Ted was given to John
at Christmas when he was a child and whilst John loved him, he longed for Ted to
be alive, so that he could have a friend.
By the power of a child’s wish on a shooting star, that very thing
happened. John woke up to find his teddy
bear alive, but more importantly realised that he had a friend who, despite
being slightly unorthodox in his appearance, cared for him. The film flashes forward to 2012, where we
see an adult John living with his girlfriend of four years, Lori, and of
course- his best friend, Ted. The couple’s
relationship becomes strained when Lori is looking for something more from John
and feels like they can’t move on with their lives with Ted still in the house,
who is now a lazy, pot smoking, foul-mouthed bear. From then on, we see Ted trying to make his
own way in life, with all sorts of hilarity ensuing.
Written and directed by
the founder of Family Guy and American Dad, Seth MacFarlane, Ted is cleverly
written and acts as a reminder of why his work has been so popular for so
long. MacFarlane wrote and voices the
character of Ted a lot like Peter Griffin- the main character of Family Guy-
with blunt sarcasm and the right amount of black humour without being too
offensive, so that the film would feel somewhat familiar to fans of MacFarlane’s
hit comedy. An example of this is the
use of flashbacks and similes in Family Guy and Ted as strange but funny comparisons
of events. Making his feature length film debut, MacFarlane did everything
right to make Ted an original comedy and at the same time, seemed like a complete
professional rather than a novice at film directing.
I have nothing to fault
with the story line itself as it had the cinema constantly laughing and waiting
eagerly to see what would happen next. Admittedly,
the film was slightly vulgar and is not for the faint hearted, but you’re not going
to get rainbows and kittens in a MacFarlane comedy. Ted pushes the boundaries and will make you
cringe, however that is part of the reason why I thought the film was such a
success. Sometimes I did question if
elements of the film didn’t fall into the 18 rating rather than 15, but a lot
of what happens in the film is extremely unrealistic and would not influence an
audience to try and reflect Ted’s nature in what they do.
All of the characters
had something about their person that made them relatable and no-one faded into
the background. John was the man
refusing to grow up for his girlfriend Lori, who was the feisty female
character trying to get solid commitment out of a man who was only committed to
a bear for the majority of his life. Whilst Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis gave
excellent performances as John and Lori, I have to give praise specifically to
Giovanni Ribisi who played Donny, a crazy psychopath who was obsessed with
Ted. As a child, Donny saw Ted on the
television and desperately wanted him.
When John and Ted meet Donny and his son Robert, Donny expresses an
interest in buying Ted for his destructive son.
Ribisi is a recurring, unpredictable face throughout the film and
brilliantly added so many layers to a character that if played by another
actor, could have been a lot simpler but not have the depth that Ribisi gave.
Although it hasn’t even
been a week since I saw Ted, I would happily see it again as it made me cry
with laughter- something that doesn’t happen very often. All of the actors and actresses were a credit
to the film and their characterisation was brilliant, particularly Giovanni
Ribisi. It was very easy to forget that
Ted is a bear and not a human, which is a testament to Seth MacFarlane’s script
for giving Ted a voice and personality and also the CGI team for giving him so
many human attributes. Yes, Ted is a
film for young adults and not children; however, the start and end give the
film the warmth and foundations needed to make it memorable as an endearing story
about the friendship between a man... and his bear.
Rating: 9/10
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