Ted is easily the least cuddliest teddy bear, and surprisingly the unfunniest.

Rating: 5/10 (28 June 2018)

I like MacFarlane. 'Family Guy' was one of the first animations to genuinely make me laugh, his profane use of comedy felt refreshing. Over ten years later, his comedy hasn't changed and those who grew up with his crude dialogue have now become fully adjusted. This leaves Ted feeling somewhat empty, despite the fluffy stuffing. A young lonely boy wishes for his teddy bear to be his friend, one night his anthropomorphic toy comes to life where they still remain best friends 27 years later. However, the inclusion of a girlfriend rapidly causes a rift between this friendship. "Bros before hoes" is the theme here, an everlasting common message in buddy comedies. Romances do not last forever (unless you're lucky), so stick with the bromance and everything will be great. Except, the whole point of the film is diminished in the last act when both the romance and bromance are equally balanced. But let's not read too much into the core of this comedy, after all it features a talking teddy bear. MacFarlane's feature length directorial debut contains an extreme amount of creativity and technical flair. The motion capture was decent, directing was solid where he dabbles into a variety of styles (including a car chase) and the acting was fine. The problem with MacFarlane is that he just does too much. His famed voice acting career has left his talent specifically trademarked to Peter Griffin, so for him to voice a teddy bear makes it rather difficult to not envisage the lead character of 'Family Guy'. Then he also decides to write the script, which unfortunately didn't make me laugh once. This shouldn't come as a surprise to most, but despite the promised obscenity it felt rather placid. This is simply because we are used to his style of comedy now, he needs to evolve. Profanity isn't funny anymore, intelligent wittiness is what cracks people up. I shan't be saying "I love you" to this film due to its lacklustre screenplay and outdated message, yet it still remains watchable.