So in 2012 the creator Family Guy Seth MacFarlane released his first live action cinema film, Ted about a Bear that comes to life
Of course being from the creator of Family Guy, this was no Paddington bear, this was a foul mouthed, pot smoking rude bear and the film certainly had its laugh out loud moments and certainly was worth our time although it would be fair to say overall it was on a par with Seth’s American Dad rather than the dizzy heights of family guy
The film was a massive hit and was wrapped up with a happy ending but perhaps with the not so massive success of last years A Million Ways to Die in the West, returning to cinemas, our favourite Thunder Buddies John and Ted are back in Ted 2
I was a fan of the first one , in fact I even watched it again this morning prior to my trip to see its sequel and I was happy to give it a chance even though on average sequels are not normally as good
So is Ted 2 worth your time, put simply yes if you liked the first one, if you didn’t this isn’t going to win you around
The storyline is a good one although maybe obvious, Ted now married to Tami-Lynn, his girlfriend from the original wants to have a baby, due to a missing essential part from Hasbro, Ted has to find a surrogate only to find due to his wife’s drug past this is not an option, left with no other choice they try to adopt but being a product he has no records with the government. He is told not only can he not adopt but in addition loses his job and has his marriage annulled! Its not going well for John either, love of his life Lori has divorced him (Mila Kunis could not reprise her role due to being pregnant although I did see her in a Jim Bean advert before the film =) he is refusing to move on with his lfe but you know what they say, ‘Thunder Buddies for life’, so with Ted needing help he’s there for him again and with the help of upcoming lawyer (and new love interest for John) Sam L Jackson (played by Amanda Seyfried) the battle is on to get Ted recognised as a human
Like the first one, this film has some hilarious highs but can drag in other places, sadly the Donny character is back and sure you may disagree but for me it’s a subplot that in both films has dragged it down, the film works best when it’s the 2 Thunder Buddies together, for example a fun sequence features then singing to the theme of Law and Order! Some great references to other films from its 42nd street opening number, nods to the Breakfast Club and Planes, trains and automobiles as well as a fun shot for shot sequence of a classic Jurassic park scene are great but the film has its lulls, the court scenes seem to be just a reason to get Ted to swear & don’t really add anything, the Sam J Jones cameo is back but again doesn’t add anything this time, some jokes from the first one are repeated, Ted battles a duck (sadly not a return for Ming and his goose James Franco from the first), the end is almost the same but with the roles reversed and an internet search joke which was not funny the first time is repeated nearly 4 times
The film does have the fun Patrick Stewart narration again and has a great fun ending set in Comi-con, how many characters did you spot? An odd cameo from Liam Neesson (stick around during the end credits for more of it) is amusing but sadly this is not better than the first but as said at the start, if you liked the first, you should get some enjoyment from this one, I certainly got some large laughs from it
Ted’s biggest problem is that it probably would be a great sit com but feels stretched for a movie but I may be in the minority, you might have thought it was brilliant, let us know?
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