Writers: Daniel Berendsen, Michael Poryes
Director: Peter Chelsom
Cast: Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Emily Osment, Jason Earles, Mitchel Musso, Moises Arias, Lucas Till, Vanessa Williams, Margo Martindale, Peter Gunn, Melora Hardin, Jared Carter, Barry Bostwick
Rating: G
Studio: Disney
Release Info:
Theatrical Release: April 10, 2009
DVD Release Date: August 18, 2009
Online Availability: Amazon for $24.99
I don’t understand the tween culture at all. Of course, that is likely the case because when I was a “tween” we weren’t called tweens. We were kids. In fact, we remained kids until we were teenagers. If we referred to ourselves as pre-teens or any other ridiculous adjective based on our age, our parents laughed at us. However, in the last decade the soccer mom’s have come out in full force and they encouraged these idiotic fads; like tween-dom.
Tweens (or between child and teenager) are a market group these days. They influence television, movies, and even music. Normally, I would say that this is fine. The problem is that these tweens have little to no taste in nine out of ten cases.
Hannah Montana is an excellent example of the lack of taste that these kids have when choosing celebrity entertainment. For those of you living under a rock Hannah Montana is a Disney Channel show about a pop star that is a normal girl to her friends and a rock star to the world. The best thing about her is that it shows how the world around her is truly moronic. I mean, after all, the difference between the country bumpkin and the music superstar is a wig. One is blonde (poorly so, at that) and the other is brunette. Otherwise, they look and sound alike. The show, which is supposedly a comedy, is about balancing the best of both worlds. If you think it sounds asinine or unworthy of being on television you’re right.
Billy Ray Cyrus fans would probably tell you that through his daughter’s show and career, he has managed to revive his “Achy Breaky” stint in stardom, too. All three fans are decidedly giddy I am sure. The rest of us are forced to deal with it by turning Disney whenever the horrid comedy comes on and by switching the radio station every time the screechy, annoying “Climb” hits the airwaves.
It’s nice to see that Cyrus has something to do these days, but at least his previous music career was interesting. Now he’s the acting dad of his real life daughter. The role must be a real stretch for him, considering the dynamic nature and all. Still, he handles it as well as anyone you would expect. He’s not going to be next in line for the remake of The Godfather or even the remake of Follow that Bird, but he makes due with the ability he has and the role that he’s been given.
In some ways this movie was incredibly funny. What I mean by that is that it has virtually no point to it whatsoever. The plot is all over the place. It’s poorly written and in many cases, most writers would call it an embarrassment. Still, here it is. I say that it’s funny because it’s seriously terrible. It’s worse than the show even and that is pretty bad. While my opinion won’t convert any rabid tween fans I am pretty sure that a this movie will do it all on it’s own. It’s just that bad.
Prior to seeing this I thought that I might just be behaving like a pop culture snob. This movie taught me that I was right in my feelings for Hannah. I have certain expectations for the things that I enjoy. If I am going to lower my standards to watch something, it is going to be for pleasures far more guilty than the ones that Hannah Montana can provide. After all, those pleasures are not guilty, nor are they pleasures. Instead, they are just plain torture to anyone above the mental capacity of a caterpillar.
The Hannah Montana: The Movie Plot
Miley Stewart’s double life as Hannah Montana is putting a strain on the teenager. When a journo, undercover for the mag BonChic, overhears Hannah has a secret, he stops at nothing to find out what it is. Add in the stress of making a music video and being late for your concert and Miley has a lot on her plate.
The final straw is when Miley and Tyra Banks fight over a pair of shoes at a store. Miley wants to buy them for Lilly, for her birthday, but Tyra wants them for her own friend. Caught in the crossfire, Miley doesn’t have time to say goodbye to Jackson who is leaving for college. Things get worse when the journo follows her limo to Lilly’s birthday party, and she can’t attend as Miley since he’d find out Miley and Hannah are one and the same. As Hannah, all of the party guests go ga-ga and Lilly, the birthday girl, is all but forgotten. Lilly, heartbroken, attempts to leave, though Oliver and Rico try to smooth things over and get her to stay. As the party turns from bad to worse, Lilly is humiliated and Miley feels horrible.
Robby is mad that Hannah is taking over Miley’s life. When she’s supposed to go to the World Music Awards, he changes the course of the plane, returning her to her roots, Crowley Corners, Tennessee, instead. It’s Miley’s grandma Ruby’s birthday, so Robby wanted to celebrate it with her, and he also wants Miley to see what life she could have had, if they’d stayed in Tennessee. Of course, Miley assumes the worst, and is fearful that Hannah will never be able to continue singing.
