Love Unleashed

source: Love Unleashed

For a Sunday afternoon, it's just fine, given kids are likely to be around. Kind of a Disney, straight to video level. As for the lead actress being "noticeably" pregnant, no. She looks about 4 months. Descriptions here make it sound like she is heavily pregnant and she is actually barely showing. It is mostly covered up with big t-shirts and gathered blouses. Really, why are actresses expected to be stick thin anyway? Congratulations to her for having a girl and adopting two boys after an earlier miscarriage! Celebrate, don't criticize.

Christopher Russell as Ryan Hill and Jen Lilley as Hailey Goode did a credible job in the movie. What's not to like about Christopher Russell, good looking, heart-stopping smile, good actor. Jen Lilley is sweet, very pretty, and obviously pregnant in some scenes. But after a couple scenes I hardly noticed it anymore. Bailey Skodje as Emmy Hill was adorable and a fairly good actress. Puppies were cute and cuddly, clearly type cast. But please, people, learn to hold puppies, grasping them around the middle and letting them dangle in your arms is just not comfortable or safe for the puppies. All in all it's a very sweet, predictable HM film. No surprises. A better script would have been nice, I pitied the actors in some of the scenes and they were trying so hard to make it work with a mediocre script. Question - in one scene Ryan says that his daughter would go binoculars if she knew he was with the puppies without her, What does that even mean??? My Advice: It's watchable and worth the 80 some minutes.

Is it just me but Jen is really, really hard to understand when she talks. She talks fast and so low that I have to increase the volume each time. The puppies are cute though. They are the reason I kept watching. The leads have zero chemistry. What a waste!

A Hallmark formula: a single woman meets a widowed man with a young daughter, and the daughter immediately likes the woman. The single woman's best friend encourages the woman to go after the man. But wait! There's a complication that must be overcome before the man and woman can finally fall in love! Where have I seen this movie before? Did I spoil the movie by describing it in full? No. It is a common theme on Hallmark movies. The last thing anyone wants to see there is something original. Oh, and for robsuey, the plural of "puppy" is "puppies", and the word is "lose" not "loose". Sorry, but that kind of bad English bothers me.

This looks like every other Hallmark "love" movie. I read with interest another review that says they wish Hallmark would release some of it's good movies into theaters. True, but Hallmark has not had any good movies in years. The original Hallmark Hall of Fame movies were wonderful. The current ones are just rehashes of their standard "love" movies. Maybe if they made fewer movies they could pay their actors enough so they could buy razor blades. The lead actors they use these days look like the homeless men I see in the urban areas of town. Now there is an idea, make a movie about a homeless family instead of a rich one.

As an avid Hallmark viewer, these get more painful to watch. Anyone could be a writer for these shows. Dead relative? ✔ Single parent? ✔ Horrible dialog? ✔ The worst of this movie.....he actually says, "She would go binoculars over it!" Kids go "binoculars "? The he says "Did my 8 yr old just use hashtag in a sentance?" Really? You just used the word binoculars to describe excitement. 😒

Hallmark did have some above average and more films in 2019, as well as some misfires, in all their seasonal blocks. Jen Lilley and Christopher Russell have always been hit and miss for me, particularly Lilley who has had her fair share of poorly written roles. The premise didn't really sound all that interesting or innovative, but there are films that don't sound great on paper but turn out better than expected. Anything with puppies is also worth watching. As far as 2019 Hallmark goes, 'Love Unleashed' is not one of the worst (like 'Christmas Scavenger Hunt' or 'Christmas at Dollywood'). Nowhere near, and actually it could have been a lot worse than it turned out. It is also not one of the best of the batch either, it's no for example 'Love and Sunshine'. The premise was nothing special, the execution of it was pretty much the same. There are good things in 'Love Unleashed' but also some bad. Making for an average effort. Shall start with the good. Russell was naturally easy going and subtly charming, not as introverted as he can be. The supporting cast are more than competent and show a good deal of personality, even though their roles are little more than typical Hallmark cliches. The puppies are absolutely adorable and steal every scene they are in. The scenery and overall production values are lovely to watch too while the music is pleasant enough. 'Love Unleashed' however is significantly weakened by the story, which not only is predictable from sticking too close to a well worn and borderline tired formula it is also very slight (at times even uneventful) and too slow moving. Also thought that the film played it too safe and didn't do anything distinctive or any risk taking, the lack of tension, the too convenient ending and the contrived conflict can also be seen. The script can sound quite awkward and cheesy as well as too sentimental. Was rather mixed on Lilley. She has moments where she is charming and radiant, but there are also times where she seemed to be trying too hard when her character is not particularly easy to warm to. She and Russell don't have enough chemistry together, it has its moments once it warms up but somehow it felt underdeveloped and too careful. The characters are not ones that one hates, but development wise there is little to them. In conclusion, pretty mixed here. 5/10.

Puppy's! It was a cute story line that we've seen a million times on Hallmark...Light, and very little crisis. Handsome bachelor dad of one daughter dates for first time after loosing wife to cancer 5 years prior. In comes the puppy party lady! And notice how all the up for adoption puppy's are all beautiful pure breds??? Hee Hee

There are several reviews here that mention Jen Lilley's pregnancy as a distraction. Yes, they could have done a better job of covering it up, as has been done with other actresses in other movies. But maybe they did not want to . My research found that Jen Lilley and her husband have been desperately wanting a child for years. They were unsuccessful for years and have recently turned to adoption. But now she is finally pregnant. So I, for one, celebrate this pregnancy with she and her husband. My wife and I had the same problem, though not as long. We also adopted a little boy and finally had a little girl the hard way. Our son and daughter dearly loved each other, 7 years apart, until the day he died a few years ago. I wish them success this time and hope they cherish the time with their children as much as we did. Now lets get to the real distraction, the unkept male lead. I stand by my last review. But does anyone else think that if they ever do a movie about Christopher Reeve, Christoper Russel should get the part, if he shaves?