Much funnier than I expected

Rating: 9/10 (2 August 2012)

I don't normally like this sort of film, being a middle-aged, middle-class Englishman, but being stuck in a distant city with an evening to kill, I thought, why not? I found myself pleasantly surprised. On a scale where anything with Will Ferrell being 1 and Big Bang Theory being 10, this easily ranks 9. The humour is universal enough to travel across the Atlantic, and in between the gags there are real questions about what makes a man more than just a big kid, and how much does love over-rule loyalty.
The CGI and the actors' eye-lines are faultless, the use of stuffed toys and graphics not always being obvious. I loved many of the gags, and being of a certain age, I so identified with the Flash Gordon motif running through the film.
And it is such an original idea. What if a teddy bear really did come alive? The contradiction of Ted's childish appearance with a thirty-something jaded, crude personality gave an added punch to the humour, and Ted himself was not just a cartoon, but showed real pathos and feeling, even though he was a womanising dope-head.
I loved it, and may even try to persuade 'Er Indoors to come see it with me a second time when I get home.