The notorious nature of the hit cartoon series Family Guy is well known to many, it was cancelled and revived twice, and has faced a variety of lawsuits due to its off-colour humour. Now creator Seth MacFarlane has made it to the big screen with the same flare and class... or lack thereof!
On the Christmas of 1985, John (Mark Wahlberg) wished for his teddy bear to come alive, and remarkably, he got his wish! Fast-forward thirty years, John is a layabout underachiever with a big heart, juggling his childish relationship living with Ted (voiced by MacFarlane) and his adult life with his beautiful girlfriend (Mila Kunis). Naturally, vulgar mishaps are abound!
If you are a fan of Family Guy and American Dad, Ted will be for you; it is virtually a live-action interpretation (without the crazy cut-away jokes) most evident with the music which sounds like a direct lift from the shows. It is very much a sitcom scenario, it is a small scale story on the big screen.
The humour is typical MacFarlane, it varies from glorious, to mediocre, to complete miss; some of the jokes are directed towards American audiences and that's to be expected. But it definitely got laughs from me, even if most of them were at Patrick Stewart's narration!
It is quite predictable, but it is entertaining and fun in a stupid way, with plenty of pop culture references you may, or may not, get (lots of 1980s gags). I enjoyed Wahlberg and Kunis' chemistry; the very current trope of a level-headed girlfriend and a loving but gormless, childish guy.
"There is nothing more powerful than a child's wish....
"Except for an Apache Helicopter..."
I thought there were quite a few cut-away gags and it most certainly was just "live action Family Guy", however that was no bad thing. I saw it with Eatman and he agreed it was a good "long episode of Family Guy".
ReplyDeleteNot in the same way though... it wasn't like they cut-away to "Their last holiday vacation in Purgatory" and had them floating in a white void for a few seconds :P If there were gags, they were tied to the narrative at least slightly.
DeleteIt was good though yeah! I should have mentioned that the trailer showed quite a lot of the best bits (though not ALL, *wink*)