Ted 2

The first Ted was a major surprise for me. I thought it looked stupid from the trailers, but when I saw it I couldn't stop laughing. Having been a fan of Family Guy for a long time, I was not sure what to make of Seth MacFarlane's feature film debut. It was a success, so a sequel was bound to happen at some point.

When I first walked into Ted 2, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would it be funnier than the original, or just a waste of time. Well it was actually neither. What it is, though, is a subtle commentary on civil rights.

In the film, Ted (voice by Seth MacFarlane) is seen by the US government as nothing more than a piece of property. With the help of his thunder buddy John (Mark Wahlberg) and a young lawyer named Sam (Amanda Seyfried), Ted goes to court to fight for his rights as a human being. This is the main plot point, but there are a few subplots thrown in, such as finding a sperm donor so Ted and his wife Tami can have a baby, and a return by creepy bear-o-phile Donny (Giovanni Rabisi).

I did not find myself laughing quite as much in this one as with the first. Some of the jokes were a bit predictable this time around, and some even seemed forced. Probably the highlight of the humor is a hysterical cameo which I will not divulge.

Bottom line, it has a good message to it if you like films with a moral, but if you're a fan of Seth MacFarlane who is hoping for nothing but non-stop laughs, then you may be a tad disappointed. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I'd say it's more worth a rental when the time comes. Not really anything to rush to the cinema for.

This film tells the story of a talking teddy bear who sues the government, so that he gets recognised as a human being and get human rights such as marriage and drivers license.

"Ted 2" is a hugely politically incorrect film, with a lot of swearing, sexual and crude humour. It is not usually a type of film I like, but "Ted 2" does have a way to get to my heart. It is sweet and emphasises a lot of love and friendship. Towards the end, the film gets very touching, and it made my eyes well up.

Having a touching plot, together with a funny script makes "Ted 2" very entertaining, way more entertaining than I expected.

Ted 2 now focuses on the titular anthropomorphic teddy bear in, having his own life of marriage and plans ahead of getting a non-biological child. This leads to a strangely interesting conflict about gaining civil rights to a teddy bear. And it's stranger that at some point the movie does take it somewhat seriously, and eventually goes back to its crass hijinks. It's nice, but nothing much compelling in the end, because what obviously overshadows it is definitely the outrageous laughs. But even the degree of laughs suffers the same problem; it's full of energy at first then it awkwardly mutes its lighter tone for its climax. Fans of the first may get the same pleasure that they seek, but there is really nothing special to it, either.

The first half really has the strongest amount of funny moments and also brought some intrigue to the story's center. But the movie apparently cannot decide what exact approach it is generally taking. The outrageous comedy is still everywhere, but whenever it stops by focusing on its themes, it really takes it seriously, like it actually believes that it is saying something important. But the movie hardly earns anything to deserve that attention. It's just shifting from its outrageous nature to a sudden gravity back and forth. Even for a comedy that is actually just fooling around, it stills displays a mind of uncertainty. There is also some bits of attempting to replicate Broadway; with dance numbers and a song. Can't tell if that's one of the movie's way of tripping or the director just wants to show off that he can do a musical. Either way, it rather feels nothing more than a random filler. The movie is also a little too long, the movie hitting the same major problem of the first film by setting up a climax that it's supposed to drive tension. It never felt right for the film, even worse, it's more like a rehash, reintroducing the same villain except it takes place in a different location. It's rather awkward and tedious than effective.

The sentiment doesn't felt convincing enough for the movie's true colors, but then it's all about the humor. And if the humor works, then there is a worthy roar of laughter to get from this film. Predictably raunchy, pot fueled and consists pop culture references; that will certainly be enjoyed if you understand the language of a Seth MacFarlane comedy. It's fun if it really tries to be fun. The performances from its lead actors are still a joy to watch. MacFarlane still manages to put energy to the talking teddy bear and Mark Wahlberg is still committed to fool around as Ted's man child best friend.

