Countrified Montana One for the Fans
Los Angeles teenager Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) is letting her famous pop star alter ego Hannah Montana (also Cyrus) take over her life. She’s becoming a bit of a trouble maker, slacking in school, throwing diva tantrums and seriously getting on her close friends nerves. Her laidback father Robby Ray Stewart (Billy Ray Cyrus) has basically had enough, forcing his daughter to go with him back to their homestead in Crowley Corners, Tennessee so they can both get back in touch with what really matters.
Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus in Walt Disney Pictures' Hannah Montana: The Movie
I can’t believe I willingly went to Hannah Montana: The Movie. I mean, let’s be honest, I haven’t been a pre-pubescent teenager in quite some time, and while I’m perfectly happy admitting I’ve seen a couple episodes of the popular Disney Channel sitcom this is based on I can’t exactly say I’m a fan.
Yet this movie spin-off, directed for some strange reason by Hear My Song, Funny Bones and Shall We Dance? director Peter Chelsom, is hardly as much of a chore to sit through as I’d anticipated it to be. While not quite as relatively okay as the last Disney TV to film export 2003’s The Lizzie McGuire Movie this one still isn’t exactly horrible, and the time it took to watch was hardly as painful as it could have been.
While that’s not a raving endorsement of the film by any stretch of the imagination, I can’t help but think rabid followers of all things Hannah and Cyrus (they are one in the same, after all) are going to just adore this. Not only do they have their idol singing a dozen or so new songs, they also get to see performances by Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts, ogle a cute down-home country boy named Travis (Lucas Till) and revel in the unabashed slapstick silliness of Lola/Lilly (Emily Osment) and Oliver/Mike (Mitchel Musso). All-in-all it’s everything the target audience is looking for, the giggles of constant delight reverberating throughout the theater for the film’s entire running time.
What else is there really for me to say? Do I get the fascination with little miss Cyrus? No, but I also don’t get the point of eating cheese out of a spray can, and yet my dad does just that each and every Thanksgiving. Would I have watched the film willingly if I didn’t have to review it? Of course not, but I’m not going to begrudge those around my age and older who actually do want to see it from doing so if they so choose.
Basically, all you really need to know is that Cyrus is better than I’d expected her to be, there’s a great moment near the middle between her and Till that’s actually fairly emotional, Osment and Musso drove me up the wall, if real-life dad Billy Ray was any more serene he’d probably be comatose and a few of the songs are so infuriatingly catchy a couple of them are still so stuck in my head I’m starting to think I’ll never get them out of there. I guess that means I have to give Hannah Montana: The Movie a pass, and I don’t need to live a double life in order to get away with doing it, either.
Film Rating: êê (out of 4)
Additional Links
