Love's Abiding Joy

:Spoilers:

I was very disappointed in Love's Abiding Joy. I had been waiting a really long time to see it and I finally got the chance when it re-aired Thursday night on Hallmark. I love the first three "Love" movies but this one was nothing like I thought it was going to be. The whole movie was sad and depressing, there were way to many goofs, and the editing was very poor - to many scenes out of context. I also think the death of baby Kathy happened way to soon and Clarks appearance in the movie just didn't seem to fit. It seemed like none of the actors really wanted to be there - they were all lacking emotion. There seemed to be no interaction between Missie and Willie at all.

I think the script writers should have went more by the book. It seems like every movie that's been made so far just slips further and further away from Janette Oke's writings. I mean in the movie they never mentioned a thing about the mine and the two boys or Clark getting hurt because of it. And I think Missie and Willies reactions to Kathy's death could have been shown and heard rather than just heard.

Out of the four movies that have been made so far I'd have to say that Love's Abiding Joy is my least favorite. I hope with the next four movies that more of the book is followed and if Clarks character is in them I hope he's got a bigger part and I hope his part isn't so bland. I also hope there is more of Scottie and Cookie and maybe even Marty but who knows what the script writers will have in store next.

I loved the movie. It is a movie for the whole family to watch. As far as for religion, it was great and did not push one religion. All of these movies were wonderful. So don't listen to any negative comments. My family liked from the very first and looking for the writier to produce more for us to purchase. I would like to see more of the family in the movie get together, or for the parents to see their grandchildren. To also see the parents sons grow up and find their wives to marry and continue to make the family grow. The way the father Clark spoke to them and the way his gentle ways with the family was great. All I know I wanted to watch more.

This is the fourth film in Hallmark's Love Comes Softly pioneer series based on the Janette Oke book series of the same name and probably one of the most difficult to watch as it deals with mental illness.

Missy's father Clark comes to visit the LaHaye ranch for the first time and in the first 24 hours Missy and Willie's baby daughter passes away. This sends Missy in a downward spiral of depression that has her questioning her faith and worrying about her marriage with Willie, who takes a sheriff position to try to help make ends meet. The sheriff's job proves challenging as the town's mayor values money over people. Meanwhile the Mayor's daughter Collette, who is home on break from her finishing school, sets her sights on Missy and Willie's eldest, Jeff who shares her love of books.

This is a wonderful pioneering family drama that leans into the strong faith of it's characters. Times were tough and this story doesn't shy away from telling some of those tough stories.

Again this was one of the hardest to watch in the series and had a heavy message around usury. I think if you are a fan of the series you will enjoy this film, but be prepared for the difficult content.

I got to go to a pre-release screening of "Love's Abiding Joy." I've read all of the books in the series and I have seen the other three movies, so I was excited when I was invited to go see it.

The story was really, really different from the book. I was expecting it to follow the book, but that was disappointing. There were a bunch of stories intermixed about Missy, Willy and their adopted son Jeff.

The acting was pretty good. Personally I liked January Jones better as Missy than the girl that plays her in this one and in Love's Long Journey. I was really glad that Logan Bartholomew returned as Willy- I know that a lot of people were worried that he wouldn't come back.

The music was a little better. A lot of the same themes as the other three movies, but there was a new theme that I liked a lot.

I hope that the next four movies (if they make them) follow the story better than this one did.

Overall this was okay. I did get kind of bored, and it was really sad.

I'm concerned that the morality of the film series is gradually slipping away. In Love Comes Softly, the wedding ring was frequently displayed, and there was an incredible sweetness to the presentation of sound values. In this movie, when the evil Doros takes a neighbor for everything he has, the victim replies that he used to be a good preacher, but he isn't anymore. As in, he's gonna deal with Doros violently if necessary. And there's the overwhelming sense that we're supposed to cheer at that. We're supposed to cheer that he's not the good preacher. And that he plans on using violence to solve his problems. Moreoever, the young unmarried couple (Sonny's younger brother and Doros's daughter) take off into the darkness together. That kind of thing wasn't in the first movie. The low-cut dresses on her. This movie uses the fact that the father was evil to encourage us to cheer when his daughter defies him and tells her young forbidden lover that she's been driving her father nuts since she was old enough to tell him what dress she wanted to wear. And it's the *evil* father that wants to send his daughter to a Christian boarding school. The context of his character is supposed to make us ashamed for thinking that's wise. So here, Christian values are couched in an incredibly evil man, and so by association we're against the conservative side of him and we're supposed to think it's okay when she wears low-cut dresses and takes off into the night with the neighbor boy. And of course, there's never any implication that we're supposed to be concerned about any of this. I hope this isn't another subtle, gradual departure from values by throwing us a moral bone in the first movie, and then after gaining our trust, leading us where Hollywood wants the Christian community to go. Unless there's a serious return to Christian values in the next movie, I'm done.