Ted 2 doesn't bring the same surprise of the first one, but if you're in for more outrageous laughs from this profane talking teddy bear, then it won't be a problem, as long as you're not expecting too much. The film does try to bring on an important theme, but it's not as effective or as strong as it wanted to be; it does make some interesting arguments, just doesn't have any powerful or at least earned conclusion to it; but hell, who would exactly take that seriously, anyway? Well, no more than the movie itself. It should have been shorter, the storyline should have been tighter, and the third act should have tried harder than repeating its predecessor. Again, it can be really funny, it just suffers handling its ideas better.

If there was a 6.5, I would give it. Because there was a lot to like in this movie. I like Mark Wahlberg. I like the bear. I like Amanda Seyfried. And there were a lot of good laughs in this movie. Good one-liners, and good recurring gags.

However, it just wasn't enough to make up for a horrible plot. The plot is lifted from "Miracle on 43rd Street." But it is not Christmas, Ted is not Santa. Somehow Ted does not rise to the mythical level of Santa, this is not a movie for kids. and the movie falls flat. Markie Mark is same as ever, and I do enjoy him. Kudos to Amanda Seyfried, who tries so hard to make the romance story line work. But I could never get past the fact that I was watching MW and AS and a wise-cracking stuffed bear. Some good laughs? Yes. A good story? Not even close.

In 2012 when Seth Macfarlane's directorial debut was released, I, like many other people enjoyed it a lot. It was a basic film about a man and his senile teddy bear who would just smoke weed, swear a lot and hang out. That premise was enough to get us on board and it worked for a one off feature film. After the box office success it received a sequel was inevitable.. but how could a film with such a premise possibly do anything more to become a franchise? Well not only does Ted 2 ramp up the laughs, it also gives us a surprisingly strong plot and pulls it off well.

The basic premise is that Ted has married Tammi-Lynn from the first film, whereas John has divorced Lori. Following some marital problems, Ted decides to save his marriage with a baby, but in order to do this he has to prove that he is a person and not just property in the eyes of the law. Enter Sam L. Jackson (Amanda Seyfried) and yes as you would expect there are many references to the Hollywood star. I knew Mila Kunis was not coming back for this film and after her performance in the lacklustre 'A million ways to die in the West' i was not expecting Seyfried to be a good replacement, but she fits in with the cast very well. Just like the first film the chemistry between John (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted (Seth Macfarlane) is what makes the comedy work so well, you really believe you are watching two real life friends hang out, rather than Mark Wahlberg and a CGI teddy bear. The plot wasn't what made the first so enjoyable, it was their bond. Amanda Seyfried fits in with these two so well and as a trio they really mesh well together. She brings a lot of laughs to the table and I actually liked her character more than Mila Kunis'.

Whilst the plot is very good and holds up, the third act takes a bit of a plunge and almost copies the last act of the first film completely. Giovanni Risbi reprises his role as Donny and does exactly what he did originally, just for a slightly different reason. The film could have done without this to focus more on the human elements, even though it was hilarious to see Ninja turtle Raphael dance to 'I think we're alone now'. It almost felt like filler to make a longer movie. The small road trip segment to me was great, we got spoofs of both Planes, Trains and Automobiles and a great Jurassic Park spoof in the space of a couple of minutes. In fact the pop culture references from Rocky to Flash Gordon (Sam J Jones returns) were pretty great. I also loved the courtroom scenes, and even Morgan Freeman in an extended cameo provided us with a very good look at what human rights are all about.

What i wanted from this film was to laugh, which i did, a lot more than i expected to as well which is a bonus. Look out for a hysterical cameo from Liam Neeson. The 'is Ted a human' storyline felt like a bold and wonderful step forward and brings up way more questions about human rights than any Seth Macfarlane production should.. but not in a bad way at all. It focuses a lot less on the drugs and crude jokes, even though they are very much still there! But the way it was executed was just great. I wish the third act had stuck with it, but by the end if you are a fan of Seth Macfarlane's work such as Family Guy you will come out satisfied after plenty of laughs and a surprising amount of heart. Will we get a Ted 3? Most likely, but if it keeps up what Ted 2 did right then i just might be okay with that.