Love Begins

I'm not sure how I got stuck into watching this, but it ended up being an okay Christian sort of movie (put on by "faith & family" entertainment and Hallmark). Its not nearly as good as "Love Comes Softly" with Katherine Heigl though and I struggled with having any sort of appreciation for Ellen (Julie Mond) and her sister Cassie because their acting was just terrible.

Clark Davis (Wes Brown) was probably what kept me watching, not only was he nice to look at but he did a decent job in his role as an adventurer who gets into a fight at a local café and is arrested. (Jere Burns) plays Sheriff Holden and also did a good job here. He sets up a plea deal with café owner Millie (super fun to see Nancy McKeon again) which sees Clark agreeing to work at a farm owned by a young woman to pay off his debt. As time passes and with nudging from the towns residents the pair soon begin to fall for one another.

This was pretty low budget, with the set decorating in particular looking more like a local theatre production -stuff just thrown together that looks sorta like its from the time period represented than a made for TV movie.

I also wondered how these sisters were keeping afloat on a farm where their "crops" consisted of 6 stalks of wilted corn, a couple tomato plants and some cows we hear but never see.

There is a bit of preaching about going to church but nothing too in your face.

Ultimately even though this wasn't great I do appreciate that there are still movies out there meant for the entire family. Without any graphic violence, sex scenes or F-bombs. Wholesome. And probably why I find these "Love" series films so (strangely) addictive. Its nice to just turn all that "noise" off once and a while. 11/6/15

I really enjoyed this movie. I have a collection of Hallmark movies and this is one I will add to my collection. The acting by Wes Brown and Julie Mond was excellent. I am not aware of the name of the young girl who played Cassie, but she also did an excellent job. It is good to watch movies that have good morals, no profanity and very little violence. It was good to watch the relationship grow between Ellen and Clark and eventually bloom into a romance. Then when Ellens former love showed up and asked her to marry him, the suspense was built up as to which she would choose. Hallmark has once again lived up to its excellent reputation. Hope you enjoy this movie as much as I did.

I really wanted to like this made for TV movie. I've watched all the other "Love" series by Janette Oke and while some of them were bad, the first one "Love Comes Softly" was my favorite and since this was a prequel to that movie thought it would be interesting. Boy was I wrong.

I don't know if this movie was filmed in one day but the hairstyles never changed. Perfectly braided, make up just so. The two female stars were supposed to be hard working gals trying to keep the family ranch/farm going after their parents died but all they seemed to do is go into town to chat with friends, drink coffee, take walks, etc. Saw very little of the frontier life.

And the acting was so horrible that I couldn't believe the producers, directors or editors actually thought this was a good movie.

Read the Janette Oke books and don't waste time with this drivel.

My one complaint would be that I wish the first 35 minutes had been less about the set up so they could have taken more time with Clark getting to know the ladies and vice versa.

This movie is part of the Love Comes Softly franchise and that's what it's going to be. There's going to be some schmaltz. There's going to be some manners and morality. Maybe even a little bit about God. Probably some romance. There's even a funny moment or two. (I liked what happened with Sarah..)

Wes Brown does a good job of fitting into the mold that Dale Midkiff set for Clark Davis as well as the character in the books. Julie Mond, after the obligatory antagonism toward Clark, quickly becomes the Ellen we would expect.

Good clean entertainment with good values. I liked it.

I enjoyed this period piece so much it brought tears to my eyes. An interesting story, solid acting and two young people in search of something they can't define fine each other. I was particularly impressed with the roles Nancy McKeon and J. Burns played.