The rest of the movie explores Miley and Robby returning to a simpler place. Robby finds love with Lorelai and Miley reconnects with a friend from her childhood, Travis. Miley learns how to ride again, riding her old horse, Jeans, and she realizes that the Hannah world might not be the world she wants to live in. In the end, she must choose between life in Tennessee, a life without Hannah or returning to California to the life she’s established there with friends, family and her pop sensation, alter ego.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting: 
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
While Hannah Montana will never be up to par when it comes to the plot, the video quality is what you would expect from a nice, new Blu-ray disc. The 1080p video offers a strong, highly detailed picture. The colors are bright and the flesh tones are handled reasonably. The black levels are also fairly consistent. The scenes in the country, with the open fields and the natural setting shine the brightest, but there aren’t too many bad areas when it comes to this Blu-ray. I didn’t watch the DVD, but I am going to assume by the quality of the Blu-ray that much the same can be said, but on a smaller scale. I did not pick up any noise, dirt, or compression errors, which made this a near perfect transfer. What can I say? It seems that many substandard movies have them these days.
The audio for Hannah Montana: The Movie is handled with a DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio soundtrack. The audio track here is extremely important due to that fact that there is so much music. The results will please most parents and Hannah fans. The music sounds great to those that like it. For those that don’t (myself included) you might notice that the sound is somewhat restrained. The musical moments are even as they come through the speakers.
There is not an influx of bass or treble used when it comes to the music, which I found nice considering I am not a huge fan (or a fan at all). The dialogue was always easy to hear and understand and what little sound effects included were handled well. In addition to the English audio, there are tracks in French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.
Visual:
Audio:
Bonus Features:
There is a selection of special features available in this Hannah Montana set. Beyond receiving the movie in every possible format (Blu-ray, DVD, and a digital copy), you have a commentary, featurettes, and even some BD Live functionality. It’s everything a tween with little taste could need and more! The audio commentary that is included is virtually useless. While it’s nice that the director felt the need to add one, I cannot see how the kids that might be interested in this movie would care what he has to say. If the commentary was all Miley it might have worked out, but the commentary in this form is not worth listening to.
Three featurettes are included in the Backstage Disney section, which provides an extra hour of content. The three featurettes inlcude “The Hoedown Throwdown Home Experience,” “Find Your Way Back Home,” and “I Should Have Gone to Film School.” The longest featurette is “Hoedown Throwdown,” at roughly 25 minutes in length. The featurette deals with the choreography and the various dance sequences that occur in the film. It’s pretty lengthy for a movie that wasn’t strictly about dancing, but you can assure all of the bases were covered! In “Find Your Way Back Home” the actors talk about where they grew up, what it was like living in their hometowns and where they are now. Finally, in “I Should Have Gone to Film School” you get a chance to see a behind the scenes look at the movie’s production scene.
Seven music videos are included in the Music Videos section of the bonuses. If you needed a chance to hear one of these songs again, this is your shot at doing it. The songs include “Back to Tennessee” by Billy Ray, “You’ll Always Find Your Way Home” and “Let’s Get Crazy” by Hannah Montana, “The Climb” (in two versions) by Miley Cyrus, “God Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts, and “Crazier” by Taylor Swift.
Four deleted scenes with commentary explaining why the cuts were made are included, as well as four minutes worth of bloopers. The bloopers are about as poorly done as the movie. Most of them just show people laughing randomly, but you never really know why. The features are rounded out with a selection of previews and BD Live, which allows you to connect with friends and download special Hannah Montana content.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
Hannah Montana: The Movie might work for some people, but the vast majority of the free thinking universe will not have much love for this film. Being nice, I will say that this is a movie that was thrown together to make some money and to string along fans of the series. The only problem is that this movie has nothing to do with the series and when the show on Disney comes back for the next season, it will not acknowledge the storylines seen here. It would have made more sense to wait to do the movie after series had made its final episode. Still, with hopes that the popularity of Hannah Montana is dying down, maybe this can serve as the final nail in the coffin. Lord knows, it’s dreadful enough to warrant such an ending.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Movie, Blu-ray Review, BD, Disney, Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus, Music, Tween, Billy Ray Cyrus
Written by Ashtyn Evans – Visit Website
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Ashtyn is in her early 30s. She is a mother, writer, college student, and music lover. Ashtyn has had a successful career as a writer since 2003. She turned to blogging in 2005. Ashtyn attends Wright State where she is getting a degree in Psychology. She has extensive knowledge in SEO and Social Media Development.
