Hannah Montana the Movie

Breezy romance with music in which a teen singer (Miley Cyrus), who has gained fame under the pseudonym Hannah Montana, is forced by her concerned father (Billy Ray Cyrus) to retreat temporarily from her hectic career and spend time with him and her grandmother (Margo Martindale) on the Tennessee farm where she grew up, where she falls for a local farmhand (Lucas Till) while fending off a British paparazzo (Peter Gunn) out to reveal the secret of her persona. Director Peter Chelsom's delightfully innocent country idyll emphasizes humility, simplicity and the primacy of family obligations over professional goals. A-I -- general patronage.  (G) 2009

Hannah Montana the Movie (Full Review)

In the wake of the semiscandal created by teen singer Miley Cyrus' relatively provocative photo shoot for the June 2008 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, parents can be reassured that her latest big-screen outing is delightfully innocent.

"Hannah Montana the Movie" (Disney) -- the second film based on Cyrus' Disney Channel sitcom "Hannah Montana" -- also emphasizes humility, simplicity and the primacy of family obligations over professional goals.

As the TV show's legions of squealing tween fans well know, Cyrus plays Miley Stewart, a sensible down-home country girl who has moved to Los Angeles and rocketed to stardom under the pseudonym Hannah Montana. Though the difference between her two personas involves little more than a blond wig and a change of wardrobe, fictional glamour girl Hannah allows Miley to live a normal, inconspicuous life.

If the 2008 live-performance feature, "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert" turned on the success of this contrivance, the current breezy romance begins with its breakdown.

In the opening scenes, Miley, under the influence of her very-LA publicist Vita (Vanessa Williams), misses her brother Jackson's (Jason Earles) send-off for college, ruins her best friend Lilly's (Emily Osment) sweet-16 party and gets into a catfight with model turned television hostess Tyra Banks over a pair of designer shoes.

After Miley announces that she plans to forgo her grandmother Ruby's (Margo Martindale) birthday celebration in favor of a New York awards show appearance, her concerned father, Robby Ray (real-life dad and country music star Billy Ray Cyrus), secretly diverts their Gotham-bound private jet to Miley's childhood hometown, and the site of Ruby's farm, Crowley Corners, Tenn.

During the enforced retreat that follows -- the lush footage of mountains and misty fields amounts to a persuasive ad for Volunteer State tourism -- Miley reassesses her priorities while falling for former playmate Travis (Lucas Till), now a farmhand, and fending off British paparazzo Oswald (Peter Gunn), who's out to reveal the secret of her double life.
Along with a good deal of well-choreographed slapstick and some old-fashioned billing and cooing -- widowed Robby Ray also falls for a local, Ruby's overseer, Lorelai (Melora Hardin) -- director Peter Chelsom's wholly unobjectionable country idyll offers energetic stage performances and musical set pieces calculated to get even a few grown-up feet tapping.

Add to these ingredients -- and the life lessons cited above -- a story line about community cooperation in defense of the environment and you have a toothsome confection in the best Disney tradition.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.