I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Brilliant and touching

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This could have been an AMAZING movie, using the real life of Laura to show that sometimes, even when you are a good, hard-working human being, life can still get you down. I've done a lot of research on Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder and I know their life was FAR from easy. So I was very excited to hear that this movie was coming out.And then I watched it.I can't even describe how mad I was. Right off the bat -- Laura did not have BLONDE HAIR. MARY had blonde hair and Laura had brown hair and that was part of Laura's characterization--from the childhood fights with Mary over who had the prettier hair to the ribbons they were allowed to wear on their braids to Laura gradually accepting that her hair was pretty in its own way. It's the pattern of many typical teen-aged girls, which helped readers relate to her. It's a huge part of who she is. If this were not a revered historical figure, obviously hair color would not matter. Couldn't they have at least dyed it? Geeze Louise!The acting was also pretty sub-par. I don't think Meredith Monroe was right for the part at all. When Laura was a child she was a bit mischievous and tomboyish, but as she grew up she matured and settled down. Monroe couldn't effectively capture that -- the spirit of a tomboy with a naughty streak encased in a (relatively) proper young lady. Laura was not a wild woman by any account, and though she usually spoke her mind, she didn't really defy social conventions of the time period in drastic ways. Monroe was too contemporary, for a movie that claimed to be historically accurate. She may be a good actress in other respects, but not in this movie.It was done sloppily all around. The way the Bouchies treated Laura, her courtship with Almanzo who was 10 years her senior, her feelings about teaching, the birth of her daughter and the loss of her son were all excellent chances to showcase that Laura's life at times could be pretty extraordinary. I gave it 2 stars because I liked the way they didn't skirt around Laura and Almanzo's relationship--I was always curious as to how their dynamic was, and the romance in the books was downplayed for children's sake. But the actors were just wrong, so the effect was not good.

The Little House on the Prairie series is much more entertaining and well-done! Merideth Monroe, who played Laura, was too modern and independent. That guyish hat she wore was annoying! The most obvious and disappointing thing, though, was that the family seemed distant to each other most of the time, more like mismatched cardboard stage props pretending to go together. The actor who played Pa did pretty well in the situation, but he still seemed too gruff, and Ma seemed way too cold! I'd rather see the Little House on the Prairie series any day!

As an avid Laura Ingalls Wilder fan for many years, I really looked forward to this "true story". Within minutes I was deflated. While some of the performances were good, I could not believe how the writers took license with the real facts; it makes one wonder if they ever read any of Laura's books.Setting the tone for the distortion was the incident depicting Pa and Laura coming across a house under construction where Laura finds an envelope marked "Almanzo" in the pocket of a man's coat and proceeds to dreamily repeat his name. This incident was not only schmaltzy, but totally fictional. In "The Long Winter," Laura describes her first encounter with Almanzo, but does not mention him by name. She was 14 (he was 10 years her senior) when she and Carrie became lost in the Big Slough and accidentally stumbled into his hayfield. Later in the same book Laura describes the horrid blizzard season and tells of Almanzo's and Cap Garland's brave quest for the wheat; however, the depiction of the exchange of romantic looks between them upon his return is again inaccurate. Almanzo did not seriously show an interest in her for another couple of years, which she describes in "Little Town on the Prairie" and "These Happy Golden Years."I also had a problem with Laura being presented as a blonde. Throughout her books she mentions her envy of her sister Mary's beautiful golden hair while disparaging her own plain brown locks. Yet the producers chose to make Mary a redhead in addition to changing Laura's hair. While on the subject of hair, I doubt that Laura went around most of the time with her hair hanging loose and unkempt. While she was inwardly in many ways a free spirit, she still adhered to the way young ladies were expected to appear in that era; in fact, she describes in her books the painstaking efforts to use the curling iron and cutting bangs to make her appear more stylish.It was also disappointing that the makers of this film did not focus on the uniqueness of the relationships among the entire Ingalls family, which again Laura described so lovingly. Instead they chose to depict a sharp altercation between Ma and Pa about moving West again. The writers should have placed more emphasis on the closeness between Laura and Mary, especially after Mary became blind, and also on how well Mary did after attending a college for the blind; she, too, was a special person.If the producers of this film had enough respect for Laura to want to tell her story, then they should have respected what she wrote. Their choosing not to do so smacks of commercialism. Perhaps they could not believe that such good (though not "goody goodies") people actually existed and that the viewers would not care to watch. Then why bother?

The 1970's TV series was more accurate than this sensationalized, shallow version of Laura's life. Whoever greenlighted it should at least have titled it "Beyond Dawson's Prairie: The Completely Inaccurate Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder Which will Make You Wish Richard Thomas had Stayed on Walton's Mountain".