Ted 2

Dir: Seth MacFarlane

2015

**

Seth MacFarlane's 2012 comedy Ted was somewhat of pleasant surprise, especially for kids like me who grew up in the 80s, as it felt like an 80s film made for us now that were grown up (or older I should say). I absolutely loved the idea but I didn't think MacFarlane took advantage of the numerous possibilities the character and story had. With the love story, buddy thing and emotional bit all covered and out of the way, Ted 2 really was Ted's opportunity to shine but unfortunately it was pretty much the same wasted opportunity as the first. There is only so many times a Teddy Bear smoking weed can be funny. Once. And it wasn't even that funny then either. I felt that Seth MacFarlane really had to up his game after his badly received 2014 comedy-western A Million Ways to Die in the West, a film I rated a little generously purely because of its one big cameo surprise. The cameos in Ted 2 are embarrassingly unfunny (I'm looking at you Jay Leno and Liam Neeson). Mila Kunis decided to opt out of the sequel and Amanda Seyfried was brought in as the 'love interest' replacement. The nagging girlfriend side of things was refreshingly binned but Seyfried's character is still pretty vacuous as Kunis' was in the first film. She smokes weed too though, so that's okay. There is an echo of a larger, greater story here when Ted's soul is called into question but once again, it feels like an afterthought and opportunities are not taken full advantage of. I smirked a couple of times but I never really laughed. A couple of scenes I liked, like when Michael Dorn dressed up as Worf and when a nerd fight at Comic Con breaks out but Dorn's character was so pointless it seems that his character was really only there for that one quick joke. There is no fluidity to the story, the jokes are old and the story soon when exactly the same way as the first which suggests further that MacFarlane ran out of ideas fairly early on. Giovanni Ribisi is back as the would-be bad guy, he's obviously a friend, so I wonder why MacFarlane doesn't write something better for him? Sam J. Jones is also back (but without the impact or laughs as the first film) as are Patricks Warburton and Stewart. Warburton's comedy talent is once again wasted and Steward's narration is limited to just a few seconds, him saying the 'F' word supposedly being the highlight. It's pretty boring for a stoner movie but it does feel like it was written by someone while stoned. It could have been a phoenix but the truth is I think MacFarlane has well and truly dug Ted's grave. It's at times so offensive that it isn't offensive at all, like mouthy teenagers at the back of the bus, it's better to ignore them and not get involved.