Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour

 

• Released Internationally on 01/02/08
• Released in Malta by KRS on 13/08/08

 

Showing exclusively at Empire Cinemas in Buġibba, in Disney Digital 3-D

Huh?

Yes, that’s actually the title of a film. It’s very forgivable for us Europeans to have never heard of Hannah Montana, or Miley Cyrus, or the Best of Both Worlds tour, or Disney Digital 3-D for that matter. They’re all the rage across the Atlantic though, and I hope this sort of 3D will soon be all the rage here too.

One at a time please. 3D?

Ok, let’s start with this new 3D. RealD Cinema is the latest development in the world of three-dimensional film. Like older versions, it involves the viewer wearing tailor-made polarized glasses, but the results are much more impressive than what we might have experienced in the past. The concept is proving so successful that Disney/Pixar have announced that all their future film releases will use the technology (under the brand name Disney Digital 3-D), and so have DreamWorks animation. Other big names with RealD films in the pipeline include Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron and Tim Burton.

This summer marks the release of the first ever live-action film to be released in this new format – Journey to the Centre of the Earth 3-D (starring Brendan Fraser, and soon available locally), and Empire Cinemas in Buġibba have launched their own 3-D cinema just in time.

Hannah Montana? Miley Cyrus?

Hannah Montana is the name of a hugely-popular American TV series conceived by Disney a couple of years ago. It stars one of the richest teenagers in the world, Miley Cyrus, as a girl who leads a double life – she’s a normal schoolgirl by day, and a successful pop musician by night. Buoyed by the show’s popularity (amongst pre-teen and teen girls, mostly), Disney’s next step was to launch a US tour where Miley Cyrus could perform the show’s numerous songs, both as herself and in character. The concert was a huge success, as screaming girls dragged their parents to arenas across the country. This film serves as a short résumé of the whole tour, showcasing the highlights of one of the performances, as well as giving the viewers some backstage access.

Worth the funny glasses?

The 3D is pristine. Forget the flimsy cardboard frames with green and red lenses you wore back in the 90s or during your trip to Florida – this time around we’re given chunky but comfy frames (which thankfully fit over my prescription glasses) and which align with the big screen to make you think that for some strange reason you attended a Miley Cyrus concert. Admittedly, I’m not exactly the target audience for the film in question, but sitting through the teenage scream-fest was made much more enjoyable by the impressive 3D effects – from the arena audience raising their hands in the seat around you, to guitar picks and drum sticks flying towards your face. If the cinema’s air-conditioning wasn’t working I might have actually thought I was in Utah, not Buġibba. Let’s hope we get a steady stream of quality 3D films to suit all tastes in the near future, because this is what ‘going to the movies’ should be all about.

 

The 3-D Experience:

The Hannah Montana concert documentary:

 

Trailer:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809949460/trailer (Higher-res)