There is no question that when the Disney Channel began marketing for the tween audience several years ago, they hit on a treasure trove. Now, with four hit series in their stable (Wizards of Waverly Place, The Suite Life On Deck, Hannah Montana and Jonas), it is no surprise that crossovers have become a fairly common occurrence. Recently released on DVD, Wizards On Deck With Hannah Montana showcases three of the hit series in a "triple-length comedy crossover event."

Beginning with an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place, Justin (David Henrie) finds out that he has won an essay contest, the prize being a teen cruise to Hawaii on board the USS Tipton. This, of course, includes all family members under 18, meaning that Alex (Selena Gomez) and Max (Jake T. Austin) get to accompany him on the ship. Once aboard, Justin does his best to arrange a meeting with London Tipton (Brenda Song). Alex meanwhile has managed to sneak her best friend Harper (Jennifer Stone) aboard, planning to use her as a decoy, sending Harper to the class that she is supposed to be attending while on the cruise. In a collision that seemed destined to happen, Max and Zack (Dylan Sprouse) face off against one another in a battle of wits (for no other reason than to show the audience who is truly the more clueless of the two).

Next up is an episode of The Suite Life On Deck, a recent spin-off series of the Disney original The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. While Zack and Max continue in their efforts to one-up each other, Cody (Cole Sprouse) endeavors to win the heart of Bailey (Debby Ryan) by getting a pair of tickets to the upcoming Hannah Montana concert in Hawaii. No surprise, Hannah (Miley Cyrus) has joined the ship's manifest on the island cruise. As the crew works to protect Hannah from the mass of hysterical teenagers on board the ship, Justin continues his pursuit of London. The triple feature concludes with an episode of Hannah Montana. While Hannah and Lilly (Emily Osment) search for Hannah's lost anklet, Cody continues his attempts to get tickets to the concert. After a string of bad luck, Hannah thinks that the loss of the anklet spells her demise as a pop-star icon, but her father, who has overcome his battle with sea-sickness, convinces her otherwise. Wizards On Deck With Hannah Montana ends in good fashion with a sold-out concert in Hawaii.

While the intertwining of the series is interesting, I'm not sure that three episodic adventures are enough to justify a retail DVD release. Disney is great about marketing their properties, and this is another example of that practice. Touted on the cover as a full-length adventure, the actual running time of Wizards On Deck With Hannah Montana is just over one hour. The entry credits for each series are still in place, so viewers are quite literally just watching three disparate shows back to back. Bonus features are also sparse, offering a few behind-the-scenes moments and a short featurette of Justin's "award-winning essay" that starts the whole chain of events. The series all already stand on their own merits (assuming you are the target audience), and as this is nothing more than a compilation of episodes, that doesn't really change. While this was an enjoyable offering, I do feel it was a bit short. Most of the Disney series DVDs usually contain around six episodes of a single series. This one, though spanning three different series, only offers one episode from each, thus really only offering about half the value of other similarly priced discs.