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Hannah Montana: The Movie
Those of us old enough
to remember the year 1992 recall it with a shudder of dread, crossing
ourselves and throwing back shots of whiskey in a futile attempt to
erase it from our minds. The reason for this is simple: 1992 was the
year Billy Ray Cyrus released ‘Achy Breaky Heart’, an absurdly upbeat
slab of country cornball that did for boot-scooting what Kurt Cobain
would shortly do for sales of flannel shirts. After ruling the charts
for what seemed like months the song finally died and, for all we knew
or cared, so did the man who inflicted it upon the world.
Not so. The would-be
troubadour has been busy procreating this last decade and a half, and as
it turns out has managed to produce himself an extremely lucrative
little cash cow named Miley Cyrus. At the ripe old age of 16, the young
singer and actress is overseer of a business empire that reportedly nets
her somewhere in the vicinity of $25 million a year. The vehicle that
started her on the path to stardom was the TV series Hannah Montana,
in which she stars as a high schooler living a double life in an effort
to experience ‘the best of both worlds’: regular schoolgirl Miley
Stewart by day, pop sensation Hannah Montana by night, with only a few
friends and family aware of her secret.
It is this simple
premise that forms the basis of Hannah Montana: The Movie, in
which the irrepressible Papa Cyrus also stars as Miley’s father. Whilst
presumably happy to spend the fortune earned by Miley ‘Stewart’ on
expensive belt buckles and having his perma-straight hair blow dried on
an hourly basis in an attempt to look more like Keith Urban, the
Southern patriarch eventually becomes concerned that his daughter’s
personality is gradually morphing into that of her more famous
alter-ego. He insists she get back to her roots by spending time with
family in rural Tennessee and passing the time as simple country folks
do – riding horses, lounging around on hay bales and indulging in
extremely frequent singalongs. Throw in a wily British tabloid
journalist, a hayseed with a crush and a neglected best friend and
you’ve even got room for a moderate amount of character development.
Yee haw!
Though perhaps not
appealing to the broadest of audiences, Hannah Montana: The Movie
is a fun and reasonably well-executed big screen debut for the popular
star. Yes it’s fluffy, stubbornly family-friendly fare, but you can
hardly hold that against it – you know what you’re getting yourself into
when you put this in the DVD player. Cyrus the Elder and his superstar
daughter play well off one another, there are some enjoyable cameos and
the disc is chock full of worthwhile special features. Having grossed
more than $150 million worldwide on box office receipts alone and with a
fourth season of the TV series recently commissioned the tween pin-up’s
celebrity certainly shows no signs of abating. It seems the Cyrus name
is going to stick around for a while after all.
Special Features
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
‘The Climb’ Music Video
‘A Day in the Life of
Miley Cyrus’ Featurette
‘I Should have Gone to
Film School’ with actor Jason Earles
Audio Commentary With
Director Peter Chelsom
Trailers |
