With a ranging track record of the first Ted film and A Million Ways to Die in the West, Ted 2 could've landed on either side. In actuality, it lands somewhere in the middle.
Set a couple of years after the events of Ted, Ted 2 sees the continuing adventures of "thunder buddies for life" John and his walking, talking teddy bear Ted, played and voiced by Mark Wahlberg and Seth Macfarlane respectively. After the government no longer sees Ted as a real person, the thunder buddies set off on an adventure to get Ted's civil rights back. The movies plot literally goes all over the place to the point where basic cohesion of storytelling is lost and replaced by endless celebrity cameos and 80s references. It's pretty much the closest thing we'll ever get to a live action Family Guy, which I'm ok with considering I like the show.
Reviewing comedies is always an easy thing to do. I measure a comedy as to how much I laugh in it. And to its credit, Ted 2 does have a few moments of gut-busting comedy which made my eyes water. If you're a fan of the bleak and offensive humour Seth Macfarlane is infamous for then I think you will enjoy large sections of this movie and you will laugh considerably. A few of the celebrity cameos are actually pretty funny as well, one of which is quite possibly the funniest scene of any movie to come out so far in 2015.
However at times the jokes in Ted 2 fall flat on their face. For example, there is one point in the movie where they spoof an iconic scene from Jurassic Park where if it had cut 5 or 10 seconds before it did it would've been funny. There are a few times in the film where if they had ended the scene a little bit earlier, I feel the comedic effect would have been heightened making the movie more enjoyable. There are large sections of this movie with very few laughs which seem to drag it out a little. Also, a lot of jokes seem to be recycled. A reoccurring joke in a movie can be very funny and in this movie one of them is. However, there's like 4 or 5 of them.
The third act of the movie is a direct copy of the third act of the first Ted movie only masquerading as something slightly different. When you think about it, it's exactly the same thing only this time characters seem to swap narrative positions.
But I can't give a negative review of Ted 2 because there were a lot of times in this movie where I was laughing and laughing hard. And I think it would be stupid at this point to deny that Seth Macfarlane and Mark Wahlberg have amazing on screen chemistry as both Ted and John. Also, I thought Amanda Seyfried, who replaces Mila Kunis as the female lead, was a good addition to the cast. I thought her character bought a lot more to this movie than Mila Kunis did to the first one. The 3 of them have great on screen chemistry and play off each other well as a comedic trio.
Despite a lack of basic narrative cohesion and some repetitive comedic beats, Ted 2 was still a movie that had some real moments of Seth Macfarlane's comedic genius which made me laugh out loud. There are 2 scenes in particular that I am going to remember for a long time. As a comedy sequel, Ted 2 isn't half bad. It has its issues but it offers a fair amount of laughs. If you're a fan of Seth Macfarlane its worth a watch, if you hate the man then you'll hate the film.
Rating - C+
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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