VividSimon Simply Perfect

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Irishchatter I honestly loved that they included two stories in this film. Maggie Grace and Poppy Drayton were splendid as their characters Aunt Elizabeth and young Elizabeth. They really do lookalike, you could see that the shape of their noses, voices, looks and the color of their eyes look similar. I honestly thought it was just one actress playing the two ladies but it doesn't matter, this was the best underrated film they have ever done!I was so mad to know at the very end, we didn't see if young Elizabeths lover was gonna get killed by the bandits who held them at gunpoint and stole their money. I normally don't say this when it comes to long movies as I hate when movies drag on but I think this movie however, needed to be longer. The reason being is the story seemed too short for one hour and 28 minutes. If it was one hour and probably 15 minutes more, then it would end the story probably. That was only one complaint, the rest was great. Superb acting, actors, costumes and the whole lot!

Didi A This is obviously supposed to be a guilty pleasure kind of movie, so why did they have to take the pleasure out of it??? Yes, there were a lot of nice and funny moments but they seem to have happened by chance because the story (or two-story) pace is absolutely off; there constantly is a build-up to some scene that never happens and we only hear Elisabeth read about it in the journal! I understand it was important to show how a person chooses their path and recognizes what's closest to their heart - okay, we got it the first couple of times. But still - the least you could do is show the actual moments that helped the characters realize this. I don't know about the others, it appears the movie appealed to many and this is great, but for me this kind of movie needs some actual romance (and an actual ball!!!), before using love as a variable in the choice that is supposed to affirm the thematic message.

dallas_viewer Thank you, Kielsa03! Your review cleared everything up for me. I have not read the book and I was underwhelmed by the movie, especially by the way it just kind of fizzled out at the end. It made no sense--no one actually gets together, we're left wondering, etc. I was shaking my head "huh?" at the end.I did not realize this was intended to launch a TV series. No wonder so much remained open ended.I will say that Maggie Grace was very good in her role. Most of the other actors were adequate, except for the "free-spirited" sister, whose acting was atrocious. (Hey, just my opinion. YMMV. I liked her looks, as far as being the rascally sister, I just thought her acting choices were awful.)The real star of this movie for me was Wardrobe. Such gorgeous dresses and hats! If I could just vote for the costuming, I would give it 10 stars!

kielsa03 As a big Janette Oke fan, I can't help but compare this movie to the Canadian West books, which it's somewhat based on. So here goes...In the books, which begin in April 1910, Elizabeth Thatcher lives in eastern Canada with her parents, younger sister Julie, and younger brother Matthew. (She has two older sisters who have already left home.) She has already been teaching for a while when her older half-brother Jonathan writes and invites her to come out west to teach. She accepts the offer and initially stays in Calgary with Jon, his wife Mary, and their four children: William, Sarah, Kathleen, and Elizabeth. Mr. Higgins, the man who is to assign Elizabeth to a school, lives in Calgary and tries to convince her to marry him, and when she refuses, he assigns her to a school over 100 miles away. She accepts the position and eventually meets Wynn Delaney, who happens to be a good friend of her brother Jon.In the movie, which also begins in 1910, the Elizabeth we initially meet is supposed to be Elizabeth Thatcher Delaney's niece. She lives in the east with her parents and younger sister Julie, who is much like the Julie in the book, who is her aunt. Mr. Higgins lives in the east and tries to convince Elizabeth to give him "special favors" in order to get a good teaching position nearby. She refuses, so he gives her a teaching assignment way out west, which she eventually decides to accept.Young Elizabeth reads her Aunt Elizabeth's diary, which tells about when she went out west to teach school, including how she met Wynn Delaney. The movie goes back and forth between Aunt Elizabeth's story in the past (which must be the late 1800s, unlike in the book) and young Elizabeth's story in the present.The parts of the movie about Aunt Elizabeth mostly match the story in the book, which I really like. But I wish they wouldn't have left out Jonathan and his family and mixed elements of Aunt Elizabeth's story into young Elizabeth's story. Worst of all, they don't even finish the story of Wynn and Elizabeth, and young Elizabeth's dad tells her that they don't even know what happened to Aunt Elizabeth. In the books Elizabeth stays in touch with her family, even though it's hard because she's sometimes in remote places. Later on, Elizabeth and Wynn move to a more "civilized" area, so by the time any nieces they have are grown up, they're in a place where they can regularly send letters to their relatives.The Canadian West series is interesting enough to make great movies, but instead of focusing on the great original story, movie makers have created this new niece Elizabeth and focused half the story on her. The ending made me feel like the story was unfinished, which I guess makes sense since this is the beginning of a TV series. I have a feeling the TV series will focus just on young Elizabeth and Edward, but I hope they'll at least finish Wynn and Elizabeth's story. I'll probably check out the series when it comes out, and I'll probably enjoy it.If you're hoping for a movie adaptation of the book, When Calls the Heart, you're not going to be totally satisfied and will probably be a bit disappointed like I was. But it's still a pretty good story, and it's clean and interesting without bad language, sex scenes, or graphic violence.