Watch It: Hannah Montana The Movie - with a 4th grader

If you're going to subject yourself to the marketing mayhem of Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana aka Southern Gal with a Secret Celeb Identity, then take a fourth grader with you.

I had the pleasure of watching the film with my brother's adopted "daugther" while he was busy with a restaurant opening (all part of my aforementioned vacation). Thanks to her, I discovered the pros of mining pop culture phenomenons with the help of their target audience.

I've ventured these waters before, alone or with mostly reluctant adults in all three High School Musical films, a live High School Musical performance, plenty of Jonas Brothers crap, Ashley Tisdale's Cinderella-esque movie, that Drew Seely backed Cinderella tween phenomenon (aptly titled Another Cinderella Story) and other stuff I'm not even going to cop to in public.

Given my obsession with the youth market it's surprising that I haven't:
1. been committed or
2. turned to young adult literature earlier in my writing career

For those of you without children, here's how the experience is different:

1. The child will sing along, out loud, without shame, to every single song. Awesome. Honestly. Why be repressed??? This lack of self consciousness is what I'm all about.

2. The child will cry at all the same parts you cry at but previously would have tried to hide. Now, with tangental crying approval, you can just let it out. You know the parts - the whole heartfelt talk with grandma/dad/best friend about fitting in/your dead mom/whatever.

3. You'll get over the creepy underlying message of the movie. That (spoiler time) small towns trump big time development - but only with the help of Hollywood celebrity. That it's okay to be yourself...unless your other self is an uber popular celebrity - then you should go with the celebrity. Really - you'll be sitting there with the fourth grader and you'll realize she isn't taking away those messages the way you are. Because she just wants to sing and look at the clothes. The same way you rewatch all your childhood films and find new references to swearing, drug use and sex that flew by you the first time.

So you chill out and enjoy. Sure, you're a responsible adult but you can also be a silly kid at heart. To steal Hannah's phrase, it's the best of both worlds.