La petite maison dans la prairie

We've been glued to the tube for the last three Saturday nights. Wow. I loved it. This is TV worth staying home for. The story has grabbed us, the cast is just right--especially little Laura, Mr. and Mrs. Scott (what a hoot!), and Wildcat. Loved the cinematography. The production values are worthy of the big screen. Such stark beauty. And that part about them driving the wagon across the frozen lake as it is thawing... White knuckle time! The scenes with the Native-Americans are some of the best I've seen in any film. You catch a sense of how strange it was for both the white man and the Indians, locked in their silent dance.

I definitely recommend this movie. Hope it comes out soon on DVD!

Being a tremendous fan of the books (and being one who hated the 70s TV show with the heat of a thousand suns), I have to say this series is... not bad.

The script is relatively true to the Little House On the Prarie book. Except for the inexplicable New Age nonsense inflicted on poor old Jack (spirit dog frightening the savages, my Aunt Fanny), all the changes make sense in the context of a TV miniseries. There's no need to bother casting a Carrie, a toddler whose literary counterpart isn't old enough to talk. There's also no real need to go into all the pioneering how-to, however fascinating such details are in the book.

The cast is tremendously likable, especially Erin Cottrell, whose portrayal of Caroline Ingalls is both saintly and human, just as the character was written in the stories. Gregory Sporleder does a terrific turn as Mr. Edwards, the wildcat bachelor from Tennessee.

Where the miniseries fails is at the adaptation level, not in the performances. The author of the teleplay, Katie Ford, has injected too much of a modern sensibility. The Charles of the book would not in a thousand years have expressed his appreciation for Caroline's sacrifices by weeping as if he were on Oprah. Caroline's whining about dressing up, Mary's "sassing" an adult (an adult who was expressing fear and hatred towards the Native Americans, an attitude common to white settlers of the time), and Laura's constant disobedience of her father's orders to stay on the homestead - these all ring falsely to anyone who ever enjoyed the iconic series of books.

However, with that aside, it must be said that LHOTP:2005 is a completely inoffensive, sweet little series. It's beautifully shot, evenly paced, nicely casted, and tailor-made for the "Wonderful World of Disney/Saturday evening movie" brand.

One thing I simply don't understand is why Hollywood has so much trouble adapting the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder with some degree of accuracy. Her life was fascinating; why do they feel they need to take such artistic license in order to dramatize everything? This attempt is better than its predecessors (the Michael Landon TV series, which skidded completely off the tracks after a few seasons; the DREADFUL "Beyond the Prairie" TV movies), but that's not saying much. I do think the parts were fairly well cast, but I wondered: where's baby Carrie? I can only assume she'll be born in a future episode, or not at all. Either way, her exclusion is annoying. So too was the use of the word "blonde" to describe Mary's hair color. The word used in all the books was "golden." Also, why are Caroline's (Ma) parents still alive? They'd both been dead for years by the time the Ingalls family started their trek west. If they wanted a big, tearful scene where the grandparents say goodbye, they could've used Charles's (Pa) parents instead.

Oh well. Better luck next time.

As many, I have grown up on Michael Landon's "Little House" and have read all of the "Little House" books written by Laura Inagalls Wilder.

The original television series of the 1970s and 1980s was good, with a homey and warmth of family feeling to it, but strayed more and more from the actual writings of the LIW books as time went on.

This ABC/Disney version of "Little House On The Prairie" is much more closer to the actual books than any of the previous TV shows of the past. However, this 6 hours mini-series was not all completely accurate, and some of the camera shots could have filmed been better. But all in all, it is a very good program and well worth adding to your collection.

The acting by Kyle Chavarria and Danielle Ryan Chuchran was excellent, along with several of the other cast members. No, it is not Michael Landon with his Hollywood looking Charles Ingalls, but a lot closer to the real Charles Ingalls as played by Cameron Bancroft in this version. This DVD gives you a more realistic insight as to how the pioneers actually lived back in those times, and the hardships and the family values that are rare to find in modern day time.

Get this DVD, you will enjoy it!!!!

OK, I'm a great Laura Ingalls/Little House fan. I love the series - I grew up with it, hokey as it was at times. I really loved the books. I just ordered & re-read them a couple of years ago. I re-realized how much was fabricated for the series, but it was still wonderful. Even the books themselves are not completely true to life; Ms. Wilder omitted & softened some events and some characters - they are children's' books after all. I only saw the last two eps of this one, but I agree it does seem to be the truest to detail to the books, (except for Laura & Mary's ages, and the ever-missing Carrie). I still really liked it, and enjoyed seeing yet another interpretation. The movie that was out a few years ago was good as well, for the "First Four Years". What I REALLY want to see is an essential verbatim movie for each book; with Laura's omitted details. Hollywood is so Sequel Driven these days; did we really need a 'Miss Congeniality 2' or a 'Lion King 1 1/2' (or 2 for that matter)OR how about those 'Friday the 13th' movies (they're on like #27 now aren't they?. I waited over 20 years for the LOTR series to be done right...I guess I can wait for a Little House Series of movies...