Film Review: Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Tour (3D)

Liverpool Daily Post

Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Tour (3D)
(Cert. U, 75 mins)
Miley Cyrus, Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas, Nick Jonas, Kenny Ortega
Directed by Bruce Hendricks

IF YOU’RE not already a devotee of perennially perky Miley Cyrus (daughter of achy breaky Billy Ray Cyrus) and her Disney Channel show, then Bruce Hendricks’s film won’t convert you.

Shot in eye-boggling 3D during the recent US tour, this is a 75- minute promo for the Hannah Montana brand, splicing concert footage with snippets of backstage banter and interviews.

Songs are instantly forgettable, the staging a blur of neon-lit video screens, fireworks and exploding streamers and confetti. Clothes are swathed in glitter and rhinestones – preferably both.

The band is deafening, drowning out the hysterical screams of the fans as they weep with delight.

The film begins back- stage with Miley in the make-up artist’s chair, performing warm-up vocals and cracking her stiff neck.

Hannah skips merrily through the opening number "Rock Star" before we journey back four weeks to rehearsals where tour creator Kenny Ortega, director of High School Musical and its sequel, sets about bringing this multi-media extravaganza to life.

A choreographic misunderstanding on opening night - the dancers drop Miley during a shoulder lift - sees Kenny hastily rework the routine to convince his teen diva that she is perfectly safe.

"They always have their hands on you. You’re never airborne," he says soothingly, whispering that the dancer who has the honour of catching her is "cute".

Support comes mid-concert from the Jonas Brothers - aka good Christian boys Joe, Nick and Kevin from New Jersey, who famously wear purity rings to affirm their belief in no sex before marriage.

While the trio’s musical abilities are questionable - their only memorable song is a note-for-note cover of Busted’s "Year 3000" - their appeal to young girls is not.

Kendricks’s camera relishes close-ups of fans mouthing "I love you" to singer Joe, or feigning swoons of delight when younger brother Kevin waves in their direction.

Amusingly, one cutaway includes a grandmother sitting despairingly in the crowd, covering her ears. You can’t please everyone.

The music continues when Miley costume changes into herself, slowing the tempo to perform her ballad "I Miss You" written in honour of her grandfather.

"You hear the honesty in Miley’s heart," says Billy Ray a little too earnestly. "That’s what I love about her music. It’s real."

The 3D technology affords the usual array of guitars, microphone stands and performers appearing to reach out of the screen.

The piece de resistance is an overhead shot of drummer Stacy Jones tossing a stick into the air mid-song, straight at the camera and then catching it.

So rock ’n’ roll.