Hannah Montana - The Movie

Review by Anthony Morris

Let's be perfectly honest here: Disney movies, particularly Hannah Montana related movies - are pretty much reviewer proof. 

And judging by the extremely low number of reviewers at the Hannah Montana - The Movie screening I attended, most reviewers already know this. 

But the fact that these movies have a locked-in audience is (for me at least) one of the things that make them so interesting.

Generally speaking, we are all pretty much used to movies being a hit or miss affair.

In fact, there are very few movie-making "Names You Can Trust" out there whatever your tastes, and even the ones you can trust often turn up the occasional dud. 

Which, when you think about it, is a situation we don't really accept from any other kind of consumer good. 

Would you buy a brand of potato chip if every third pack contained ashes? 

Would you buy a newspaper if every third day the contents were just slabs of text taken from the side of a fire extinguisher? 

And yet at least every third blockbuster that makes it to cinemas just doesn't work as it should: the characters are unrealistic, the story doesn't hold together, the dialogue is laughable - unless it's a comedy, in which case it's painfully serious - and so on. 

We accept this because we've been told that it's the price you pay for creativity - and yet all you have to do is wander over to a cinema showing a Disney film to see that there is another way. 

Hannah Montana - The Movie does exactly what it's supposed to do: there are a bunch of songs (some ok, some not so hot), some PG young love, a wacky young heroine the target audience will happily go on a journey with, some mildly amusing comedy, plenty of moralising about the importance of family and being yourself.

Best of all - the whole thing's over before anyone can get too fidgety. 

Sure, it's kind of bland and pretty forgettable, but that's what they're aiming for.

But just imagine if someone figured out how to harness the Disney assembly-line approach to making films that were actually entertaining...

3.5 out of 5

Hannah Montana - The Movie
Australian release: 25th June, 2009
Official Site: Hannah Montana - The Movie
Cast: Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus
Director: Peter Chelshom