Warning: contains a couple of spoilers if you haven't seen the movies yet.
In Love's Unending Legacy, Missie (Erin Cottrell) and Mattie (Brett Coker) return home to be near her parents after the death of her husband Willie. When the orphan train stops in town, Missie takes in Belinda Marshall (Holliston Coleman). However, she finds the girl resents her, much like she resented Marty (now played by Samantha Smith) coming to live with her and her father Clark (Dale Midkiff) many years ago. What she doesn't know is that Belinda has a secret. When Belinda runs away, Missie needs the help of Sheriff Zach Tyler (Victor Browne). And though she struggles with feeling like she is betraying Willie, Missie is falling in love with Zach.
Since the earlier movies eliminated some of the characters found in the books, the movie storyline of Love's Unending Legacy is a total departure from the book of the same title. Using plot points that have worked well in the past--death of a spouse, adoption, and main character romance--this movie is beautifully told. Cottrell plays well the role of a grieving widow struggling with wanting to be happy, but feeling like she is betraying her first husband. Marty and Clark are there to be supportive and to help her as she learns to navigate her new life back home as a single mother. Zach is an excellent new character with a backstory that comes to light as he grows closer to Missie.
In the book series, Belinda, who will be the main character of the next two books and movies, is Marty and Clark's youngest daughter. Because we don't even see Aaron and Arnie Davis in the Love's Unending Legacy movie, it appears there was a desire to shift Marty and Clark to the wise grandparent role. Again, I feel the loss of Katherine Heigl is keenly felt. Marty's lines are delivered without the emotion we are used to seeing from this character. While Clark seems ageless and involved, Marty seems old and uninterested.
The other thing that aggravated me about this movie is that Missie's son Jeff isn't spoken about at all. Based upon the date on the cross over Willie's grave, only a year or so has passed since the events in the last movie. So, Jeff might no longer be a minor, but shouldn't his name at least come up? He's not visible in the ranch scene at the opening of the movie, either, so the viewer just has to assume either he and Colette Doros got married and moved away or Jeff left after Willie died, which would be uncharacteristic for him. He would never abandon Missie and Mattie.
The unfolding love story between Zach and Missie along with Belinda's adoption story are what the focus of Love's Unending Journey clearly is, but it's unfortunate other family members were eliminated to accomplish that end. Michael Landon Jr. is not listed as a writer or director for this movie, however he is listed as a co-executive producer. I don't know if that played into some of these changes. While this is still a great movie, I wish Aaron, Arnie, and Jeff were not excluded.
- MPAA rating : Unrated (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.6 x 5.4 x 7.5 inches; 2.4 Ounces
- Item model number : 882192
- Director : Mark Griffiths
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC, Subtitled
- Run time : 1 hour and 24 minutes
- Release date : December 4, 2007
- Actors : Erin Cottrell, Dale Midkiff, Victor Browne, Samantha Smith, Holliston Coleman
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish, French
- Language : English (Dolby TrueHD), Unqualified (DTS ES 6.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Studio : 20th Century Fox
- ASIN : B000W089VA
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