Love's Unending Legacy

As one-dimensional as the characters are, the acting is at least competent. You find yourself liking (or hating, BOO, BOO) them, but a bigger problem is that there are absolutely no surprises in this film. It's like watching a movie for the second time, it's so predictable. Other times, it's clear that this film has more in common with melodrama than drama, as when suddenly (out of nowhere) Missie loses the locket her mother gave her. She's just teaching, not mountain climbing! It seemed just an excuse to throw some fake panic into the mix. There are some unanswered questions, too, that will remain unanswered unless you read the books, because each volume leaps forward in time.

The best musical scores aren't even noticeable, so when this one stands out it's yet another reminder that Hallmark is trying to make us all teary-eyed. There's way too much weepy and sentimental music behind way too many weepy and sentimental moments for my taste.

Video:
This one is in 1.78:1 widescreen. The picture quality is sharp but not so sharp that it's incompatible with the softness of theme. Colors are decent, and edge detail is good for a DVD. There's still graininess, to be sure, but not so much that it intrudes on the movie experience.

Audio:
Nothing special here--just a Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, with subtitles in English and Spanish. There's not much in the way of sound effects, so that's not much of a problem. It's just dialogue and that sentimental background music.

Extras:
There are no extras. What might there be? A video of Janette Oke trying to talk about the film without losing her temper?

Bottom Line:
It's not an awful movie. It's just that "Love's Unending Legacy" is so formulaic that however well-acted, however sweet it might be, it's like one of those pony rides at carnivals. Just once, you want the shaggy little thing to break free and take you in a different direction.

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