The dauntingly-titled Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert may be the culmination of Disney Channel's almost Orwellian scheme to dominate the minds of America's youth and the wallets of their parents. With its line-up of bubblegum pop tunes, Hannah Montana fails to rock as much as it thinks it does, although in the end, that won't make the slightest bit of difference for the legions of fans who will pay to see the film's star perform.

For anyone new to the Hannah Montana phenomenon, it's a mystifyingly popular Disney Channel program about a spunky young girl (played by Miley Cyrus) who leads a double life as the titular pop music star. But rather than a big-screen adaptation of the show, this Hannah Montana feature follows Miley as she embarks on a concert tour. The catch is that she's performing both as squeaky-clean Hannah Montana and as herself, whose selection of songs are a bit more grown up than Hannah's bouncy ballads. As Miley belts out some of her biggest hits for her biggest fans, the film takes viewers on a backstage tour, showing the audience exactly how much work goes into putting on a concert of this magnitude. But Miley's not performing alone, for fellow teen sensations the Jonas Brothers are onhand, ready to provide their admirers with as lively a show as they can muster.

My reaction to Hannah Montana won't earn me any favor with those who've taken issue with my cynical outlook about modern family films. Being as far removed from Hannah Montana fandom as humanly possible, I'm obviously not the viewer in mind here. The target audience? Those kids whose folks didn't want to fork out the astonishingly high amount of cash to see Miley perform in person. Hannah Montana's number one priority is to capture the energy and atmosphere of attending a live show, so in that respect, I can't fault the film. Clearly, both Miley and the thousands of screaming audience members are having a total blast.

However, when such a line-up of simplistic tunes come at a mighty big price (theatrical tickets ran  upwards of $18), the film opens itself up to a bit more scrutiny than usual. Plain and simple, the music is not that great, with most of the songs revolving around such "hard-hitting" topics as dancing, partying, and, well, dancing some more. There are a few throwaway lyrics about being yourself, though I doubt many will see the irony in a massive conglomerate like Disney promoting individuality. This probably wouldn't be such a big deal if the film didn't cop a mildly pretentious attitude toward its music. With such eyebrow-raising moments as Miley's dad (one-hit wonder country singer Billy Ray Cyrus) talking about how "real" her music is, I got an uncomfortable feeling of being coerced into thinking the songs are deeper than they really are (which, aside from one number dedicated to Miley's late grandfather, doesn't ring true.)

No doubt fans who can't get enough of Miley's TV show or her music will be pleased with this film, but most hardcore movie buffs like me will be left wondering how the concert genre fell so hard so fast.

MY RATING: * 1/2 (out of ****)

(Released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment and rated "G" as suitable for all ages.)