Hannah Montana: The Movie

The best of both worlds is the promise of the “Hannah Montana” show. You can be a teen pop star and a normal kid: just lead a double life. With a blonde wig, you’re Hannah Montana, famous singing star and idol of young teen girls everywhere: without it, you’re simply Miley Cyrus.

This is a flick that worked its magic for the Disney Channel, and for young Miley Cyrus, the protagonist of the show. Philippa Hawker noted in her review, “There were hiccups, last year, when Cyrus — at 16, now twice the age of her core fan base — was photographed by Annie Leibowitz for Vanity Fair, wrapped in a sheet and looking a bit too Caravaggio for comfort.” There was strong debate about the promiscuousness of childhood, and there was a call for fans (or their parents) to boycott the show and the merch, to switch off the TV and throw away the CDs, reject the purple jersey two-piece pajama sets and toss the Memorable Moments Hannah dolls.

However, Disney and Miley Inc had gotten out of the storm. “Hannah Montana: The Movie,” released in 2009, is their confirmation that the character knows her place. If you think about it, a weird place. Hawker said, “A perpetual Disney identity crisis that involves a blonde wig, a prepubescent Vertigo-meets Jekyll and Hyde-meets High School Musical.”

It has all the familiar traits. Songs and slapstick. Hannah’s powerful song The Climb. “People falling over” for comic relief. The movie introduces a faithful romantic interest, cowboy Travis, played by Lucas Till. It has a couple of villains: an evil developer (Barry Bostwick) and a tabloid journalist (Peter Gunn). On top of that, there’s a hip-hop hoedown song. However, it’s hard to escape the feeling that it’s also something of a warning story for Miley, the actress and the character, that goes beyond the notion that kids love stories about growth and secret identities.

The story involves Miley Stewart’s dad, played obviously by Cyrus’s real-life father, Billy Ray Cyrus, decides on a time-out for his daughter. She’s getting a little too involved in the celebrity life: she must return to her Tennessee family and learn to be herself again. However, you can’t escape the wanting for Hannah.

At the end (spoilers) Miley has a little disaster. She doesn’t want to keep the travesty going. Hawker said, “She outs herself on stage.” However, her fans, her family, and her friends won’t let her decide. Put that wig back on, the cheers start, and she does. This is a strangely emotional moment, even it it’s not meant to be that way.

I had a younger cousin who used to love Hannah Montana. Apparently, she was a good role model for little girls since she didn’t portray herself as any other teen star. However, I never bothered to check her out, but I did know of Miley Cyrus through a couple of her songs. Still, this movie is just decent. It takes its time, there’s slower moments, which are nice, the focus on relationships and family is essential, instead of focusing on being a celebrity. This is a nice change of pace for teen Disney movies. I would say if you have children who are fans of Hannah Montana, they’ll get into this no problem. However, after some crazy antics that Miley Cyrus has gotten into recently, I don’t see myself becoming her fan at all.

Tomorrow I will be looking at another Disney Channel movie that is another musical about a band forming in “Disney Month 2021.”