Synopsis: Newlywed couple Ted and Tami-Lynn want to have a baby, but in order to qualify to be a parent, Ted will have to prove he’s a person in a court of law.
Release Date: June 26, 2015 MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genre(s): Comedy,
Film Review
Production
After “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane’s foul-mouthed teddy bear stole the collective heart of America a few years ago in Ted, the question of a sequel was never “if,” but “how long until?” Ladies and gentlemen, the wait is over; Ted 2 is here.
Ted 2 picks up a few years after the events of Ted. Ted (again voiced by MacFarlane, of course) and Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) are married, but Ted’s best friend/Thunder Buddy for Life, John (“Marky” Mark Wahlberg), is divorced. Ted and Tami-Lynn want to have a child, but there’s one problem; Ted is, in the eyes of the law, a possession and not a person. They decide to test the issue in a court of law, and they are assigned a hungry young attorney named Samantha L. Jackson (Amanda Seyfried). While Sam and John prepare the case, Ted tries to push the newly single John into asking their lawyer out. Meanwhile, Ted’s former kidnapper, Donny (Giovanni Ribisi), who now works as a janitor at the Hasbro Toy Company, convinces his boss, Mr. Jessop (John Carroll Lynch), to hire an expensive attorney named Shep Wild (John Slattery) to fight Ted, hoping that if Ted is declared property instead of a person, Hasbro can steal him and find out how he came alive, thus duplicating the process and selling a “Ted” to every kid in the world. Ted and his pals have to prove he’s alive in court while staying out of the psychotic clutches of Donny and Hasbro.
Anyone who has seen Ted knows what they’re getting into with Ted 2. It’s a classic case of not-fixing-what-isn’t-broken; MacFarlane, along with his writing partners Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, put the same lovably annoying bear in the same troublesome situations. Wahlberg and MacFarlane have the same impeccable chemistry that made the first movie so much fun. Mila Kunis’ presence is missed, but her absence is explained in the first scene of the film, and Amanda Seyfried is more than capable of taking over the female lead role. Ted 2 doesn’t try to break any new ground, it just tries to add a second chapter to the life of the obnoxious little furball. And it works.
If there’s a flaw in Ted 2, it’s that it wraps up just a little too cleanly. Although the film culminates in an awesome nerd-royal-rumble at Comic Con, Ted’s story itself seems to end on a cop out. Without spoiling too much, the climax is over before it even comes to a boil, leaving the viewer a bit unsatisfied. So, enjoy the geek fight, because that’s the real final confrontation in Ted 2.
It’s weird to think that a movie like Ted 2 could house a political allegory, but Ted’s struggle to be seen as a person in the eyes of the law has obvious real-world parallels. At a time when certain factions of American society are fighting to prove that they are worthy of being granted basic human rights, Ted’s legal battle is especially poignant. The pot-smoking, swears-like-a-sailor teddy bear is a social crusader!
Fans of Ted are going to see Ted 2 regardless of anything that is written here. Truth be told, Ted 2 isn’t as good of a movie as Ted, but that’s not its fault; by now, we’re used to the idea of a living teddy bear, so there’s no novelty to it. Ted 2 carries over enough of the energy and the heart of the first movie to be entertaining, and that’s really all anyone can ask of any sequel.
Comedy Factor
Anyone who found Ted funny will likely find Ted 2 humorous as well. It’s basically the same type of humor. There’s slapstick physical comedy, as in one scene where John and Ted fight over the last beer in the fridge (and, as he did in Ted, Mark Wahlberg should get props for being able to screen “fight” with an animated bear). There’s quite a bit of potty humor, shown when Ted and John hilariously visit a sperm bank. There’s no shortage of stoner humor, either, a type of comedy that is augmented when Ted and John discover that Sam, their lawyer, is a pothead. Of course, Ted 2 has plenty of witty wordplay and dialogue, all of which seems to be made funnier by the Boston accents with which every character speaks. Seth MacFarlane also tosses in a few hysterical tributes to classic movies like The Breakfast Club and Jurassic Park that are good for some big belly laughs. The whole thing is topped off by a bunch of hilarious cameos from the likes of Liam Neeson, Tom Brady, and others. Oh, and Sam J. Jones is back, so there are plenty of Flash Gordon jokes in the film as well. Basically, anyone who doesn’t laugh during Ted 2 should probably be checked for a pulse.
Cast and Crew
- Director(s): Seth MacFarlane
- Producer(s): Seth MacFarlaneJason ClarkJohn JacobsScott Stuber
- Screenwriter(s): Seth MacFarlaneAlec SulkinWellesley Wild
- Story:
- Cast: Mark WahlbergSeth MacFarlaneAmanda Seyfried Jessica BarthGiovanni RibisiMorgan Freeman
- Editor(s): Jeff Freeman
- Cinematographer: Michael Barrett
- Production Designer(s):
- Costume Designer: Cindy Evans
- Casting Director(s): Sheila Jaffe
- Music Score: Walter Murphy
- Music Performed By:
- Country Of Origin: USA