With a batsuit in his closet and a crazed villain outside his cave every time he turns around, it makes sense that Bruce Wayne/Batman has had a few issues balancing the mask with the man. Capable of shooting webs from his wrists and constantly pulled in different directions by his ties to friends, family, and even enemies, I'm not surprised that Peter Parker/Spider-man has had his own problems figuring out things like loyalty and identity. And while I had never considered it before, I suppose if I were a teenage girl with a blond wig always on standby, singing as my "superpower," and an entirely different identity on stage and on the street, I would probably have some issues too.

Meet Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus), the country girl/pop superstar whose wig-switching lifestyle has garnered perhaps one of the largest followings of any recent Disney series. The story of an ordinary girl with an extraordinary voice who takes on a blond alter-ego every time she performs, Hannah Montana has pretty much ridden high on the comedy and conflict of being young and famous to pull in millions of viewers from its first episode in 2006 to now. And after three years, let's just say that that conflict has come to a breaking point.

As Hannah Montana: The Movie producer Alfred Gough says of Hannah's newest film, "It's basically a superhero movie for girls," and while it's definitely more a Lifetime movie of the week for teenage girls than The Dark Knight, I can see it. With more popularity, power, and influence than most teenage girls can dream of, Miley/Hannah is like the Confidence Queen, the wigged songstress who tells girls everywhere they can have it all. She has talent, she has confidence, and she is loved. But as we all know from barely a 30-second glance at the grocery store tabloids, unless you can recognize which parts of that "all" are of value and which are not, having it all isn't all it's cut out to be. Cue what is essentially Hannah Montana: Beginnings, an almost solo country version of High School Musical that, for the first time in the Hannah Montana series, takes us back to Miley's home in Tennessee and asks Hannah/Miley to figure out who she really is.

Much like many of her real-world counterparts, when the movie opens Hannah/Miley is pretty much just busy making tabloid headlines. While she is supposed to be saying goodbye to her college-bound brother, she is instead having a cat fight with Tyra Banks over a pair of shoes. Although she is supposed to stand by her best friend while she celebrates her 16th birthday, she instead takes the stage above her. When she is supposed to be packing her bags to fly to Tennessee for her grandmother's birthday, she tells her father Robby Ray (Billy Ray Cyrus) that she is going to New York to perform in an awards ceremony. But let's just say with Robby Ray in the driver's seat, they end up taking a little detour.



For the most part, the movie takes place in Tennessee, Miley's home and the place she first took the stage before donning a blond wig and becoming an international superstar. Robby's ultimatum for Miley: no more Hannah until she remembers who Miley really is. And the course of events in the time she is there are a reminder and discovery of just that. As a childhood crush resumes, Miley is challenged by the notion that someone might not be content to love her merely for who she appears to be, but might actually want to know her. When she meets a young man willing to work hard to accomplish what she sees as a less-than-impressive dream, she is faced with the concept that much of the value of any destination or accomplishment may very well be found in the journey to it. And when she sees that being Hannah is not just a free ticket to the singing career she always wanted but a privilege that has both cost others and has the potential to benefit others, she is faced with the dilemma of whether she is actually up to the task of being both Hannah and Miley or not.

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