Irishchatter I honestly loved that they included two stories in this film. Maggie Grace and Poppy Drayton were splendid as their characters Aunt Elizabeth and young Elizabeth. They really do lookalike, you could see that the shape of their noses, voices, looks and the color of their eyes look similar. I honestly thought it was just one actress playing the two ladies but it doesn't matter, this was the best underrated film they have ever done!I was so mad to know at the very end, we didn't see if young Elizabeths lover was gonna get killed by the bandits who held them at gunpoint and stole their money. I normally don't say this when it comes to long movies as I hate when movies drag on but I think this movie however, needed to be longer. The reason being is the story seemed too short for one hour and 28 minutes. If it was one hour and probably 15 minutes more, then it would end the story probably. That was only one complaint, the rest was great. Superb acting, actors, costumes and the whole lot!

Reno Rangan I chose this after watching Jannete Oke's 'Love Comes Softly' movie series. Surely another sensational work by her, but very disappointing for this being a one-off movie. It was a wonderful western-drama, had an awesome beginning. In fact, it was more cheering and more inspiring than the other movie I mentioned in the first line.I think the author was so fond of telling the western frontier stories that set in the latter half of the 19th century and no doubt that she mastered carving them. But this one takes place in the year 1910 Canada, where a young woman, Elizabeth Thatcher from a wealthy family who aspires to be a school teacher. She's who afraid of her own shadow and never been in the harsh world around her. But she decides to leave her fear behind and take up the challenges in the life. Upon a bet between she and her elder sister, she must prove her capability to tackle any difficulties that come her way while chasing the dream job. But her inspiration comes in a peculiar way and then determines to follow the same footstep.As usual for a small screen movie, most of the cast were unfamiliar. Not that Maggie Grace was the only one to highlight in the movie, but every character and the cast who represented them were so impressive. Music was another great feature. The style of narration was simply acceptable, including a decent cinematography and wonderful locations. The same filmmaker who made the first four films of 'Love Comes Softly' also wrote the screenplay and directed it.The end was so sudden, but the overall movie was very short. I felt it was only the beginning and I am not wrong after all. After the movie I went to look for a sequel, if it had one. But I was very confident, there should be a continuation somewhere and more storytelling to follow. Likewise, I found something interesting that I briefed in the final paragraph."It appears I'm not fit to go west."I am not fond of those products that made specially for the televisions. Only recently I began to explore them and got distracted by the flaws, precisely to say the technical errors are huge. But then after sometimes I understood, for a low budget and the television standards, those are exceptional. I think I am kind of starting to like the Hallmark movies as well the author Jannete Oke's master works.I don't know this story would have impacted largely if it was made as a theatrical feature with a big cast, but I am satisfied highly this so sweet little television film. Now I realised that sometimes small stages can also showcase the great works in a standard to draw the section of its own audience. I know usually the literature lovers would loathe the adaptation like this one, but I'm a movie fanatic and this is the only way to connect with the great literatures.There are eight books in this series called 'Canadian West' series, but the filmmakers decided to turn the rest of the books a television series. Since I loved this film a lot I am planning to watch the series as well. Actually, this one was a pilot movie for the series, so lets see how wonderful they are going to be, but the ratings and reviews are overwhelmingly poured on the movie sites. I'm very eager and we'll meet there in the review if I get a chance to see them. For now I strongly recommend this film for family audiences and also, especially who are looking for the inspiration.9/10

Joziesjewelry 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!

rcr1608 Sometimes when you skim the top off a book to make a movie it can really miss a lot, and/or it can make the story seem overly simple. I'm not sure where the brunette Elizabeth and Edward came from, but adding them really seemed to add depth to the story, and even though it is still technically a simple story you have to pay more attention to keep up. I like both story lines; I hope we get to keep both in the new series coming out in January. I've always liked the original Elizabeth and Wynn from the books, but I also like the Elizabeth and Edward story as well. Since Edward kind of messed up his reputation with Elizabeth, we'll need to see if she gradually gets feelings for him if/when he stays a responsible adult a.k.a. knight in shining armor. I hope we get to keep the best bits from Elizabeth and Wynn's story as well they had quite an adventure together in the books. Just off the top of my head since it's been a while since I got to sit down with the books. When he took her hiking in Banff, brought her a puppy, told her what ?winiwishy? means, took her camping, etc. The original Elizabeth was really mostly done in her head there wasn't a whole lot of interaction between her and Wynn but we don't want to miss any of what there was of it. I really enjoyed this movie like how much I enjoyed the first couple of the Love Comes Softly movies. I hope that since they are able to do the follow up in a series instead of spread out movies over years that the quality on the series will be as good as this kick-off movie is. Debbie Macomber doing her book in series instead of movies really seemed to work well for her; I hope it works well for WCtH also. I think what this movie does is make you want to read the first book again because they kind of skim over Elizabeth and Wynn's story as the new Elizabeth read's her aunts diary while having a story of her own in a cliffhanger style. I can definitely recommend this movie.