Review of Ted (2012) by Andres S — 03 Feb 2015

Seth MacFarlane is a funny person, he knows how to write comedy, he's always smiling and I like him a lot but whatever he seems to be able to nail in 22 minutes never seems to work as well when it's translated to the big screen and after a while it gets a bit much.

The movie starts off innocently enough and when Ted shows up he is actually really cute and I liked him a lot. The young actor, who looks like a young Rafael Nadal as well as a young Wahlberg, did a good job. I was a little surprised when Ted became worldwide news because you'd expect scientists to be all over that in seconds but we've already accepted a talking toy so you just have to go with it.

The acting is this movie is surprisingly good, Mark Wahlberg has to do a lot of the movie probably talking to himself with MacFarlane off screen or talking a golf ball and he never breaks, even if, for the first half, his accent is all over the place. That fight scene that happened about half way through was actually really well filmed and Mark did a good job. I felt really bad for Mila Kunis though, she has to deal with a lot of crap, quite literally, and I don't know why she put up with John for so long, she didn't deserve it, maybe it's because of- 'shut up Meg'. Everyone else in the movie does a good job but Giovanni Ribisi? Wow, what happened? He's a great actor and always does an excellent job but this is strange same can be said for Ryan Reynolds random appearance. I liked how MacFarlane managed to work in actors that have been in his shows, that was cool.

The humor in this movie is all over the place. Like I said, when it's in a 22 minute show, it works but when I see it on the big screen? Not so much. Now I'll admit and say that this movie did in fact make me laugh from time to time but that's the problem, it was only time to time. I noticed very often that many jokes would go on far too long and if they were funny at first, the drawn out scene just completely killed it. However, I will praise him for not compromising his humor just to fit the regulations of movies and, yes, there will be plenty of people that will get offended by something like this, but I ask, why are you watching it in that case? Do some research on what you're about to watch. The first joke took the person I was watching this with and I by surprise and it just sets the tone very well right there. Something else to its credit is that it tells a lot of jokes consistently throughout and doesn't just suddenly lose steam near the end, like his next movie did. I did like the movie references, some of them are subtle and some of them are two movies put together, which was inventive and if you like 'Flash Gordon' this is going to be awesome! But of course, if you don't know what they're referencing, the joke falls flat which is something plagues Family Guy consistently.

The biggest problem of the movie, for me, is Ted himself as he is, for the most part, unlikable. It's not because he offended me, far from it, and he certainly does have his moments but it's just that every time something goes wrong in John Bennett's life, it was because of him. There's a part of the movie where you're supposed to feel sorry for him because John shouts at him but I really didn't, I felt like he deserved it. I understand the movie is called, 'Ted', but during the start of the movie he wasn't in it a lot and I was actually glad about that and that's kind of a problem. I was much more invested in the human relationships that were going on around Ted's shenanigans. He kept sounding different too, one minute he sounded like Peter and Brian the next, but hey I couldn't do anywhere near as many voices as he could and I like the reference they make to Peter Griffin.

It's pretty well telegraphed when the characters are introduced but something happens near the end and while it seemed unnecessary padding at first, it honestly made the movie a lot better. Something actually happened and I was invested in what was going to happen next and I was actually worried for Ted. In his quiet moments, Ted had heart and the movie itself was interesting and actually has a pretty nice conclusion. The movie did in fact have its heart in the right place and Mark Wahlberg and Ted certainly did have a great relationship, and the movie never made me check my watch so that's something. The music is also really great but Seth MacFarlane always makes great music and got an Oscar nomination for one of them as well.

At the end of the day, it isn't a terrible movie, but when the titular character is neither likeable nor funny, that is a huge problem. How the TV mag that showcased this movie gave it 4 stars is something I'll never know. Maybe if I watched this at any other time I would have enjoyed it but who knows? It also just feels like he's making 'Ted 2' because his movie after this didn't get the same response as this, which I know couldnt happen because of when it was filmed but still. It was never unwatchable, and I hate being overly critical because I know how much effort goes into every movie, but when a comedy doesn't make you laugh... that kinda speaks for itself.