“Ted 2,” a film with the sole purpose of making an audience laugh, falls short when it comes to a compelling plotline.
This film centers around Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane), a teddy bear (brought to life in the previous movie, "Ted," by a wish) and his friend John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) as they go from one predicament to another. These two characters, who are portrayed living an immature lifestyle, are suddenly faced with a serious situation—Ted is no longer (after over 20 years) considered human, but property. Because of this, Ted loses his job, his bank accounts are closed, and his marriage is annulled. With the help of Ted’s lawyer Samantha Jackson (Amanda Seyfried), Ted and Bennett work together to figure out a way to prove that Ted is not merely property, but a living creature that is self-aware and possesses emotions. Meanwhile, Donny (Giovanni Ribisi), an antagonist from the first film, is planning to capture Ted for a Hasbro CEO. The film’s premise has potential, but ultimately falls short of success.
The film suffered from too many story lines. At the beginning of the film, Ted and his wife Tami-Lynn’s marriage seems to be on the rocks. Ted attempts to remedy this with a child. Ted then suddenly loses his rights as an American citizen. Then, there is the Donny and the Hasbro storyline. The majority of the storylines were underdeveloped. In particular the Donny (who after watching this film I will refer to as "urinal cake guy") storyline was so weak that it didn’t even seem worth the time. Their plan to capture Ted, dissect him (essentially killing him,) and make thousands more of him, was sinister and should have played a more central role in the film. Instead it holds a 10-minute section of a nearly two-hour production. On the other side, this movie could have put more into the fight for Ted’s civil rights, but they didn’t. Despite the lack of a compelling plotline, the film slightly redeems itself with its comedic elements.
The situations and actions that the main characters find themselves in throughout the film prove to be hilarious at times, particularly when Bennett and Jackson allow Ted to drive and they are shocked to find their car lodged into the side of a barn, which just so happens to be in the middle of a secret marijuana patch. Even the fact that expletives are being thrown left and right isn’t as bothersome since most of it is coming from a teddy bear. Whether or not the film was funny is obviously dependent on the audience member, and at times the film’s jokes, some of which were extremely inappropriate, fall far short of being funny.
"Ted 2" has good moments and some not-so-good moments. I would typically give a movie like this a two and a half out of five stars, but since Morgan Freeman (who I thought should have been wearing his "Bruce Almighty" white suit) was in it, I’ll give it three out of five.
