Disney meets Family Guy meets porno meets spooky...75%

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2012)

This comedy starts off like a Disney movie or something...a lonely boy wants a BFF and his teddy bear ("Ted") fills the breach. It's not as stupid as it sounds, as the boy - John Bennett (played by Bretton Manley) - makes a wish...on Christmas...with a falling star in the vicinity. Writer/director/voice of Ted Seth McFarlane obviously knows his stuff, as this plausible scenario is better than just about anything...save John's teddy bear being hit by lightning or something. In any case, Ted is now alive and John's BFF. We then catch up on John many years later, as a 35 year old (played by Marky Mark Wahlberg) with a beautiful girlfriend - Lori Collins (played by Family Guy regular Mila Kunis) - and Ted...as a bad influence on him.
"Ted" works as a comedy film with a narrative arc which sustains it. That arc concerns whether John will live happily ever after with Lori, or whether Ted drives them apart.
For some reason, Mark Wahlberg has a strong Boston accent...I'm not sure if that is acting or...everyone he plays has a Boston accent...because he does...or something. In any case, Mark and Mila have a nice chemistry in this movie and the presence of Ted in their world feels believable...I particularly like Ted's gait...as soon as I saw it, I though "Yeah, that looks right". Joel McHale as Rex - Lori's boss - does a nice turn as the office sleaze.
As a movie, it's funnier than Seth McFarlane's lesser cartoon "American dad" and about as funny as an average episode of "Family guy" (so, there were many laugh out loud moments in this movie). Despite the Disney-esque aspects to this movie, it's really not suitable for children...really, really, really not suitable for children. There are simulated sex scenes between Ted and a checkout chick, bong smoking and some creepy people who become part of the story later on. In other words, it's the kind of territory explored in Family Guy...if you're familiar with that, you'll know the kind of humour to expect in this. Fortunately there's nothing that really drags in this movie, as there was in Family Guy...that whole over-flogged 'Stewie as an evil genius' plot arc...which I was glad to be rid of!