When it comes to story, people often compare movies to books. But, there are other ways in which the two mediums can be compared. One of my pet peeves with movies is that over 90% of American films seem to be set in either New York or Los Angeles. Obviously this is done for budgetary reasons, but at times it feels as the rest of the country doesn't exist. With books, authors seems to be very proud of where they're from and don't shy away from setting their novels in specific areas. (I'll admit that I didn't know a thing about Maine before I got into Stephen King books as a teen.) This seems especially true with writers from the South. John Grisham, Pat Conroy, and Nicholas Sparks set their movies in the South, and unlike many movies, they portray the South in a positive way. The latest Sparks novel to make it to the screen is The Last Song.

The Last Song is set on Tybee Island, Georgia. Kim (Kelly Preston) brings her children Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) and Jonah (Bobby Coleman) to the island to spend the summer with their father, Steve (Greg Kinnear). The impetus for this move is Ronnie's rebellious and unpredictable behavior. Of course, this means that she's unhappy with the plan and immediately leaves her Dad's place and goes the boardwalk area. There, she meets Will (Liam Hemsworth), but she spurns his advances. Later, she finds a nest of sea turtle eggs on the beach and erects a barrier to protect them. When she calls the aquarium for help, they send Will, who volunteers there. Ronnie is still cold to him, but as they watch over the eggs together, she eventually loosens up. This experience leads Ronnie to agree to go out with Will and they begin a relationship. But, Ronnie soon learns that Will has a complicated past and family, which brings out her own issues with trust.

If you were to ask me what the best part of DVDSleuth.com is, I would have to say free DVDs. But, a close runner-up is that reviewing DVDs and Blu-ray Discs allows me to watch movies that I normally wouldn't watch. The Last Song certainly falls into that category, as it wears its melodrama proudly on its sleeve.

However, the stories haven't really grabbed me, The Last Song in particular. At least Nights in Rodanthe and Dear John offered some somewhat unique properties. I felt as if I'd seen The Last Song before, as it's filled with cliched plot-points -- the bad-attitude teen sent to live with the other parent, the bad-ass girl who wants nothing to do with the local boy, the sassy younger sibling, and the "plot twist" which arrives in the final act. This last point is somewhat surprising, but it's really cliched and feels as if it was thrown in just to generate some real emotion in the film. The piece concerning the turtles felt somewhat unique, but not enough to make the movie any more interesting. While The Last Song feels similar to many other dramas, it really echoes Dear John, but with the male and female roles reversed.

Again, The Last Song isn't my kind of movie, but given the problems with the film, I've certainly seen worse. The movie does get a lot of mileage from it's picturesque locations and a few moments are interesting. However, most of the melodrama will feel very familiar even die-hard fans of both Sparks and Miley Cyrus will be disappointed by the overall outcome.

The Last Song finds a unique use for a shopping cart on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 30 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look very good and the image is never overly dark or bright. The level of detail is very good and the picture has a very nice depth to it, most notably in the daytime beach scenes. The Disc offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are pretty good and are most notable in crowd scenes. These same scenes, such as those on the boardwalk, provide good surround sound. The movie takes advantage of the beach scenes, by filling the speakers with the sound of wind and surf. There were no significant subwoofer effects here.

The Last Song Blu-ray Disc contains a handful of extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Julie Anne Robinson and Co-Producer Jennifer Gibgot. The Disc contains five DELETED SCENES which run about 7 minutes and can be viewed with commentary from Robinson. All of these are brief and don't contain any new information. The "Alternate Opening Scene" (3 minutes) can also be viewed with commentary from Robinson, and is very similar to the opening in the finished film, save that it puts the credits over footage of the fire. "Set Tour with Bobby Coleman" (5 minutes) has the young actor wandering the set interviewing with cast and crew members, as well as playing on the beach. The Disc contains the MUSIC VIDEO for the song "When I Look at You" by Miley Cyrus (4 minutes), as well as the "Making of the Music Video" (4 minutes).