Movie Review: Signed, Sealed, Delivered - To the Moon and Back

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Characters we love in another fun, uplifting movie

Cons: All cons left on the moon

The Bottom Line:

Given vague letter

Trail leads through a pop singer

Love these characters

“Don’t Forget to Take a YooHoo for the Road.”

I finally made it.  I’ve caught up on the Signed, Sealed, Delivered franchise.  (Of course, if I’d watched a little more consistently from when I first started, I would have been caught up a while ago, but we won’t go there.)  The newest in Hallmark’s long running movie series is To the Moon and Back, and it’s another winner.

We connect with our main characters are they are getting together for a celebratory brunch on a Saturday.  Both couples have big news to share.  To the surprise of none of the fans, both Shane (Kristin Booth) and Rita (Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe) are pregnant.  (And the fans are thrilled.  Or at least this one is.)  The celebration all around is cut short when they are given a letter that was found in the restaurant where they are celebrating.  There are no names and only part of an address.  But a reference to a song makes them look at a singer who is putting on a performance in Las Vegas soon.

So Norman (Geoff Gustafson) suggests a road trip in the motorhome again.  Meanwhile, Oliver (Eric Mabius) is dealing with his impending fatherhood by contemplating his relationship with his father (Gregory Harrison) and the birth father he never met.

Will the pop star be able to help them find the writer of the letter?  Why is it so vague?

I will say, my initial guess as to why the letter writer was so vague was wrong.  The reason made sense when we learned it, and that story reaches a bittersweet conclusion.  It was the right conclusion.  I would have loved to know a little more about what happened next to the characters, but I appreciated how everyone handled things.  And I loved that the movie went out of the way to add some sweet to the ending for the characters.

As for the main characters, it is always wonderful to check in with them and see the next chapter of their lives.  Oliver really gets a chance to shine in this one.  He and his father have several great scenes, but there is a one particular long scene of just the two of them that is powerful.

Speaking of powerful, there’s also the theme of second chances.  Granted, that’s been a theme of the series as a whole, but it really hits here.  And it’s important to remember that one moment or one decision doesn’t define a person’s life.  Yes, there are still consequences, but it isn’t the last word in that person’s life.

There are some signs that this might be the final movie in the series.  None others have been produced at this point at a minimum.  If the series were to end here, it would have gone out on a high note.  Having said that, I am so invested in these characters lives, I want to know what happens to them next.  And we've had some multi-year breaks between movies in the past, so anything is still possible.  Which is kind of the theme of the franchise.

Fans who have traveled this road with Oliver, Shane, Norman, and Rita will happily join them To the Moon and Back.  This movie once again delivers the heartfelt encouragement we’ve come to know and treasure.