DVD Review: HANNAH MONTANA - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
TV
Posted on Nov 26 2008 by Greg
Within weeks of the release of the wondrous Walt Disney Treasure DVD set, The
Mickey Mouse Club Presents Annette, here we have her far more opulent descendant of teen stardom,
Hannah Montana in its
first full-season collection.
It's not like you can't turn on Disney Channel and see a multitude of
Hannah shows at will, but they tend to be clustered without sequence, so it's a different experience to see each show one after the other without promos and other network clutter that even clogs the occasional series marathon.
Like
The Monkees, when the furor fades and the songs fall from the charts, the show itself is left to stand on its own. While no one pretends this is T
he Dick Van Dyke Show or
Frasier, the
Hannah series is a capable effort, with Miley Cyrus carrying virtually every scene with timing and confidence that develops somewhat over the episodes. What also becomes clear is the comic frenzy of Jason Earles as her brother, Jackson. Earles is actually older than he looks and his skill really comes through in the polished slapstick.
Each episode's title is a wordplay of some musical reference (
Miley Get Your Gun,
Good Golly, Miss Dolly, etc.). The first few shows, which set up the premise, don't get as much airplay and are interesting to watch because, as in many early series episodes, the characters are not developed and the cast is getting used to the material and each other. It would have been nice to have some audio commentary by this highly accessible cast. Instead there are episodes with a few inserted comments from Miley culled from other interviews called "Hannah's Highlights."
The
Disney Channel Games kickoff episode and a vignette with Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus on their home turf round out the extras. The "Games" segment would be almost sure to be a fun thing for kids to watch a decade from now to see which stars they can remember and what a big deal it all seemed to be at the time.
It would be nice to see more of the Disney Channel shows get this kind of treatment, especially the very entertaining
Corey in the House, which is now out of production.
0 Comments