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Now I'm not exactly implying that Miley Cyrus in the
split personality themed Hannah Montana: The Movie bears
any resemblance to Linda Blair and her own peculiar identity
crisis over thirty five years ago in The Exorcist. But that
whiskey voiced sixteen year old superstar has some definite
age inappropriate issues going on, and we're not just talking
the Miley Cyrus sex scandals. Though those may factor in
as additional food for thought too.***
In other words, Hannah Montana: The Movie impresses
with the precociously rich and famous sixteen year old's
natural charm and evolving dramatic gifts. But there's just
something lurking beneath the surface that feels on the
manipulative side. And that's an undercurrent of suspicion
that this combo hick flick musical is not merely entertainment,
but possibly a cinematic community service stint for Miley,
to put a spin on all that bad girl gossip surrounding her
public persona, and make it all just go away.***
An extension of the small screen schizoid Hannah/Miley
Stewart motif, the movie further establishes that innovative
reality show cinema hybrid, that has created a brand new
generation of star crazed little girls. In the film, the
nearly baritone, big buck toothed lanky 'best of both worlds'
Miley/Hannah is currently so into the secret seco nd life
LA fame game, that when her father Robby Ray (Miley's real
life dad, Billy Ray Cyrus) insists she return home to rural
Tennessee for her grandmother's birthday party, he has to
essentially kidnap his bratty celebrity kid. Who'd rather
be doing the red carpet at a music awards show in New York
City.***
But once Miley gets a little of the 'britches and boots'
country girl knocked back into her and that fabulously fake
mop top blonde wig ripped off her hugely swollen head, the
stubborn superstar undergoing 'Hannah detox' begins to get
all sorts of idealistic down home community and family values
notions. Like helping the local folks fend off greedy real
estate developers, out to ruin their wilderness mecca. And
even teaching those no good paparazzi and tampering-with-the-truth
tabloids a lesson they're not likely to forget anytime soon.***
Now while there's nothing bad about imparting such
significant right and wrong notions about star power dedication
and parent appreciation, to the impressionable youth who
adore Miley - and she's really effective in convincing just
how deeply her character feels these things - the lack of
a practice what you preach component just seems to be missing.
Not to mention the suspect sincerity detection of unpleasant
stuff in the background, like sexualized children offscreen,
that lingers throughout.***
Image/Sound- {Blu-ray}
Taylor Carlson:
Given that this is a G-Rated film that is largely going
to be oriented towards young girls, the amount of work that
went into this transfer is amazing. There are no major negative
anomalies in the picture worth mentioning, and throughout
detail is strong and the colors bright and clear. Audio
is generally front-heavy but really comes to life in the
musical segments. All in all it's an excellent transfer,
and it's hard to fault this transfer even if you didn't
like the film.
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