I figure I better take a brief break between editing photos to get this post in right quick. Got another busy week ahead and if I don't do it now it will be another week before I get around to getting this review out there. Can't very well have that with my memory. I would have forgotten some of the key things I wanted to discuss. Although that would probably be pretty unlikely with this one.
"Ted" is the story of Josh Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) who had no friends in his childhood. To counteract that, he made a wish that his favorite toy, a stuffed teddy bear, could talk so he could at least have one friend he could talk with. The wish comes true and Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) came to life. The two became inseparable which slowly starts becoming a strain on Ted's relationship with his longtime girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis).
I stayed true to my promise and saw the midnite showing of this. Despite the fact that naysayers kept saying it wasn't that serious. Apparently those folks don't know me very well. The trailers for this one clearly depicted a VERY sarcastic talking bear. And Wahlberg had already proved just recently that he could do comedy with "The Other Guys". Of course I was geeked about this one. I was quite surprised that more people weren't.
It was "The Family Guy" element that made "Ted" so funny. Unfortunately, I haven't watched the show as much as I would like to. I have to watch what I'm viewing when G's around so that he doesn't get a bad influence and from what I've seen of the show it's clearly inappropriate for kids. But every episode I've seen had me cracking up. MacFarlane's type of inappropriate adult sarcastic humor is right down my alley. He infused that in "Ted" and magnified it to get the most from that "R" rating.
The one thing I was looking for here was something that I thought for sure would have been an issue since this was a comedy. It was the special effects on the bear itself. I was certain there would be moments where they would have slipped up so that he didn't actually look like he was a live teddy bear. They didn't. Every single scene with Ted was handled so technically well that the facade looked very believable.
About the only thing I could find about "Ted" is that they didn't have more scenes with him in it. I figured going in that would probably be the case though. That would have been very expensive to have more of him since it would have meant more time and money on his CGI. I personally would have been perfectly fine with less Kunis and more of him. They could have used her paycheck to get more screentime for Ted. Unfortunately, her part was rather essential to the story. So maybe next time they get a lesser star who requires less money and that solves that problem.
I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard in a movie from beginning to end. Moreover, I can't recall the last time that a comedy had a trailer so good and then the actual movie delivered much more than expected. I don't see how anyone that can appreciate witty sarcasm could NOT find "Ted" one of the funniest movies to come out in quite a while. I can't wait to see it again.
My rating: A
