Disney’s Hannah Montana the Movie beautifully adapted the half-hour Disney Channel comedy into a full length motion picture. I had enjoyed the film in theaters earlier this year. Tennessee is a stunning backdrop for the story of a country girl whose double-life as a rock star in LA was beginning to cloud her better judgments. Returning home to Crowley Corners for her grandmother’s birthday, Miley rediscovers what truly matters to her and a little bit of young romance as well.
Director Peter Chelsom artfully led the films actors in the transition from small screen to big and also adapted the pacing of the family sitcom without neglecting those roots so that it would feel familiar to fans of the Disney Channel hit. Throughout the audio commentary he provides on the disc you’ll learn about the challenges and the fun of bringing the popular show to theaters. Among my favorite anecdotes was the tale that Miley’s complimentary texts about her co-star to her mom (IE. He’s hot) during his screen tests helped him capture the role and he discussion of what is different between acting for television vs. movies. Despite the fact the film is aimed at the tween audience Director Chelsom’s commentary is not simplistic in its insights and offers interesting peek into the thought processes of its director. During the Deleted Scenes bonus segment he even offers explanations for the removal of the scenes featured.
Other bonus features include
- A tutorial for the Hoedown Throwdown — a line dance that Miley sings during opening mic at her hometown barn dance. The film’s choreographer breaks it down move by move with the help of Mitchell Musso and Moises Arias. There’s also footage of the dance lessons given to all the film’s cast, even the director gets in on the line dance fun.
- Footage of Miley Cyrus and Emily Osment hitting some of the popular places in their hometowns — Franklin, TN and Los Angeles, CA.
- A chance to learn more about the people behind the scenes of the film as we follow actor Jason Earles (Jackson) on his quest to discover what the responsibilities of movie jobs such as Best Boy Grip, Gaffer and answers why a film has more than one producer.
I appreciated the discs menu interface. It was easy to navigate and permitted the film to play in a small box in the upper corner while browsing bonus features. Once the selected bonus feature concludes it returned immediately to the point in the film we were watching previously. Another helpful feature is the small box that appears in the corner when the film is paused showing how far along we are in the current chapter.
A fun family film and interesting bonus features make the home edition of the Hannah Montana Movie a great addition to the family film library.