There has been a slight delay in me bringing you my review on the film we saw last weekend, but I have finally found time to sit down and tell you what I thought of
Ted, Seth McFarlane's first attempt at a feature film since his success with
Family Guy, American Dad and
The Cleveland Show. For starters let me say if you are easily offended with fat jokes, toilet humour, racism and subtle 9/11 remarks then I can not suggest highly enough that you do not see this movie because that is the basis of what makes this film so funny.
The story is fairly simple with a child wishing his teddy bear could talk and low and behold that is exactly what happens. After a few years of celebrity stardom for Ted, being the first talking stuffed teddy of course, his fame has worn away and he struggles through life much like other celebrities who did very much the same thing. Patrick Stewart highlights this in some great narration. Twenty odd years later and the child is now Mark Wahlberg and he still has his talking teddy, only now he is a potty mouthed druggy who charms his way around women. This is just too much for Mark's girlfriend Mila Kunis and she demands Ted leaves which is tough for Mark considering he grew up with this Teddy. Other than this we have a slight kidnapping subplot which seems slightly thrown in but you forgive it due to Giovanni Ribisi's great portrayal of the kidnapper, creepy he certainly is.
Right lets get down to the main question: is this funny? Well i can tell you now it sure as hell is! Perhaps it isn't quite as funny as the trailer suggested but it still has some genius moments. Some of the best of these moments are during Ted's interview for a job or his unashamed interaction with four hookers in his apartment. There is also a very good sequence evolving around
Flash Gordon which ties in with the theme of not being able to grown up, considering there is so much reference to the 70's and 80's. The film also is very much like an episode of
Family Guy. Someone will talk about a moment in the past and we get a cutaway to said moment which is hilarious in it's own right. This is very clever as it works so well for
Family Guy, but one of the problems with this is that the humour doesn't really interact with the story and instead we have random lines thrown in which although funny don't serve much purpose to the story. We also get many jokes which could go over some people's heads as they reference many famous people or are self-referenced such as when Ted claims he doesn't sound like Peter Griffin. There are others but I'll let you find that out for yourselves.
The casting of Mark Wahlberg at first had me slightly baffled but I have to say I have grown to actually prefer him in comedy films than I do in his typical generic action roles. He brings a likeability to his comic performances and here he is very believable as a man with a taking teddy. He also performs some scenes better than I could imagine anyone else to. The star of the show is Ted though, voiced by writer and director Seth McFarlane. Each time Ted comes on screen you are instantly hooked and it is generally him, or his scenes with Mark, that are the comic moments. Thankfully there isn't much time when Ted isn't actually on screen. McFarlane has done incredibly well in altering his writing to feature film territory and has created a character that everyone will just love despite his crudeness. Although at times the dialogue becomes a little cheesy, McFarlane still manages to please us with lines such as; 'back off Susan Boyle.' You'll have to watch the film to understand the context.
Overall then we have a film that has certainly come up trumps. I personally was a little disappointed in it but I was expecting it to be mindblowingly funny, and I still have never laughed till I cried since
Borat and I expected that here. However talking to various people they found it better than they were expecting so I think it is safe to say it is one of the better comedy films to have been released this year. Perhaps I am being harsh on it but this is probably due to the typical comedy trailers that seem to take away all the funny bits. Please do go see this film because there is plenty more funny to be seen, just don't go in with ridiculously high expectations like me and I'm sure you will come out loving it. I was slightly disappointed and still found it ace.
Pros: Original idea and a great character in Ted.
Cons: Some of the shocks are given away in the trailer.
7.5 / 10
Top 10 films of 2012 so far:
1. The Dark Knight Rises 10 / 10
2. The Hunger Games 8 / 10
3. Snow White And The Huntsman 8 / 10
4. Avengers Assemble 7.5 / 10
5. Ted 7.5 / 10
6. 21 Jump Street 7.5 / 10
7. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 7 / 10
8. The Grey 7 / 10
9. Prometheus 6.5 / 10
10. Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World 6.5 / 10
I haven't announced what was to be released in cinemas this weekend. One reason being that I was away and the most important one is that there was nothing out to tell you about anyway. The only film to be released, that was high profile anyway, was Step Up 4 which is an avoidable film if you ask me. So as there wasn't much on, with nothing having been released and everything else having been seen and reviewed, we decided to see The Lorax, the next cartoon creation based on a story from Dr Seuss' collection. I've not seen many of the films based on his creations and I have not read any of his work so for me this film was no better than an average tale with stuff which can be classed as a yay, and stuff which could be classed as a big fat nah.
