With a more solidified plotline and the still great chemistry between Mark Wahlberg and a teddy bear, Ted 2 is a step up from its predecessor with burst-out laughs and a remaining sense of cherishing friendship.
By Michael Menendez
At some point, we may all wish that our teddy bear comes to life, but what if it did? What if that teddy bear became a living creature, one that drinks and gets high and is an everyday slacker? In the 2012 smash comedy hit, Ted, it actually happened.
While that movie had its funny parts, there were also many points that felt forced and just all around not that funny. Maybe it was because it felt like just another episode of Family Guy (made by Seth MacFarlane, the director of both Ted and its sequel), or maybe it was because the plot never seemed to matter in the movie.
With the sequel, though, these problem are (mostly) fixed. Ted, the loveable talking teddy bear, wants to adopt a child with his now wife (girlfriend in the first movie), Tami-Lynn. The only problem? Ted is declared property, meaning he is not realized as a living thing.
The rest of the movie, laughs abound, is about Ted and his best bud John (Mark Wahlberg) trying to turn this ruling around. While this writer disliked the first one, possibly because of how much potential it had, this one hits the nail right on the head.
With a plot that carries the movie right along, and the still ridiculously good chemistry between Wahlberg and MacFarlane, this movie is a definite win. Now, what separates this movie from the previous film? It has a point to it.
We can understand how Ted feels in this one, it’s not just about him being a stoner slacker that needs to move out of his friend’s house. Ted has been stripped of his livelihood, something that can be related to in many different aspects. The laughs range from jokes about marriage to jokes about marijuana (of course), much like in Family Guy, and they never seem to miss.
Gone are the issues of jokes that stem from Ted being a couch potato which are replaced by jokes about, in all reality, who Ted is and what he does for society, put so well in a nutshell by Morgan Freeman himself in a memorable scene (Ted has to make a joke about his famous voice).
Of course, there are some problems with the movie, most notably being the lack of chemistry between Wahlberg and the new female lead, Amanda Seyfried. On top of this, the movie has a similar issue as the first one: it still feels all too familiar to a Family Guy episode, just not as much.
Although that may be a complaint, it’s also one of its strongest aspects, given how funny the show is. With a memorable cameo that had the theatre in tears from laughter and a good supporting cast, this writer left the movie proudly proclaiming how much funnier and fresher this film felt than the first. Kudos to you, Mr. MacFarlane. You got this one right.
Michael Menendez is a student at the University of Central Florida, where he majors in journalism.
