Hannah has four shows on it from the Disney Channel series including: "Achey Jakey Heart, Part One;" "Achey Jakey Heart, Part Two;" "I am Hannah, Hear Me Croak;" and "I Want You To Want Me... To Go To Florida," all of them rather hilarious, and a bit quirky. The show's premise is actually pretty clever. Miley Stewart, the real life daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, has an alter ego in Hannah Montana. Since Miley loves her life as a normal teenager, she decides it is better to hide her identity as a famous pop singer from everyone save her two closest friends, Lilly and Oliver. Miley simply pops on a blonde wig and jazzier clothes to transform into her crooning other self.
In the first episode of Hannah Montana: Life's What You Make It, Miley is apparently recovering from boy troubles. She is enraged over a boy and famous actor named Jake Ryan and how he treated her in a previous episode, when said boy comes skydiving down behind her with a single red rose and drops down to his knees in apology. Throughout the episode, Jake sends Miley heaps of food baskets and flowers, and even shows up at her house dressed as a knight in a full set of armor. Miley only decides to take Jake back when he shows up at a movie premiere with his co-star by his side and accidentally introduces her to the press as "Miley." Miley agrees to go on a date with Jake and he confesses that his name is really Leslie. She feels horrible for lying to him and eventually admits that she is really Hannah Montana... and the episode ends!
The second episode of Hannah Montana: Life's What You Make It opens with Jack looking a bit taken back that his "regular" girlfriend is actually a famous popstar, but he takes it well. Miley is stoked! She is dating an enormously famous, good-looking movie star and her life couldn't get any better - or could it? Dating Jake turns out to be a nightmare. His fans follow him around constantly and between her dad and the stalking fans, Miley can't seem to snag any alone time with her boyfriend. So, Jake decides to pull a Miley and comes up with his own alter ego, Milos. As Miley gets to know Jake, she realizes that he is completely shallow and totally in love with himself. Miley is faced with the dilemma of either ending it with Jake and facing the idea that he could spill her secret, or staying with him and being miserable. Finally, finagling Jake into breaking up with her, Miley decides that her and Jake are better off as close friends.
The third episode of Hannah Montana: Life's What You Make It has a lot of Hannah singing in it. She starts the episode by singing at a concert and doing a ton of encores that leave her with a horrible sore throat. Unfortunately for Miley, this means she must keep her normally chatty lips sealed for the week before an upcoming concert. Her brother gives her a tablet to write on, and somehow she manages to survive the week. However, after singing her second concert, she finds out that she needs a minor surgery or she could face never singing again. Miley is terrified of the surgery and her father gives her some of his infamous hot chocolate before bed that causes Miley to have some very bizarre dreams.
The final episode on the DVD is very touching and revolves around Miley and her father. The show starts with Hannah Montana and another pop-singer-wannabe getting into an argument after a talk show. They are both set to do a charity concert in the upcoming week, but an accident puts Miley's father (and agent) out of commission. He tells her she cannot fly to Florida (where the concert is to be held) without him and the two get into a huge fight. Miley gets a taunting call from her nemesis from the talk show and decides to sneak off to Florida without her father. Her father catches her on the plane and the two make up. They actually show real footage and pictures from Miley's childhood, which was really sweet. The music video for the song Miley's father wrote can be seen on the special features.
All in all, I was really surprised by the quality of acting and the dialogue on Hannah Montana: Life's What You Make It. It was a bit campy at times, but I think that is what they were going for considering the younger audience. I think I might actually look for this show on tv!
