Yes... the real John Boy (Richard Thomas) is back and just as good as ever and was happy he played his original John Boy role, and finally getting married. Was nice to see Jason (Jon Walmsley) and Toni finally got married and had 3 boys and 2 girls, quite a surprise. This movie is a followup to the 9 seasons and was surprised to see the Baldwin sisters still acting and loved seeing grandma (Ellen Corby) again. It was sad not to see grandpa (Will Geer died) and hear grandma say, "you old fool!" This always made me laugh as you could tell he loved her saying it. This is the kind of family I would have loved to grow up in and the place I would have loved to live. I always wanted a house just like the Walton's with the same wrap around porch. It would be nice to see/have a newer reunion movie where now the kids are the grandparents and John (Ralph Waite) and Olivia (Michael Learned) are now the doting great grandparents, taking the place of grandma (Ellen Corby) and grandpa (Will Geer). This reunion movie brought back the memories of the 9 seasons and happily the original actors. If you loved watching the Waltons as much as I did/do, you will love this reunion movie. It does however, leave you hanging as to what happened to Rose, Serena and Jeffrey and when and where they all moved off to. I did prefer the original Ashley Longworth, Jr. to the actor who portrayed him in the reunion movie. and also the original Amy Godsey who had a cuter way about her but.... all in all it's a movie worth buying and watching over and over again.
I have the entire Walton series and have watched them quite a few times. I was only missing the pilot. The only characters who remained the same throughout the entire series (except for John Boy's replacement in the end) were the children. The producers made a good choice with the actors for the remaining series after the pilot. Although I have nothing against the original actors in the pilot, the ones chosen for the series felt more like you were living with them on a day to day basis. For anyone who has the Walton series, I would reccomend the pilot to complete the set.
I was very excited to get this movie and when I sat down to watch it I was really enjoying it until I realized that the disc only contained half of the movie.