Ted (2012) Review

TED (2012)

Director: Seth MacFarlane

Writers: Seth MacFarlane, Alan Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild

Producers: Seth MacFarlane, Jason Clark, John Jacobs, Scott Stuber, and Wellesley Wild

Editor: Jeff Freeman

Music: Walter Murphy

Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Joel McHale

Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes

Rating: R (crude & sexual content, pervasive language, drug use)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Release Date: June 29, 2012

Intro: Where can you find a talking teddy bear doing drugs and hiring hookers? The movie Ted from Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, is your answer. The basic premise of the movie is that a boy's teddy bear comes to life when he's a kid and becomes his best friend and the story is of both of them when they're in their 30s. I remember hearing about the premise of this movie a while back and thinking it was brilliant. As the release got closer, I thought it would be one of those movies where the premise is better than the movie. Then the movie started getting good reviews, and to be honest I was kind of surprised at that. Then a few days ago, a friend invited me to go see it, so I decided to go along and see it. Though it was quite raunchy and not for kids, Ted very funny and I found myself surprisingly concerned for all the characters.

Plot: In 1985, a lonely 8-year old boy in Boston named John Bennett gets a talking stuffed bear for Christmas and takes it in as his best friend. That night, he wishes Ted could be alive so he could have a real best friend. It turns out John's wish comes true and his stuffed bear, which he named Teddy, comes to life. 27 years later, both John (Walhberg) and Teddy (or just Ted) have grown up (or have they?). John is an employee at a rental car company and has a girlfriend of 4 years named Lori (Kunis) who works high up at a company. Ted (MacFarlane) meanwhile is a promiscuous, pot-smoking partier and slacker who still lives with John. After years of peaceful coexistence between John, Ted, and Lori, Ted is starting to form a rift in John and Lori's relationship that tears John between his best friend and his girlfriend as he tries to appease them both.

Things people may find “objectionable”: This is NOT a movie to take your young kids to (though for some reason there were several families with kids in the theater. Why that was is beyond me). For one, there is heavy use of the F-word, along with other milder swear words. There is also a lot of sexual humor (some explicit, some not), especially with Ted's promiscuity. Also, some of the humor could be found offensive by quite a few people. It's definitely a raunchy movie, so if you see it, be prepared for it.

Ratings:

     -Directing/Cinematography: 8/10. MacFarlane, in his film directing debut, really does a pretty good job.

    -Acting: 9/10. The actors (and voice actors in Ted's case) all do a good job with the roles they are given, as they do a good job taking the situations seriously, even if what's going on is ridiculous.

     -Writing: 7/10.  From now on, I'm going to split the writing section into two sections, "story" and "script" because I feel they should be treated separately. I will still give an overall score for the writing though, as it should usually be a mean score of the two sections.
          -Story: 5/10. It has a very formulaic story, but the writers make it work pretty well with the premise, which I think is absolutely brilliant.
          -Script: 9/10. Some of the lines were hilarious, as it's clear this was a strong point and an emphasis for the movie.

     -SpecialEffects: 7/10. Minimal, but good. The only real use of special effects comes in animating Ted, which they really do a pretty good job with, as his movements are pretty lifelike. Effects are not the emphasis of the movie, though.

     -Music/Score: 6/10. I didn't notice the music that much, so it was no masterpiece score, I guess. There's some cheesy light jazz towards the beginning that one of my friends characterized as "Seth MacFarlane music," but that was really the only music that stuck out to me.

     -Power/Emotion: 8/10. I found myself surprisingly worried about what was going to happen to a talking stuffed teddy bear. This was one aspect of the movie I was surprised was strong. I really wasn't expecting to care about any of the characters that much, but somehow I did.

     -Adrenaline: 5/10. Not a ton of action scenes, but keep in mind that thrills were not the emphasis of the movie.

     -Mind-Bendingness: n/a. The fact that a stuff bear comes to life and can talk is the most mind-bending thing the movie will throw at you, but this is not at all the point of the movie.

     -Humor: 9/10. The obvious strong point of the movie, and the emphasis. The movie is a comedy, so it really wouldn't serve its purpose if it were not funny. However, some of the jokes make fun of current popular culture, so Ted may lose some of its humor in a few years.

     -Final Score: Ted has one of the greatest premises of any movie I can think of, and the movie mostly lives up to the promise of its premise (say that three times fast). The story is pretty formulaic, but the movie is saved by its humor and surprising dose of emotional attachment to the characters. I would recommend Ted to anyone who likes or can at least stand the type of raunchy and offensive humor Seth MacFarlane has become known for through his successful TV shows.