A mixed bag

Rating: 6/10 (24 January 2013)

To me, Ted wasn't as good as it could have been, and, given Seth MacFarlane's irreverent sense of humor, was nowhere near as funny as it should have been. I really like Family Guy and, for the most part, American Dad. I agree with his basic premise that there's humor in just about anything. I also have no problem with shock or gross-out humor, as long as it's intrinsically funny.
The trouble with Ted is that it relies too much on strictly shock and gross-out alone. Too much of it has nothing funny about it. A cute, fuzzy teddy bear with a foul mouth is only funny for a short time, if there's nothing humorous about what he's saying. That's the case too often here.
A few of the cameos were funny, some were okay, the rest were stupid. The Flash Gordon thing was carried to a boring extreme, especially the party.
Wahlberg was miscast. His brother Donnie is ten times the better actor. Kunis sparkled in a few places, but was mostly flat (no pun intended). I usually like her a lot. I didn't see much chemistry between her and Wahlberg.
I gave this 6 stars, because I enjoyed it - up to a point - but I do want to underline its flaws. It's a long way from perfect. I tend to attribute it, at least in part, to the co-writers, who may have been aping Macfarlane's style, but couldn't match his humor.
It's worth watching. The teddy bear animation is excellent!