Miley's latest flick is "Best of Both Worlds

By Jackie Ammons     4/16/09 7:00pm

Every girl, whether she is six or 60, has at some point in her life dreamed of being a superstar. Be it a pop star, a movie star or a secret agent, the dream of stardom is always the same. While most of us never get to see this dream fulfilled, there is one out there whom we can at least watch: Hannah Montana (a.k.a. Miley Stewart, Miley Cyrus), your regular girl next door secretly living the life of a singer and movie star. It should not come as a surprise then that her new film, Hannah Montana: The Movie, is just the peak of the Hannah Montana craze.

Following along the lines of the Disney Channel's popular television series, Hannah Montana transitions back and forth between the home life and the public pop star life of Miley Stewart (Bolt's Miley Cyrus). When Miley gets into a shoe fight with Tyra Banks ("The Tyra Banks Show"), her father ("Hannah Montana"'s Billy Ray Cyrus) decides the fame has gone to his daughter's head and sends her home to Tennessee. While she's there, Miley catches up with her grandmother (The Winning Season's Margo Martindale), brother ("Hannah Montana"'s Jason Earles) and best friend ("Hannah Montana"'s Emily Osment), falls in love with her childhood friend (Dance of the Dead's Lucas Till) and learns to have a little humility.

The best thing about Hannah Montana is that it's fun: There's no mess, no complicated plot and no sadness. It's a signature Disney film. Hannah Montana sings and dances her little heart out and then smiles and laughs for the audience. Her voice, music and songs - such as the classic "The Best of Both Worlds" and new songs "Butterfly Fly Away" and "Hoedown Throwdown," a dance-along country version of "The Electric Slide" - are crowd-pleasers. Hannah Montana presents the picture-perfect life that any little girl would dream of having.

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Almost better than Hannah herself are the cameo performances and appearances in the movie. As mentioned above, Hannah gets in a hilarious - yet ridiculous - catfight over shoes with none other than Tyra Banks herself. Back home in Tennessee, Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts give special performances, with Swift singing the new song "Crazier" and Rascal Flatts performing their songs "Bless the Broken Road" and "Backwards." While the cameos could have been awkward inserts into the main plot, each fit quite nicely in their scenes and actually add to the movie as a whole.

Billy Ray Cyrus also plays versatile roles in the movie as Hannah's on-screen father, Miley's off-screen father, a vocal performer and the film's co-producer. His song "Back to Tennessee" and vocal accompaniment in Miley's "Butterfly Fly Away" remind the audience of Billy Ray's own former stardom.

One thing that should be clear about Hannah Montana is that anyone could enjoy watching it, not just crazy little preteens will find themselves entertained by the glitz and glamour of Miley Cyrus and her entourage. Admittedly, the film is corny, and the pop songs may cater to younger audiences, but the pure simplicity and fun feeling of Hannah Montana presents a breath of fresh, glitter-filled air.

To watch the trailer or read more about the film, visit http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/hannahmontanamovie/#/homem.

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