Hannah Montana: Final Season (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

March 10, 2011 by Dennis Amith 

For “Hannah Montana” fans, this show has entertained them for five years and now the series comes to a close with the release of “Hannah Montana: Final Season”.  A fitting final season and also series finale plus you get a pretty cool 28-page hardcase DVD holder/book.  If your child loves “Hannah Montana”, this DVD release is worth buying.

Images courtesy of © WDSHE. All Rights Reserved

DVD TITLE: Hannah Montana: Final Season

DURATION: 342 minutes (13 Episodes)

DVD INFORMATION: Dolby Digital 2.0 Sound, Widescreen (1:78:1), Dolby Digital Stereo Sound, French and Spanish Language Tracks and Subtitles

COMPANY: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

RATED: G

RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2011

Created by Richard Correll, Barry O’Brien, Michael Poryes

Starring:

Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana

Emily Osment as Lilly Truscott

Jason Earles as Jackson Stewart

Billy Ray Cyrus as Robbie Stewart

Mitchell Musso as Oliver Oken

Moises Arias as Rico

For those who have followed Hannah Montana for four-plus amazing years and are ready to see how it all ends, Miley Stewart has found herself at crossroads during her senior year. After all these years, does she still have the best of both worlds? Can she continue her alter ego, Hannah Montana, or will she leave it all behind to be an ordinary girl? This exciting release invites viewers to come join Miley, Lilly, Oliver, Robby Ray, Jackson, Rico and special guest stars Sheryl Crow, Cody Linley, Dolly Parton and more as they bring the groundbreaking and beloved series to a close.

Film Clip- Are You The Boy

 

Film Clip-Jackson’s Advice

 

The end of Hannah Montana, a final goodbye to Miley Stewart and friends…

For four seasons and a feature length movie, we have seen the character of Miley Stewart struggling with having a normal life and being another person with her music persona Hannah Montana. With the release of “Hannah Montana Forever”, this latest DVD focuses on various moments in Miley Stewart’s life in which she contemplated telling the world that she is Hannah Montana. But most of all, it features the special episode “I’ll Always Remember You” when a grown up Miley Stewart is now pushed to the brink of deciding to tell the world that she is Hannah Montana.

Having a child that is a big fan of various Disney series, “Hannah Montana” has been part of our household family viewing for years. So, suffice to say that I have watched and reviewed a good share of the episodes of “Hannah Montana” to get a good feel of what the series is about.

While the ending of the first season who could have been a good series finale for actress/singer Miley Cyrus, she and the cast came back for one more final season to tie everything together and say goodbye. And possibly a good time for the singer to leave her TV persona as she has grown up, doing feature length films and has said many times in interviews that she now wants to try different things in her life that is not targeted towards a younger audience. Which is understandable as we have seen this young teenager grownup quickly before our eyes and has become a young woman.

For those not familiar with the television show that launched the career of pop star, Miley Cyrus, “Hannah Montana” is a popular Disney Channel television series which started back in 2006 and revolves around a family of three.

Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) is a normal teenage girl but when she goes on stage and records an album, she dons a blond wig and is known as the popular pop idol Hannah Montana.

Her father/manager Robbie (real life father, Billie Ray Cyrus) has given her the dual identity so she can live a normal teenage life. She lives with her brother Jackson (played by Jason Earles) who is a bit of goof off who tends to get himself into some sort of predicament at home or at work at the hot dog stand owned by young entrepreneur Rico (played by Moises Arias). For Miley/Hannah, she is fortunate to have her best friend Lilly Truscott (played by Emily Osment) and Oliver Oken (played by Mitchel Musso) around at times to be her voice of reason and to help bail her out of trouble.

In the third season, Miley having made a successful movie, her career is doing well but getting a taste of her old life in Tennessee, she questions if California or Tennessee should be her true home. Jackson is dealing with decisions about college (and not going to college) and living on his own. Oliver has done well in a music talent show and sees his music career starting to blossom while Lilly is now living with Miley and figuring out where she fits in with the success of her best friends. Eventually Miley and the family ended up moving but Lilly came to move in with the Stewart’s.

In the fourth season, Miley has a new boyfriend named Jesse (her guitarist), Jackson has a new girlfriend named Siena and as for Lily, she and Miley are trying to get into Standford University.

The “Hannah Montana – Final Season” includes all episodes from the fourth, final season. Included are:

