alancmiller Like a lot of fellows, I became a fan of Minka Kelly when she played a high school cheer leader on the TV series Friday Night Lights. The good news is that she is just as convincing and attractive in this film, and the story line is something that the whole family will enjoy. In fact, the quality of the acting, and the great production values combine to make this one of Hallmark's best productions. Jason Lee plays the widowed father of three with just the right blend of manly resolve tempered by personal loss, and the knowledge that his children really need a mother. His youngest child, "Frankie" is played to perfection by ten-year-old Maggie Elizabeth Jones, and his son "Kyle" played by Jaren Lewison is very good in a lesser role. My only quibble with this film is its confusing geography, which traces an established migratory bird flyway south from Cheney, Washington to Wallowa Lake in north-eastern Oregon, but was mostly filmed in Alberta, Canada.

boblipton This Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation is about an ornithologist (Minka Kelly), a farmer and his three children, who clash over swan's eggs and then bond over the swans. Ms. Kelly starts out as a variant of the Hallmark romcom heroine; she brittlely concentrates on bird to the the exclusion of dealing with human beings, is a vegetarian who initially refuses a bonding moment over sloppy joes. When, however, she starts to scream at Jason Lee because he is having work done on his farm, work that might disturbs her swans, she is won over because he is having power lines buried so the swans won't kill themselves on high wires. She even relaxes to the extent of eating a corn dog at a county fair.However, when the swans migrate, so does she and it is up to Mr. Lee's swan-crazy daughter, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, to bring them back together.So far it sounds like a typical Hallmark romcom. Looking at it, however, one is struck by the greater production values, the better camera-work and the superior acting of Jason Lee. These serve to make this a very watchable variation on the genre.There's still the intrusive score, insisting on how you should feel about each shot.