The Good

All the characters have a spunk about them that really keeps things fresh.

The Bad

This show is simply too hard to believe at times.

Hannah Montana: Life's What You Make of It is a show in which appearance is everything. Miley Cyrus plays Hannah Montana r pop sensation. Over the course of the four episodes on this disc, we see Hannah dealing with life both in and out of the spotlight. Making things even more difficult for our star is her up and down relationship with Jake (Cody Linley). However getting Hannah through are here friends Lily (Emily Osment) and Oliver (Mitchel Musso), and her down to earth (sometimes) father, Robbie Stewart (Billy Ray Cyrus).

Clocking in at a slim and trim 90 minutes, Hannah Montana: Life's What You Make of It is the kind of show that puts across the idea of just how important it is to be yourself.

Features

Backstage Pass: The Secrets of Hannah Montana

Miley Cyrus opens up this featurette by taking us through Hannah Montana's closet. She explains that it is so big and secluded that her and the other cast members like to hang out there. She then talks about having two different identities and then Cyrus proceeds to explain this show. After this her and the other castmates ruminate on whether the characters could pull off this show's premise in real life and at one point they say that they're all so close that none of them have any secrets. OMG!

Billy Ray Cyrus Music Video

Video

Full Screen - 1.33:1. This show had a weird look. I think that there was something about the way it was compressed, but the characters all seemed to be a step off. While this show was sharp, the lighting soft and the colors rich, it really seemed like this show had been shot on molasses instead of film.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The audio for this show was solid. I didn't hear anything too special about it and nothing really grabbed me, but it did its job of underscoring what we were seeing on screen. Everything on this disc moves in such a slapstick, zany way that it stands to reason that well compressed sound would be essential.

Package

Hannah and her friends on shown on this front cover in hip, colorful clothing and they all have big smiles on their faces. The back of this cover offers up some shots from this show, a description of what Hannah Montana: Life's What You Make of It is about, a Special Features listing and some minor technical specs.

Final Word

I was quite impressed with this show. I was expecting things to be of the nice and clean, Disney variety (seeing as that's who made this show), but that really wasn't ever the case with this release. Yes, it is from Disney but I think they have hipped things up by making the characters in question sound like actual kids. Granted, the whole premise of Hannah Montana's double-life is a bit of a stretch, but I think that this show deserves credit for putting across kids that aren't afraid to tell their secrets, talk about sex (sort of) and generally just be imperfect kids.

Yes, I know that at 34 years of age I am probably not the ideal audience for Hannah Montana: Life's What You Make of It, but all in all I did like what this 4 episode disc had to say.