Hannah Montana: The Movie

This charming family film bursts onto the screen with the usual manic antics from Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) and Lily Truscott (Emily Osment) racing to get to the stage for a Hannah Montana concert. Slamming through doors and ripping posters, they eventually get there to meet Robbie Ray Stewart (Robbie Cyrus), and the show begins!

But a few days later, before her best friend’s birthday party and her brothers graduation, Miley falls victim to a cat fight over a pair of shoes and is caught off guard by the paparazzi.

This leads to a dramatic decision from her dad… she must go back to Tennessee!

As the lid closes on the Hannah Montana make-up kit and the wig is stowed away, Miley is forced into a world without shiny malls, sunny beaches, to her old home, where even her old horse Blue Jeans doesn’t recognise her.

This life does have it's upsides though, when handsome cowboy Travis is chosen to re-educate Miley into the good ol’ life.  

Meanwhile, Tennessee is struggling to hold onto the aspects of their town, as the business men want to dump a giant mall in the centre of their lives, and everyone must muck in to raise enough money to stop them.

So will Miley be able to use Hannah’s popularity to save her home, or will the fame being everything crashing down around her ears?

There were several enjoyable aspects to this film, with a lot of the familiar aspects, and characters, of the show being echoed in the movie, but it does have one thing that the television series skims over. The element of reality. Whilst in most episodes, Miley will face the moral dilemma of Hannah vs Miley in a very comical sense; however the film takes a very different route and introduces us the more emotional and heart wrenching side of Miley’s decision to hide her identity away from the world. In particular, one scene with Cyrus’ on screen, and real life father Robbie was incredibly moving, and considering the jovial style of many Disney movies, surprisingly tear jerking.

Other characters to be applauded would be Miley’s on screen grandmother, played by Margo Martindale, for her beautifully played role in the emotional madness of the film, as well as Melora Hardin, playing Robbie’s love interest Lorelai. Whilst Lorelai the character has little role outside of ‘love interest’ here, Hardin did play her part well and was a realistic onlooker to the unfolding events.

The conclusion to the film is, as ever, a happy one, yet unfortunately incredibly unrealistic. Whilst I won’t spoil it for those who have yet to see it, the ending of this film is not its strongest point and, to a point, erases everything the characters learn throughout the process of the plot.

On the whole, whilst this film is a brilliant family film, it’s not without its poignant moments as well, and aside from the disappointing ending, is very enjoyable to watch.