Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Rated G Genre:Musical Theater release: February 1, 2008 by Walt Disney Pictures Directed by: Bruce Hendricks Runtime: 74 minutes Cast: Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana), Jonas Brothers, Kenny Ortega, Billy Ray Cyrus Related: • Talk About It/Family Corner • What Others Are Saying

Editor's note: We wanted someone in the target audience to review this film, so we asked Rachel Groters, a high school junior and a freelance writer for Ignite Your Faith magazine, to be our guest critic. Rachel isn't all that big a fan of Hannah Montana, but Rachel's 10-year-old sister had definitely caught Montana Madness, and accompanied her big sis to the screening for a better perspective on the show.

When I saw commercials for this movie, I could take it or leave it. Part of me wondered why Disney would even make a movie of a concert. Wouldn't it be a letdown from the real thing? But then I learned that this 3-D production—which was advertised to be in theaters for one week only—had earned about $18 million in pre-sold tickets, and the few tickets left were selling out fast! I had to find out what all the fuss was about. (After the movie earned $29 million and landed No. 1 at the box office for the weekend, Disney decided to extend its one-week run and let theaters play it as long as they like.)

Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana gets her fans into the show

Turns out that the concert movie was made so fans could enjoy Miley Cyrus's Best of Both Worlds concert without paying an arm and a leg to do so. Last fall, scalpers and brokers got to the concert tour tickets first, then sold them at ridiculously inflated prices. Some tickets were scalped for $1,000 or more! Tickets for the concert movie cost $15, a price some may deem expensive, but pretty cheap in comparison.

When I went online to buy tickets (one for me and one for my ten-year-old little sis, who loves Hannah Montana), everything was sold out except for a Saturday show at 8:15 a.m. (So much for sleeping late!) And when we got there, the theater was so packed that my sister and I had to sit in the second row from the front! Needless to say, my neck was hurting by the end of the show.

She dons a new outfit for almost every song

Basically, the movie was just the filmed concert with backstage clips thrown in between songs, all made to look real with the help of 3-D glasses. My sis and I agreed that the backstage portions were our favorite, and wished they'd shown us more. We got to see Miley interact with her mom and dad, learn new dance moves with Kenny Ortega, the show's choreographer, and overcome her fear of being dropped by her spotters during a dance move. We also got to see clips from the High Heel Derby, where dads wearing high heels raced each other to win four tickets to the Hannah/Miley concert.

As for the concert portion of the movie, I was never bored, but I was never wowed either. I thought many of Miley's songs sounded too much alike. But I was impressed with the camera work, which usually focused on Miley—a good thing, since I'd come to see her, not a bunch of screaming fans. My little sis loved the energy of the crowd, but for me, the concert portion was a bit of a letdown. It's hard to relate to a screaming, excited crowd when, in a movie theater, you have to sit down and be quiet or risk getting thrown out.

But I heard plenty of oohs and ahs coming from behind me. Like most little girls, my sis took most notice of Miley's colorful and very sparkly outfits—she changed for almost every song—each of which seemed to match the mood of the song. In general, Miley was dressed very modestly; she wore a couple of shortish skirts/dresses, but nothing extreme.

The star covers songs about life boys and even her late grandfather

On the negative side, I couldn't always the song lyrics; the band played so loud that her words were muddled. My little sis agreed, and said only understood what she knew already from the songs. Many little girls in the audience probably already know the songs, so it won't bother them, but I was a little frustrated.

I wondered if Miley's Christian faith would be a part of the concert. While I didn't catch anything blatantly Christian in her songs, they were altogether pretty uplifting. As Hannah Montana (Miley does the first half of the concert as Hannah and the second half as herself), Miley sings Hannah classics like "Life's What You Make It" and "I Got Nerve" that stress never giving up and knowing who you are.

I was less impressed with Miley's song choice for the second half, when she sang as herself. Except for a moving song Miley wrote for her grandfather who died in 2006 ("I Miss You"), most of the songs were about boys. They were innocent enough, like in "See You Again," when she sings about being nervous when with a boy she likes. Still, I found myself wishing for the more wholesome tunes of the first half. But my little sis didn't seem to care; she just liked the rhythm and beat of the songs.

The Miley part of the show also featured the Jonas Brothers, another Disney favorite, who sang a few songs—and they're quite a threesome. They sang an innocent love song, "When You Look Me In the Eyes," and then a crowd favorite, "Year 3000." I was able to hear them better than I could Miley, which let me enjoy them all the more.

If young girls have to have a celebrity role model, I'd say Miley Cyrus is definitely a good choice. Her songs are uplifting, any romantic songs are innocent, and she seems to be yet untainted by Hollywood. Even if young girls don't know the songs, there is ample entertainment to be found in the dances and each of Miley's new outfits. As my little sister says, "Everything was really cool—the songs, the outfits, and the 3-D glasses!"

Talk About It

Discussion starters

1. In "Just Like You," Miley sings Everything I've always wanted isn't always what it seems. What might she mean by that? Is fame everything it's cracked up to be? Why or why not? 2. In the film, Miley overcame her fear of being dropped. Is there a fear you've overcome or want to overcome? How did you or could you go about doing so? 3. In "Start All Over," Miley sings about getting burned with each new relationship. Is that how God intended relationships to be? Why or why not?

The Family Corner	For parents to consider
The film is rated G and includes nothing objectionable.

Photos © Copyright Walt Disney Pictures

© Rachel Groters subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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