Cuando Llama el Amor

First of all, the Janette Oke book series is faith-based. The stories revolve around the characters and their relationship with God. This is sadly lacking in this movie. The characters and romance of Aunt Elizabeth and Wynn are pushed so far into the background, they are barely relevant to the story. So, the acting skill and chops of Maggie Grace and Stephen Amell are not utilized which means their talents are really wasted because they are both fine actors. How good would this movie have been if we had seen more of Elizabeth and Wynn? If we had been allowed to see their relationship develop? Instead, we are left unsatisfied with a giant question mark when it comes to them. Too bad Hallmark doesn't have the backbone to use Janette Oke's stories to their full potential instead of telling watered down, extremely altered stories that barely resemble the source material. I know this movie was created to introduce the television series, but it is badly executed. I really wanted to like this but instead I was just very disappointed.

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!

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.

I agree with the other reviewers that this movie is different than the original story in Janette Oke's books. At first, I was confused & really tried to figure it out. I gave up on that & decided that both the books & the movie are good stories in and of themselves. So, if you loved the books, you'll also love this movie (& now the series), just go into it knowing that the story lines are different. You'll still enjoy it. The costumes are beautiful, the scenery is beautiful and the acting is well done. Maggie Grace makes a great Elizabeth Thatcher. A better one than Poppy Drayton in my opinion. Stephen Amell has turned into one of my favorite actors since I fell in love with his eyes! LOL What a gentleman!

Nice movie that leaves you wondering what happened to Elizabeth and Wyn.

Liked it. Ok acting.

It even has funny parts.

It's a pity that these actors were left out of the TV show.