Film Review: Ted

Written, directed and starring McFarlane, Ted is a charming and brilliant leap from animation to live-action for Seth McFarlane. This is the Family Guy’s first proper foray onto the big screen and the premise is simple.

After a childhood wish John Bennett’s teddy bear, (Ted) comes to life and becomes his best friend. As John grows up, things start to get more complicated. 

Ted movie review

The comedy is un-apologetically politically un-correct, but it’s also touching and moving, and at times, genuinely sad. You start to forget it’s a CGI bear that you’re watching, acting.

I’m not normally a fan, but I think Mark Wahlberg was born to be a comedy actor. Similar to his role in The Other Guys (with Will Ferrel), his performance is natural, not forced like his more serious endeavours.

Mila Kunis who voices Meg in Family Guy, (which you can’t help thinking of whenever she talks) plays Lori, the long suffering girlfriend, and the relationship between them is believable enough to be genuine within the context of a slightly un-believable story.

Film Review - Ted

Ted (voiced by McFarlane) on the other hand is dragging John down into a bong-fuelled, Flash Gordon obsessed rut, a typical case of Romance versus Bromance. It has the satire and slapstick you would expect, from fat kids running, to characters acting like they’ve had a stroke, yet the film has all the required elements and a well rounded story, and is much funnier than most too.  

With Ted, Seth has proven himself to be more than just a one trick pony, and I for one, am looking forward to the next one.

Hana Karlasen

Hana Karlasen – English and Creative Writing graduate. Loves books, films, Mega Drive games and useless facts. Did you know that humans share about 50% of our DNA with a banana?