Entertaining and funny, beginning and end show substance

Rating: Null/10 (21 March 2016)

The first few scenes of this movie give the impression of a wholesome, family-friendly Christmas movie. Okay, except for the part about beating up a kid because he's Jewish, but that still might have been acceptable in some family movies. Patrick Stewart's narration, like pretty much everything he does, is magnificent.
Things change pretty quickly. I'm so glad I had the sanitized version aired on NBC, which I finally got around to watching yesterday.
Okay, sanitized isn't quite right. Broadcast TV still allows a lot of filth.
Still, I found the whole story quite entertaining, and a lot of it was funny.
And while this could easily be dismissed as garbage, the last 30 minutes or so gave this movie some substance. An exciting adventure and some touching moments, and giving Lori the chance to show how caring she is.
Lori is such a loving and patient girl, despite being so good-looking. Mila Kunis did a fine job. I mean for this type of material. This isn't "Black Swan" (actually, I have yet to see that).
John is an appealing enough character and very dedicated to his "best friend". I know Mark Wahlberg is capable of better, but he's good enough here.
Seth MacFarlane gives his usual great performance, with one exception. He sounds like Peter Griffin (and this is mentioned), but occasionally, and the first time he talks, he sounds like Brian Griffin.
Joel McHale showed considerably more talent on "Community", but he has a couple of good scenes here as Lori's sleazy boss, and he's especially good delivering just one great line.
I know Giovanni Ribisi is considered a respected actor, but I'm not sure what to say about him here. But without Donny and his son, this movie would have been missing some important scenes.
Bill Smitrovich as Ted's boss does a good job, and has a surprising attitude.
A cameo by Norah Jones shows her to be quite appealing, and of course I like her music.
The music is one of the best things about the movie. Walter Murphy does the 50s sitcom-style music for "Family Guy", and a lot of the music in this movie sounds similar. There is great music in fine restaurants and at Rex's party. There are exceptions:
1. The two versions of how John and Lori met.
2. When John leaves one party for another, and when he arrives at the second party.
3. Watching the TV series about Flash Gordon.
4. Donny dances to Tiffany.
Is this movie worth seeing? If you Seth MacFarlane's sitcoms, probably. And I do.