I was spoon-fed generous portions of Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was a child. It was good to see "The Long Winter" finally make it onto film. But the romantic stuff shown after Laura and Almanzo got married? Gee, I don't remember that from "These Happy Golden Years" or "The First Four Years"! I thought the hailstorm was realistic. When the house burned down, it was a hot summer day as I recall. This movie says the fire was caused by a hay tie in the winter time. I see on IMDb that other people found other stuff wrong. I don't really have a problem with the casting, but I never thought about it. I agree that the TV series took great liberties with Laura Ingalls Wilder's material. The way I see it, the discrepancies could have been so easily avoided that the makers were stupid not to just make this movie right.

that's about the biggest lie since the pope ain't Catholic. I was really excited when I heard that they would be doing a movie about her life. I've read all of her books and biographies on her to boot, but the stupid producers of this movie have totally made a mockery of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life. First off, Pa was way too crass. I mean, it wasn't even on for 7 minutes and he was swearing in front of his daughters like a modern day jerk. And they made Laura out to be some ditzy blonde who was romantiscizing over Almonzo. Who's Patsy? Whatever happened to Nellie? That seems like one of the easiest details to keep in the script. And Ma was way too cold and unloving towards her family. This was a terrible adaption of a wonderful series of books. (Even the TV show was better than this garbage.)

Okay, this movie was absolutely horrible. I am a very loyal Laura Ingalls Wilder fan and I have read biographies about her and believe me almost NONE of this was factual. First off, Laura Ingalls Wilder was an obvious brunette and it was pointed out in almost every book. Even though she did not like some of the customs of ladies, she still followed those customs. Like, she even put her hair up! Plus, she was no where near ditzy. She was smart and sincere and very honest. Honestly, if I was going to make a movie based on this wonderful woman's life, I would be as loyal to it as possible! Another thing, Laura and Almanzo lost their second child about a few weeks after he was born, he was not stillborn. Furthermore, she did not have a passion for writing until she was much older. And the girls who played Laura's sisters were underplayed and her parents were not loveable like they were in the book. Laura did not truly love Almanzo Wilder until they became engaged actually. She liked him and admired him but she did not actually love him until they were engaged. Obviously the makers of this movie took some creative liberties with this movie, and I did not like them. Don't waste your time seeing this movie.

I caught most of this special on CBS this weekend. Boy was I disappointed. I expected to see a good, educational following of LIW's life. What I got was garbage. Try as they might, modern producers are just not going to replace The "Little House" TV series.Save yourself some time and watch TBS in the mornings. Or better yet, read the books.