Love's Abiding Joy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
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Based on the novel by Janette Oke, grandparents Clark and Marty are reunited with their daughter and her family. Their hope and faith are tested, however, by an unforeseen tragedy.

Well, my wife liked it. The forth in the "Love Comes Softly" series, which are based on a series of Christian novels by Janette Oke, Love's Abiding Joy is a hokey and stilted tale of the Western frontier as told by a bunch of goody-goodies who have no clue on how to do anything wrong.

Although wholesome and simple in its storytelling, the central characters are on such a pedestal of virtue that it's impossible to relate to them in any way. The story revolves around several subplots that fit together nicely but none are gripping.

Heavy in talk, much of the dialogue sounds like it's coming from a script rather than the heart. This results in the characters feeling even less like real people. Overall the film is safe for family viewing and the cinematography is nice, but there's no other reason in my opinion to seek it out. Granted, I haven't seen the other films in the series, but there was nothing here that made me want to.

Video: How's it look?
This DVD includes both widescreen (1.78:1 aspect ratio) and full screen formats. The transfer is void of any significant dirt and wear, however the picture looks a little on the drab side.

Audio: How's it sound?
Audio is in Dolby 2.0, which makes it nothing to call home about considering how recently the film was made.

Extras: What additional goodies are included?

• Hallmark Channel promo, which is pretty useless considering the channel isn't available in Western Canada.
• Fox Family movies trailer.
• English and Spanish subtitles.

Closing Thoughts
Love's Abiding Joy is a ho-hum film. The DVD is sparse at best. There's some people like my wife who will appreciate the film for its simple charms but, unfortunately, I'm not one of them.


Review brought to you by our friend Ryan @ Movie-Views.com