A sweet and innocent tale... which turns into much more than a light hearted affair when Seth Macfarlane takes centre both behind and centre stage. Young loner John Bennett's life is turned around forever when one magical Christmas night he wishes to finally have a friend, only in the morning he finds that wishes can come true in the form of the living cuddly bear, Ted. Years later both bear and boy have grown to mischievous adulthood, gone are the days of innocence (By far, these guys like to party) but still the two are nevertheless inseparable. Though not all is as rosy as it once was when John's long-time girlfriend Lori highlights that his failures in life all lead back to his juvenile magical bear, not wanting to lose either friend or girl John tries to balance both alongside a career. Trying to move on and leaving his old Thunder-buddy behind is harder than he expected and for the best of friends they used to be John finds himself slipping back to the good ol' days. Can John find a way to move forward and still have a teddy bear as a best friend? What does the crazed guy Donny with that weird kid want to do with Ted? If you want answers Seth Macfarlane is going to throw them out with as much dark and outrageous humour as he can get away with.
While Mark Wahlberg as John Bennett is the films protagonist, he's much more the straight guy to Ted's presence without out which the film wouldn't exist. While he's hardly the greatest actor of our time, Wahlberg still delivers a caring and believable performance especially considering his co-star doesn't exist making. Though the real voice of the piece is evidently Seth Macfarlane not content with just making a good film from the directors chair, with his numerous vocal placements in Family Guy and American Dad who else could he have given the title role too? Okay so maybe he could have given the role to someone else, but his voice fits the bears nature to a Tee. Imagine a warm fuzzy and sweet version of Peter Griffin and you've got Ted... minus the sweet actually. Playing the leading lady is Mila Kunis as Lori who acts as the catalyst to the rift between John and Ted, as well as the rebellious nature John plays against after all who really wants to grow up? Anyway, Kunis' screen performance is a far more eye catching role than Meg Griffin and much like her role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall her role is enjoyable and entertaining. One role that will be most likely burnt into your mind and maybe not for good reasons is Giovanni Ribisi who's character Donny is, well a bit out of touch with reality but the way he plays it is brilliant and as always while he doesn't steal the show his character is memorable. While these are the main players some of the bit-parts and cameos are also brilliant from the narration by Patrick Stewart, Joel McHale as a sleazy boss to Patrick Warburton as a strange and sexually confused man. Everyone in their film has their own moment to please the audience with each character usually uttering one laugh out loud musing.
All you really need to say about Ted is, it's classic Seth Macfarlane. The humour is exactly what you expect, turn over to BBC3 any given night and you'll find half an hour versions of Ted. While yes, I am saying that Ted is basically an extended version of Family Guy just ruder and cruder it doesn't really hinder the film, if it's not broken why try and change it? It works. Though it will leave you laughing and rolling about the first time as the humour hits home, it's a comedy where i think the novelty may wear off with numerous viewings, then again that complaint can be made about any number of comedies. The film is made with the sense of wanting to push the audience to laughter in moments where you should be guffawing at what the character said, that's essentially the comedy here in most scenes. This isn't one for the kids, or the elderly and if you caught the ad and thought 'Oh that looks like a sweet film to take my children to' think again parent! (I say because I think someone actually did this when I saw it) Ted is definitely not for the family or comedic faint of heart. It's geared towards the teens and South Park generation, where if people say something that is completely against everything that is right with the world(or say a really bad word...) you'll most likely laugh your head off. There you have it, if you like Seth Macfarlane, BBC3 or anything remotely geared towards young teens or just the young at heart give Ted a go.
7 / 10
FIN.
While Mark Wahlberg as John Bennett is the films protagonist, he's much more the straight guy to Ted's presence without out which the film wouldn't exist. While he's hardly the greatest actor of our time, Wahlberg still delivers a caring and believable performance especially considering his co-star doesn't exist making. Though the real voice of the piece is evidently Seth Macfarlane not content with just making a good film from the directors chair, with his numerous vocal placements in Family Guy and American Dad who else could he have given the title role too? Okay so maybe he could have given the role to someone else, but his voice fits the bears nature to a Tee. Imagine a warm fuzzy and sweet version of Peter Griffin and you've got Ted... minus the sweet actually. Playing the leading lady is Mila Kunis as Lori who acts as the catalyst to the rift between John and Ted, as well as the rebellious nature John plays against after all who really wants to grow up? Anyway, Kunis' screen performance is a far more eye catching role than Meg Griffin and much like her role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall her role is enjoyable and entertaining. One role that will be most likely burnt into your mind and maybe not for good reasons is Giovanni Ribisi who's character Donny is, well a bit out of touch with reality but the way he plays it is brilliant and as always while he doesn't steal the show his character is memorable. While these are the main players some of the bit-parts and cameos are also brilliant from the narration by Patrick Stewart, Joel McHale as a sleazy boss to Patrick Warburton as a strange and sexually confused man. Everyone in their film has their own moment to please the audience with each character usually uttering one laugh out loud musing.
All you really need to say about Ted is, it's classic Seth Macfarlane. The humour is exactly what you expect, turn over to BBC3 any given night and you'll find half an hour versions of Ted. While yes, I am saying that Ted is basically an extended version of Family Guy just ruder and cruder it doesn't really hinder the film, if it's not broken why try and change it? It works. Though it will leave you laughing and rolling about the first time as the humour hits home, it's a comedy where i think the novelty may wear off with numerous viewings, then again that complaint can be made about any number of comedies. The film is made with the sense of wanting to push the audience to laughter in moments where you should be guffawing at what the character said, that's essentially the comedy here in most scenes. This isn't one for the kids, or the elderly and if you caught the ad and thought 'Oh that looks like a sweet film to take my children to' think again parent! (I say because I think someone actually did this when I saw it) Ted is definitely not for the family or comedic faint of heart. It's geared towards the teens and South Park generation, where if people say something that is completely against everything that is right with the world(or say a really bad word...) you'll most likely laugh your head off. There you have it, if you like Seth Macfarlane, BBC3 or anything remotely geared towards young teens or just the young at heart give Ted a go.
7 / 10
FIN.
Comments
Post a Comment