I recently caught Ted 2 in theaters a few weeks back, but do to complications, was barely able to begin writing a review, let-alone finishing the review. Still, I was quite pleased with the film, even though it was given poor reviews, despite the adamant success of the first film. This film was the follow-up to Ted, taking place about a year-and-a-half after the first one finished. Johnny has divorced, and Ted has married Tamilyn, which is where the movie starts,with Ted's wedding. Production value was ramped up, and you can clearly see Seth McFarlene's approach towards writing much clearer in this film, albeit, there are few side references like there were in the first film, as it is far more linear, but the jokes suffer for this direct approach. Still, I found it laughable in a good way, but was the sequel itself necessary? Fans wanted it, and really this was a film for the fans, as it did pay a great deal of attention to the demographic, and it placed to the average millennial. In-that way, the film was a success, but seeing the trash Hollywood puts out yearly, to be overly critical and harsh to Ted 2 is a bit unfair.
The story is like so many in film today: barely present, because it has fallen onto the director to tell story through imagery, and that quite-often affects the outcome of a film, making it mediocre, where it would've been a classic had it been given more tender-loving care. Still, for a sequel that had big shoes to fill, the movie isn't terrible, and has more story and humor than most comedies released yearly, a much better film than A Million Ways to Die in a the West, which felt over-acted on the part of McFarlene. Yet, I felt this movie was more a stoner buddy comedy, whereas the first film had friends getting stoned, but it wasn't so-much the advocacy of the film, in many ways it was almost like the first film was against the sophomoric approach of getting stoned, and growing up, this film was more about degenerating back to toilet humor and pot jokes. That kind of saddened me, because the ideas pointed out in the first film about a teddy bear that comes to life, then grows up into an immature adult had so much humor behind it, especially through McFarlene's lens, that this film was made to placate to the audience, rather than to the creativity of the artform.
Comedy is tough, ask anyone who attempts to get a room of so many unique individuals to laugh at one universal joke that isn't cliché, so I get why the masters of comedy we truly the best the world have to offer, but this movie was easy picking, targets that even a first-year drama major could've hit, and it'd still be seen as too poignant a film.
I did like Ted 2, and found it funny, but it simply doesn't live up to the original. I know a lot of people say that about sequels, thus writing them off like they're not even worth the time, but I can assure you this film was worth the admission price: it was fun, it had the whole audience laughing, and most-importantly, it had great dialogue,,which was acted well, but sadly it misses the mark on many good opportunities when it came to story. The whole civil rights angle they tried to play was okay, and really it was rather relevant to the time of the film, but it still is not the kind of story that actually made the franchise successful, and was not nearly as well thought-out as the first. I'm have mixed feeling so about this film, because I can appreciate the humor for what it was supposed to be, and it is far-better acted than most comedies that barely make you snicker, let-alone laugh, though I felt it could've been better, and we as fans deserved better.
Did I like Ted 2? Yes, but would I say it was a great film? Well, name one comedy in the past forty-to-fifty years that's held up, the last comedy films I actually enjoyed that could be considered a series was the first two Ghostbusters films, and in-truth that was because it had the great Harold Ramis at the helm, probably the best comedic actor/writer/director since Mel Brooks. Sadly he has passed on, and will be truly missed. McFarlene is a comedic master, and a spot-on director, but he over acts, and it hurts his brand. I know he's a great voice actor, but voice acting and acting are apples and oranges, and he can only get better,as shown with his ability to voice Ted, but his shifty performance in A Million Ways to Die in the West. Liam Neeson's promo Ted 2 was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long while, and probably the best/biggest surprise of the entire film.
I would just like to end by saying that if you haven't seen Ted 2, it is worth a watch, maybe rent it whenever it becomes available, but as a purchase, I'd be wary to buy it on DVD, even for the special features, or even for the unrated version, which I don't see being all-that-better than the theatrical version.
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