Tyler Doherty (Tanner Maguire) is an eight-year-old boy suffering from brain cancer. In order to cope with his illness, he frequently writes letters addressed to God, mailing them and hoping he receives his transcribed prayers to relieve him and his parents from his sickness. The challenge for the mailman is what exactly to do with the letters. The mailman, in this case, is Brady McDaniels (Jeffrey Johnson), an alcoholic who replaces Tyler's once-loyal mailman. Right off the bat, you have your case studies for a wholesome, family-friendly Christian film.The wholesome film in question is Letters to God, which takes two real-life, relatable stories and degrades them with the kind of weepy, melodramatic screen writing that feels less like an emotional experience and more like a forceful extraction of tears from your tearducts. We weave in and out of each character's story, following Tyler's daily struggle of assimilating back into school after a two month absence and his relationship with a young, pretty girl named Samantha Perryfield (Bailee Madison) develop. Madison works to steal every scene she's in, with her ample amounts of energy, her illuminating smile, and her ability to add the most passable emotional leverage to a film already soaked to the marrow in dreary simplification and cheap, emotional manipulation.Letters to God caters to the demographic I've long wrote about when discussing contemporary Christian cinema, which is the kind of people that seek out these films and will love them no matter how abysmal the story, how incredulous the situational drama, or how ridiculous the dialog. They want to see their faith personified on screen by people they view are as wholesome as they are, and it doesn't matter whether or not there's a sole convincing scene in the film. As long as the film namedrops God and Jesus, has some scenes that involve prayer, and continue to abide by a god-fearing playbook, the core audience will be satisfied and the film will be classifiable as a sleeper hit, with more of its kind turning up as the years go on.The film, however, manages to offer slightly more interesting family drama than the genre is used to seeing. Consider Tyler's brother, played by Michael Bolten (take note of the spelling of the last name before you jump to conclusions), who is sick of watching his mother (Robyn Lively) continuously stress about how Tyler's condition, to the point where neither her nor anyone else living under the same roof can enjoy their own anymore. A scene occurs later in the film that shows the character frustrated, venting about how he wishes life can go back to the way it was, without all the talk about MRIs and nervous, late-night trips to the hospital. Scenes like this one can appreciate because they are unexpected and break from the tiresome playbook of Christian-filmmaking in the regard that they provide us with some realistic scenarios. Not to mention, it's one of the only moments in the film where God isn't given a shoutout at least once every sentence.Reading this review, you may think I loathe Christian cinema and detest every product it has produced in recent years. This couldn't be further from the truth. I am always intrigued by the genre, making an effort to watch many of its films and developing an understanding for its characters and its situations, and often, am surprised in one way or another by what it can do with what little budget it has. Letters to God, however, isn't interested in creating a story that predicates itself off of acting and scenarios one can find themselves invested in. It cares about cheapening the gospel and milking it for all the sentimentality its worth. The core audience at hand deserves much better than what this film can give them.Starring: Tanner Maguire, Jeffrey Johnson, Robyn Lively, Bailee Madison, and Michael Bolten. Directed by: David Nixon and Patrick Doughtie.

The movie was OK, not bad nor good. I would give it 3/5. i liked the girl in the beginning tho, soo cute But this review wasn't the reason i came on here, when watching the movie I started thinking about this website I discovered last night. it's called www.lettersfromthemaker.com and it's a site where you can send a letter to anyone around the world and sign it from god (that's why)This is what they say "Help someone get back on their feet with a letter from god! This is the site where you can send a personal written letter to anyone, anywhere, signed by God. If you want to help someone to find the strength to go on, this small gesture might just do it. Help someone help themselves."Crazy stuff hu? anyways here it is again www.lettersfromthemaker.com

My whole family, husband, 13yo daughter, and 10yo son loved the movie. Appreciated the positive message and real life summaries at the end. My son normally likes only action movies, but wanted to buy this one (we watched on Netflix) after the movie was over. A friend of ours has a young son battling cancer - this story was more personal to us as a result. Considering the budget for the movie, it was well-acted, great script, riveting. While the movie had a Christian message, it is based on a true story about the life of a Christian boy and how he impacted others. Regarding the negative reviews because of the Christian content, I wish there was similar outrage over foul language and the pervasive sexuality in nearly every movie that comes out of Hollywood. I was hesitant to watch this movie because of the low reviews, but my daughter's friends had seen it and said it was good, so I agreed to watch it. So glad I did. Will recommend to everyone - just make sure to have a tissue box nearby - it is a tear jerker throughout.

A friend of mine recommended this movie to me. I am usually a bit skeptical when it comes to Christian movies (although I am a devout Christian), because I rarely actually like what they put on the screen (maybe because of low budget also, that would be my guess). Despite all, I ENJOYED this movie a lot! I would recommend it to anyone who needs a wake up call, that life isn't all about fun, all about fame and all about money. It goes beyond.... it's about relationships, family and most important, your eternity. It's based on true story, which is cool! To know that the love of a young child for God actually made a difference! All I can say is Praise God! I wish I had Tylor's faith when facing such a giant as his sickness.