Love's Christmas Journey

This movie, although I am sure was made with good intentions, turned out to be a huge fail. With a great storyline.. and what could have been a wonderful cast, the acting, and direction turned out to be an epic failure. I find it hard to believe that the director was... satisfied with the portrayal or the characters. I found the Christian values worth while, and the "message" had a target of going directly to heart but, with the poor delivery, and acting.. the movie bored me to sleep. It was all I could do to force myself to stay awake. I always feel badly about writing a low review however, in this case... someone had too. I will not hold this movie against the past movies..

It's way too long at 171 minutes run time. The result is a lot of silly plot lines. It does, however, close out the last half hour or so with a decent and uplifting story, even if it's a little sappy.

I really wanted this movie to be more about Ellie's loss. They show the same footage twice in the first half hour or so and then they seem to forget that story until it pops up briefly again much later and disappears again.

As I said, they sprinkle juvenile plot lines in through the middle. There is an armed confrontation that is just plain stupid because a real hero would have pulled the trigger. TV heroes aren't allowed to pull the trigger even when threatened. There are other silly things as well.

Natalie Hall is inconsistent. I think she gets bogged down in the grieving widow in the early parts. I've seen Hall in a lot of things and she can seem at times like she is trying too hard to deliver her lines instead of having them come out naturally and this happens a few times later in the movie.

Greg Vaughan is stiff as Ellie's brother. Dylan Bruce is OK, but the chemistry with Hall is mild.

The villains might as well be cardboard, especially Weaver.

The rest of the acting is mixed. JoBeth Williams and Ernest Borgnine are probably the best of the lot with just about everyone else being only fair.

Christmas only peeks out of the shadows for 2/3rds of the movie or so, but then becomes the focus at the end.

I think the thing about these movies that a lot of the negative reviewers miss is that they're for people who believe in God in general and, in this instance, Christmas in particular.

Don't like either of those? Then you're going to loathe this movie. It's a Hallmark movie so anyone wanting gritty realism and hard hitting drama is obviously looking in the wrong place from the get go. But, for those of us more open to just being entertained, these films - there's a whole series of them - are pretty good. Yes, they're completely sentimental and schmaltzy, and do have a liberal sprinkling of religious moments, but that's what the series is about. In this movie's defense if you can't have schmaltz, sentimentality and religion at Christmas when *can* you have it? Personally I just suspend my disbelief for the duration; turn my central heating off, put the real fire on, hunker down with a hot chocolate and cookies and let myself be swamped in Hallmark endings for a while. At a time when the real world seems to be imploding under a tidal wave of doomsday preppers, financial Armageddon and global unrest then this is a pleasant escape for a moment. Let's face it, the real world will still be there when the credits roll, so why not go AWOL for a mere 2 hours? I won't tell on you, promise.

As far as I'm concerned I hope Hallmark Channel continues to turn Janette Oke Books into Movies! I only pray the Love Saga would go on for eternity..... These movies are Warm and Heartfelt, much like Little House on the Prairie. *Michael Landon Jr. directs a few of the episodes and beautifully. Although I do agree that some times the the acting/directing in a couple of the episodes (Love Takes Wing and Love Finds a Home) might be a tad sub par, but the message is still there and that's what matters to me. A majority of the episodes are well acted as well as executed. Much like Little House on the Prairie which I also love. *Michael Landon Jr. directs a few of the episodes and beautifully I might add. I will continue to watch till the end of time!!!!!! No matter how it's been Directed, Produced, Acted and even if it's Cheesy or Not! Janette Oke represents 'LOVE' Beautifully and Eloquently and that's what I count on and it warms my heart. :)

While I am a Catholic I am not into Christian movies even tho I watch them when I have the chance only for the cast members. And since LOVE'S CHRISTMAS JOURNEY has at least two actors I really like and it's available on Youtube, I knew that some day I would have seen it despite I haven't seen the previous chapters.

Ellie King and Aaron Davis are two young adults that go in a Western town for starting a new life with their children and Aaron finds a new job thanks to Mayor Wayne (Sean Astin) and during their time there they'll have to deal with some outlaws that hate Wayne because he arrested them when he was the Sheriff and also with preparations for Christmas.

I agree that while 2 hours and 46 minutes are too much for a TV movie and I would have appreciated if it was trimmed. But as it is, it's great entertainment and nothing more, nothing else. The performances by all the cast members were great, and I especially liked Astin and Ernest Borgnine's performances. And the ending too was great, with the Christmas party and all the lights.

Overall, a must see for fans of Christian movies and for everyone else, good entertainment that it's available on Youtube if you want to give it a try.