New On DVD: 'Hannah Montana: The Movie'

'Hannah Montana: The Movie' (G): Miley Cyrus delivers a crowd-pleasing performance in the feature film version of "Hannah Montana," a sweet and clean movie that gives its tween target audience everything they would expect out of the character, and a handful of new tunes, to boot. Sure it's predictable at every turn, but even jaded parents who are forced to listen to the opening "Best of Both Worlds" tune in their living rooms day after day will likely find something appealing about this surprisingly entertaining movie.

"Hanna Montana: The Movie" has all the elements you'd expect, with lots of music throughout, goofy, yet kid-friendly antics and star cameos. But the unexpected twist in the movie is a well-thought-out and effective coming-of-age tale about self-discovery.

For people new to the "Hannah Montana" experience, it's a show about teenager Miley Stewart (Cyrus), who wants to live the best of both worlds as both pop star Hannah Montana and her normal alter-ego, Miley Stewart. It seems that when Miley dons a blond wig and a little bit of makeup, nearly everyone around her develops an instant case of Clark Kent/Superman-itis and are unable to make the correlation between the two.

But the jig is up in the movie version of "Hannah Montana," when British tabloid reporter Oswald Granger (Peter Gunn) tries to get the intimate details on the singer. With her career taking over her life and Granger on the cusp of finding out the big secret, Miley's dad, Robby Ray (Billy Ray Cyrus), jets his daughter home to Tennessee to celebrate her grandma Kate's (a very sweet and lovable Margo Martindale) birthday.

Struggling to readapt to her roots, Miley's attitude begins to change when she meets her grandma's farmhand, Travis Brody (Lucas Till), and an attraction develops. The problem is, Miley can't reveal to anybody outside of her close circle of family and friends who she really is, including Travis, causing an identity crisis that jeopardizes her close relationships and career.

There are two identity themes at work in "Hannah Montana," the first, of course, being Miley's dual personality struggle, and the second, her hometown's resistance of a big-time developer who threatens the townsfolk's simple way of life. The developer subplot provides a nice, poignant touch to the film, which otherwise could have easily expanded from a stretched-out version of a television episode.

Instead, the show is taken out of its claustrophobic, sitcom setting and gets into wide-open spaces and fresh country air of Tennessee. With the change in climate and atmosphere comes a new Miley/Hannah who's quite affable. She comes off as an obnoxious kid on the television show, and perhaps the mature themes have forced Cyrus to grow up as a character and a performer.

The same could probably be said of dad, Billy Ray, since the show appeared to be a vehicle for him to jump-start a music career that stalled after his hit "Achy, Breaky Heart" in the early 1990s. But for what it's worth, he's pretty good in "Hannah Montana: The Movie," as not only a dad struggling connect with his daughter, but as a widower with a second chance at romance.

Billy Ray Cyrus struts his musical stuff, too, in the film, in a solo shot with his band (not surprisingly he also has a relatively new album, "Back to Tennessee"), and in a tender, acoustic duo with Miley that sings of their father-daughter relationship.

In the supporting roles are the gorgeous Vanessa Williams as Hannah's PR agent and the also gorgeous Melora Hardin (Jan from "The Office") as a potential love interest for Robby Ray. Till is also good as the huckleberry cowboy, Travis, who has a reserved demeanor reminiscent of Randy Travis. Plus, since Till is 18 in real life, the prospective romance with Miley in the movie doesn't seem so creepy.

As far as the music goes, "Hannah Montana: The Movie" takes mostly the country route, as Taylor Swift and the trio of guys from Rascal Flatts each show up to plug in a tune. Miley Cyrus' contributions are more of the pop flavor, although a country-rap combo, "Hoedown Throwdown" was conceived presumably to start a new dance craze, and not presumably, to annoy the heck out of anybody over 16. Cyrus' performance of the power-ballad "The Climb" makes up for any misgivings, though, as it delivers a wonderful bit of musical inspiration.

DVD Features: Audio commentary with director Peter Chelsom, deleted scenes with commentary, production featurettes a new music video and more. Both the two-disc standard DVD version and three-disc Blu-ray versions include a digital copy of the movie for portable media devices. (Walt Disney Home Entertainment)

"17 Again" (PG-13): "High School Musical" star Zac Efron returns to high school as the younger version of Mike O'Donnell (Matthew Perry) in this romantic comedy about how the grown-up Mike (Perry) gets his wish to be 17 again in a bid to change the events in his life.

Effectively, the movie is like "Big" all over again, but in reverse. Instead of early teen aging into Tom Hanks, Perry gets back his youth as high school senior Efron (in reality, Perry barely resembles him). And while the whole best-friend aiding his now-younger-buddy-by-pretending-to-be-his-parent idea isn't exactly original, Efron and Thomas Lennon as Mike's buddy have a hilarious face-to-face first encounter that will have proud geeks and "Star Wars" fans doubling over. Leslie Mann plays Mike's disheartened wife, who's inching ever closer toward a divorce. (Warner Home Video)