Hannah Montana: The Movie - Blu-ray Review

DVD Reviews

By Jeff Swindoll Aug 18, 2009, 14:05 GMT

The most popular split personality on the Disney Channel makes her leap to the big screen.

For those of you over a certain age or that do not have kids in the house, you might not know who Hannah Montana is. Hannah Montana is a teen rock star, but she’s really Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus). When fame reared its ugly head she decided that she would adopt the persona of Montana to keep her private life private and try to live the life of a regular teen. Even her manager/father Robby Ray (Billy Ray Cyrus) and best friends Lilly (Emily Osment) and Oliver (Mitchel Musso) have adopted alter-egos to keep their identities hidden when they’re around Hannah.

Oswald Granger (Peter Gunn), an undercover Brit tabloid journalist, plants a camera unknown to Hannah and her publicist Vita (Vanessa Williams) and hears that Hannah has a secret so he makes it his goal to find out what it is. Hannah gets into a fight with Tyra Banks over some shoes that ignites a media firestorm. She also arrives in her Hannah disguise and ruins Lilly’s birthday party, as well as missing saying goodbye to her brother Jackson (Jason Earles) who is off to college in Tennessee. Robby Ray decides that maybe Hannah and her dual life have become too much to handle and forcibly takes Miley back to their hometown of Crowley Corners, Tennessee to get his daughter out of the spotlight. She’s not ready to give up Hannah, but he says give him two weeks and ask again if she can keep her alter ego. Robby Ray meets up with newcomer Lorelei (Melora Hardin) and Miley starts to strike up a flame with childhood friend Travis Brody (Lucas Till). Oswald arrives on the hunt for Hannah’s secret and threatens to expose Miley’s secret after all. The major plot point of Hannah Montana: The Movie is to put the persona of Hannah to bed so to speak. We see some of her at the beginning and how this imaginary pop star interferes with Miley’s “normal” life. It also gives Miley Cyrus a little break from her over-the-top antics of her television show - well for the most part. Her disguise is about as effective as putting glasses on Superman to make him look like an ordinary reporter, but I guess that’s been working for decades. I especially appreciated this since the incessant mugging on the show as a tendency to wear on me, not that I’m the intended audience for it mind you. It also breaks the show from the set bound nature of the television show to take it to the great outdoors.

The plot doesn’t break much of the show’s conventions as Hannah and Miley need to be in the same place at the same time and conflicts arise as well as some goofball jokes. Of course, it’s all a vehicle to sell more records to Hannah/Miley’s eager audience. I wouldn’t say that I’m a fan but the show does tend to veer towards the family friendly, even when it’s going over-the-top and mugging. I still wonder what her fans will think of their adoration as they grow older and their tastes change. It might not matter if Miley Cyrus is able to transform her career as she ages. The film is certainly going to appeal to her legions of fans, but it may also work out just fine for the whole family with its folksy charm, just don’t expect it to win any Oscars. Also look for cameos from Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts. Hannah Montana: The Movie is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.85:1). Special features include a commentary with director Peter Chelsom. The rest are presented in high definition unless noted. They include 10 minutes of deleted scenes with introductions by Chelsom, over 20 minutes of music videos (in standard definition), nearly an hour of Backstage Disney featurettes about making the film, and sneak peeks at other Disney products. Disc two is a DVD copy of the film and disc three is a digital copy for your PC or portable device. Hannah Montana might win some fans with the movie, but it’s sure to please those that already are fans. It’s a nice change of pace from the series for the adults (and probably the kids) and the whole family can sit down and watch it together.