When superstar Hannah Montana aka Miley Stewart becomes front page news after a fight in a shoe store her Father thinks its high time she dropped her alias, went back to her roots, and visited her family in Crowley Corners Tennessee to rediscover who she really is.

A surprisingly entertaining coming of age tween romance that offers up a good dose of music stretching from the pop rock of Hannah Montana to some really good country from Taylor Swift (who also appears in the film), Billy Ray Cyrus, and more all wrapped up in a family friendly message that is agreeable and heartfelt.

Last night the show filled two theaters here in Charlotte and I was surprised to find not only small children but teenagers coming in on their own to see the film. From what my eldest daughter tells me the film has a draw due to the appearance of Taylor Swift and a musician from the band Son of Dork (formerly of U.K. boy band Busted). Regardless it was a seemingly magical screening as the kids clapped and sang along in somewhat perfect unison to songs they knew and strangely enough two teenagers who stood as if to leave but stopped on the side aisle and began to dance in synch with a scene from the film before returning to their seats. Shamefully I have to admit that the romance in the film between Cyrus and her co-star Lucas Till plus the side romance plot between her Father Billy Ray Cyrus and Melora Hardin were very winning.

Kudos to director Peter Chelsom, director of one of my favorites “The Mighty” (based on Rodman Philbrick’s novel Freak the Mighty), for being able to balance the film well enough so that, as a parent, I did not feel consumed by a dumbed down version of a film I could have sworn would be exactly like the television series only cuter and sillier. Great job there, but, that’s not to say that the film doesn’t have some snags. Mind you these are things that can be overlooked since this is a kids film. The biggest snag is the end of the film which felt very weak settling up loose ends with little effort put into it. For such a monumental event the film closes out with everyones best interest in mind without consequence (you’ll understand when it happens). Also, some aspects of the film could have worked during a running play but not in a film, for example; during a musical number in the film synchronized dancers are on hand magically  and the back up band instantly knows the number they are to perform even though it’s a song they’d never practiced before. I know, I know, suspension of disbelief, and as I said it works here because of the film genre. Still, the film was surprisingly good and the kids loved it. Definitely make plans to take your kids to this one and you too might find yourself enjoying it.