1. EPISODE 86 – Sweet Home Hannah Montana – Robby Ray tries to bring some of Tennessee to Miley’s bedroom.  Meanwhile, Jackson falls for a bikini model named Siena.
2. EPISODE 87 – Hannah Montana to the Principal’s Office – Miley and Lily star their senior year but Miley’s dad forgets to register her.
3. EPISODE 88 – California Screamin’ – Hannah tries to set her father up with the school nurse, meanwhile Jackson tries to win Siena’s heart.
4. EPISODE 89 – De-Do-Do-Do, Da-Don’t-Don’t, Don’t, Tell My Secret - Miley nearly blows her cover when she returns home as Hannah Montana which causes a jealous Siena to wonder why Hannah was at Jackson’s home?
5. EPISODE 90 -It’s the End of the Jake as We Know It – Oliver visits Lily but also to show photos of Jake (Miley’s boyfriend) that he is cheating on her.  Special guest: Sheryl Crowe
6. EPISODE 91 -Been Here All Along – Jesse returns and Miley wants to do something good for him after he finds out his father is in Afghanistan.
7. EPISODE 92 -Love That Let’s Go – Miley tries to get Lily to ride her horse Blue Jeans.  Meanwhile, Miley reminisces of her moments with Blue Jeans.
8. EPISODE 93 – Hannah’s Gonna Get This – Hannah’s producer needs a song for her album and Miley wants to create a track. Special guest: IYAZ
9. EPISODE 94 – I’ll Always Remember You - The kids are growing up and as for Miley, things are heating up between her and Jesse but when Jesse accidentally kisses Hannah Montana after her performance on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, everyone wants to know who Hannah’s new boyfriend is.  Everything seemed alright until he and Miley were together and media started to speculate why Hannah would date a boy who was two-timing her.  Eventually the pressure from the media starts to work its way into their relationship and it becomes too hard on Jesse.
10. EPISODE 95 – Can You See the Real Me? – Miley reminisces memorable moments as Hannah Montana.
11. EPISODE 96 – Kiss It All Goodbye - Miley’s secret is out and now the paparazzi won’t stop bothering her.  Aunt Dolly comes to the rescue.
    
12. EPISODE 97 – I Am Mamaw, Hear Me Roar! – It’s Miley and Lily’s graduation and Mamaw wants to spend quality time with Miley without the fans and media, but will she ever spend time with Miley?
13. EPISODE 98 – Wherever I Go – Miley gets a movie role and has to film in Paris but with college starting, will she choose to stay in college as she promised Lily or go overseas and take pare in the movie?

VIDEO, AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Hannah Montana: Final Season” is presented in wide screen (1:78:1) and is featured in English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 Sound with also a French and Spanish audio track available. Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Hannah Montana: Final Season” comes with the following special features:

• Alternate Ending: Wherever I Go - (1:52) An alternate ending for the final episode of “Hannah Montana”.  Interesting alternate ending as it showcases Bill Ray and Tish Cyrus with a very young girl (who is supposed to be Miley Cyrus) who dreams to become a rockstar.
• From Auditions to Wrap: The Cast Looks Back - (5:26)  Featuring the original audition tape of Billy Ray Cyrus talking about how life will not be the same for his daughter Miley if the show takes off and the cast talk about being cast for the show.
• Cast Goodbyes – (1:56) The cast sit on the couch and say their final goodbyes to the audience.

EXTRAS:

“Hannah Montana: Final Season” comes with a slip-over case and a special 28-page hardcover booklet featuring iconic moments from the show, favorite guest stars, glamorous fold-out fashion spread, quotes from the cast, The Hannah Time Capsule, a Tribute to the Wig! Plus a photo with Hannah with signature is included.

With the last DVD, “Hannah Montana – Miley Says Goodbye?”, the episodes focused on the kids growing up and now having to make decisions about life, love and career. It was not known at the time if the season would be the final season of “Hannah Montana” but for the episodes alone, I felt it would have been a fitting ending if Disney chose not to renew the series.

Personally, it’s quite interesting to see how much has changed with the characters and to see them grow from these young kids to now young adults within the last five years and here we are with “Hannah Montana Forever”. For four seasons, we have seen Miley Stewart agonize about having to live the life of two people. And through each season and the feature film, we have seen her getting closer and closer to revealing herself to the public. Well, she did in the “Hannah Montana” film to her local town (who promised to not tell a soul about her real identity) but for the TV series, we see Miley now grown up. Dating a boy named Jesse and trying to hide it from the public, but when Jesse slips and kisses her during a late night talk show, now their relationship is put under a microscope.

Meanwhile, Miley and Lilly are trying to get into Stanford University and once again, being Hannah Montana has taken its toll on Miley getting into college. This season is literally the breaking point for Miley Stewart as she is sick of hiding behind Hannah Montana. It was fine when she was younger but now she has grown up and she’s tired of hiding behind the blonde hair.

I have wondered how the series would end, because the show and fortunately, the show did end with class and sticking to the formula of what made the show so popular.

Fans of the series will definitely find this DVD Release to be a fitting goodbye for “Hannah Montana”.  The hardcase DVD holder and booklet really is an awesome goodbye and a wonderful bonus for the fans who have stuck with this series for five years.

Speaking of five years, this has been part of the lives of many children and my son was only two-years-old when he start watching this show and so it has been quite interesting as a parent to see watch this series and watch the cast grow up together pretty much throughout their teenagers years while being on the show.

Overall, as a father of a child who enjoys the series, the show definitely has its share of hilarious moments and while we have seen Miley and friends grow-up to become teenagers entering college, the final season maintains its storyline to entertain children, teens and parents… people of all ages and it was great to see how the writers ended this series and they did it right (all I can say is that I am so happy they did not use that alternate ending… awkward!).

If you are a fan of “Hannah Montana” or any of the cast, definitely give “Hannah Montana: Final Season” a chance.   A fitting final season and finale… recommended!