No place like home
When I tell people I come from Tennessee, the next line is usually something along the lines of 'There are Chinese people there? No way! That's crazy. What's it like?'
It's hard to describe, but in one word: soul. Y'all just need to experience it for yourselves.
And so, apparently, does Hannah Montana, the teenage pop princess of Disney's eponymous TV show.
Hannah Montana: The Movie is the show's long-awaited feature film, directed by Peter Chelsom (Serendipity, Shall We Dance) and starring Tennessee native Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, sister of Sixth Sense wunderkind Haley Joel, and Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley's real dad.
Miley plays both a 'normal' teenager, the tomboyish Miley Stewart, by day, and Hannah Montana, a pop star, by night.
When the film opens, we see how Hannah's fame begins to overwhelm down-to-earth Miley Stewart. Egged on by her gung-ho publicist (Vanessa Williams), Miley consistently chooses fame over family. She misses her best friend Lily's (Osment) sweet 16, her brother's college send-off, and even her grandma's birthday party. When a cat fight with Tyra Banks (starring as herself) over a pair of heels is caught on tape and shown online, Miley's dad forces her to return home to remember who she is.
Disgusted at first, Miley quickly revels in the freedom of wearing trainers and baggy shirts instead of Hannah Montana's blonde wig and heels. But life isn't all that simple. Miley has to dodge a savvy reporter who has followed her across the country, and things get complex when she starts to fall for her childhood friend-turned-hunk, Travis (Lucas Till).
Unlike the show, the movie uses music to develop its characters. Miley performs 12 new songs, each expressing her emotional state at various points. Teen star Taylor Swift contributes Crazier, a country waltz to, as she explains, 'fall in love to', and Billy Ray Cyrus performs Back to Tennessee, the title track from his latest album.
But the musical climax is undoubtedly the song-and-dance number Hoedown Throwdown, which filmmakers nicknamed 'Miley's Macarena'.
'I wanted a song that taught a dance in the lyrics of the song like the Macarena or the Funky Chicken,' says director Peter Chelsom. 'I wanted to maximise Miley's real silliness physically.'
While the story is fictional, it is grounded in fact, with many actors playing themselves. What's more, half the movie was filmed on Miley's actual childhood farm in Tennessee.
'When audiences walk away from the movie, I hope they feel like they've been to my home,' says Miley. 'I hope they feel like they understand Nashville, because Nashville is my everything.'
