music and everything. But her acting in this movie specifically is really bad. Anyway, is the kind of movie that I would've loved in that moment. I have to admit I'm obsessed with the last song "Someone's watching over me".

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.

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 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.