Held as one of Disney Channel's top tween comedies, Hannah Montana has captured the hearts and minds of millions of children around the world. While many youngsters look up to Miley Cyrus and her confident stage-dwelling doppelgangers as role models, the real question is this: does Hannah Montana live up to the hype or is it just another derived teenybopper concoction?
The premise of Hannah Montana is rather simple. Tennessee-born teenager Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) moves to a southern California city along with Robby, her father (Billy Ray Cyrus) and brother Jackson (Jason Earles), meeting new people along the way, such as her best friends Lilly (Emily Osment) and Oliver (Mitchell Musso). She is sassy and spunky, yet cares for her friends and, of course, has to put up with rival girls at her school occasionally.
However, Miley has a huge secret. Very few people know of her double life as Hannah Montana, an energetic blonde pop idol loved by many teens across the globe. With this in mind, Miley must keep her secret identity under wraps while trying to lead a normal life.
The Good Things About Hannah Montana
Many preteens will be drawn to Hannah Montana mainly because of the characters' looks and personalities.
Some of the supporting teens actually have characteristic strengths and weaknesses, a perfect example being the famous, vain, and rather demanding Jake. Fans of this show will remember him as one of Miley's boyfriends from season 2. While quite obnoxious at times, deep down he still loves Miley and wants to be a regular guy, so this may appeal to people who care about well-roundedness in characters.
Plus, a few of the humorous gags from earlier seasons do work. Viewers may even get a few chuckles out of certain scenes like when Miley sticks her face into a pie in the pilot episode.
Weak Scripting and Acting on Hannah Montana
Unfortunately, while the show does have a few strong points, there are also many problems, specifically with the script and acting.
The writing is mostly hit-or-miss, with a few lines that work while the vast majority do not. Plus, poor delivery of lines doesn't help since the characters come across as whiny, goofy, and immature at times.
Miley Cyrus and Jason Earles, in particular, overact many of their lines by using exaggerated accents and too many facial expressions.
Where some of the comedy does work, the rest of it comes across as forced and corny; it actually gets worse as the seasons progress, resulting to all-out screaming, overdramatic one-liners, and even dreaded gross-out jokes. Adults won't find too much to treasure, especially since the juvenile humor is aimed mostly at the younger crowd.
Hannah Montana also has trouble standing out against other series mainly because of its overused double-identity plotline.
Most themes and scenarios are quite predictable and repetitive with teen love, important life lessons, and heartbreak being major recurring factors. Miley also gets a very annoying, smart-aleck attitude in later seasons, which may make parents raise eyebrows and wonder if this is really the kind of character they want their kids looking up to.
THE VERDICT
Miley Cyrus may be the hottest trend on Disney Channel, but Hannah Montana has little to no substance for anyone outside the 8-12 age range. It's clearly targeted toward younger kids, but even the juvenile humor falls flat much of the time because of corny jokes. Plus, the entire storyline is tired.
While there are a few redeeming qualities, they are not enough for this show to be considered decent. In short, Hannah Montana is a forgettable sitcom that will be tossed aside once the "next best thing" comes along.
Rating: 5 out of 10
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