there is no way you can "honestly" compare a 70 minute movie to a TV show that ran for 9 years
but....................
it was pretty generic
the characters / actors were likeable enough
the kid that played John Boy did a pretty good job , but the girl that played Mary Ellen was off , but that might have to do with the writing , more then her acting
the woman that played the mom did a good job , although , very different then Patricia Neal
the rest of the cast was pretty forgettable , so I still don't under stand why they didn't include Ben , it's not like any of the other kids had much to do , so one more wouldn't have made any difference
no real hint of the depression , John Boys bedroom , is like a penthouse suite , with his own fireplace
it did seem like the Waltons didn't even own a car , the car we see in that picture actually belonged to the Baldwin sisters, although they weren't in it a whole lot , I thought the two ladies that played the Baldwin sisters did a good job
in the original movie , we don't meet the father till the very end , but in this new version , we see him off and on throughout the movie , several times
seeing the father off and on throughout the movie , took away any suspense if he would make it home or not
no real sense of the depression , as everything was pretty much shinny and new , a couple glossed over references of how much something costs , or we cant afford it , but it goes by pretty much unnoticed
one thing that always bugs me about movies made like this
is that it's suppose to be winter , but you can clearly tell it was filmed somewhere warmed , and the snow was CGI later , there is one scene where they are walking out of a cemetery and it's starting to snow pretty good , and not one of them even turns their face away from the snow , you can easily tell there was no snow when they filmed that , and the coats they were , way to light for being outside in any kind of weather
so I looked it up to see where it was filmed , it was filmed in Georgia , in the middle of Summer , they didn't fool me for a second ,
over all , I didn't hate it , it was a family friendly / faith movie , could have easily been on the Hallmark Channel , they pretty much glossed over what it was really like living in the 1930's
it was a likable enough film , just NOT the Waltons
if you watch it , it probably won't ruin anything for
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2021 06:00PM by IowaRam.