For starters this is a cartoon film which I'm sure most of you are aware of, and it is about a strange little creature with a moustache called the Lorax. The instant problem with the film is that there is actually no need for the Lorax at all. He does resemble the themes that are involved within the film but the story is more about a kid called Ted and his quest to find a living tree. This leads him to a man called the Ounce-ler, who tells the story of how it was his fault all the trees are gone and instead people breath artificial air supplied by corporations. The only way the Lorax becomes involved in this is because he was summoned once the trees were destroyed, and told the Ounce-ler that what he was doing was wrong. He may have sent a message for the children who were watching but I don't really understand why the film would be called the Lorax when he is really just a supporting character.
It plays out like an older version of a cartoon film, in that it sends out a very strong message and every twenty minutes there is a musical number. Not saying that this is a problem but in cartoon films of today we don't have many musical cartoons other than the old fashioned Disney's. The issue I sometimes have with the sing-a-longs are that they become cheesy and the songs are so catchy that I sing them for the next week!! Luckily not many of the songs are overly good enough to continue singing. The message left by the film seems to be about large corporations running the way the world works, and how important nature still is in our lives. In the story we see a plastic town in which most of the population live in, and they have never seen anything like a real living tree. This film will really send out a strong message to children and I do think it is a good film for kids.
The voice talent is good enough. DeVito is strong as the Lorax but he doesn't seem to be in it anywhere near as much as you may think he will be. Ed Helms plays the voice of the Ounce-ler and fits in with ease, even playing two different voices for the older and younger versions of his character. Taylor Swift and Zac Efron play the voices for our love chasing teen central characters and due to their age aren't miscast but they don't have to try very hard to really convince.
The final thought of the film is that it is simply OK. It is a bit of fun but there are some terrible moments. I haven't read the story before and maybe I am missing something but even if I was up to scratch with the original material I still don't think it would be a great film. With some of the cartoon films being released in this era, The Lorax falls way short and being familiar with source material is not going to change that. Overall it is simply just a film that was watched due to there being nothing else on worth watching that I haven't already seen.
There has been a slight delay in me bringing you my review on the film we saw last weekend, but I have finally found time to sit down and tell you what I thought of Ted, Seth McFarlane's first attempt at a feature film since his success with Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show. For starters let me say if you are easily offended with fat jokes, toilet humour, racism and subtle 9/11 remarks then I can not suggest highly enough that you do not see this movie because that is the basis of what makes this film so funny.
1. A living, breathing, talking teddy bear is the concept of the first release of the week, TED. Mark Wahlberg stars as the man who still has his teddy bear, who as a child wished could speak and guess what happened. When Mark moves in with girlfriend Mila Kunis he realises it is time he got rid of his sex loving, alcohol bingeing, drug taking and prostitute buying teddy bear despite him being his best friend. Also starring: Seth MacFarlane & Joel McHale. Wish your bear could talk?
2. The second release this week is the third instalment of the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid franchise. This one being DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS and following Greg, played by Zachary Gordon, as he plans his entire summer vacation. Unfortunately for him and his mate all doesn't go according to plan and his summer is destined to be a disaster. Also starring: Robert Capron, Devon Bostick & Steve Zahn. Will the wimpy kid save the summer?
The Fourth Kind
The most recurring news of the week has come from the PR Team of the much anticipated December release of The Hobbit. The press release may not have much to do with this film in particular but in the whole context of the Hobbit's story it certainly is. The story has been announced as a trilogy with Peter Jackson presumably planning to do with this what he done with Lord Of The Rings. To many this will be ace news and to others it will mean 9 hours of Jackson's fantasy vision. Let's see how The Hobbit does on its release on 14th December before the haters decide on this news; however I'm sure the majority will be extremely happy with this so let's hope Jackson lives up to expectations, as does Martin Freeman who is playing the lead role.
Due to my hatred towards the film I saw this week I have decided to not base this week's question on that film and instead ask you which action flick you are most looking forward to seeing this summer? I have recently seen lots of trailers of action films being released in the next few months and I really can't decide which one looks the best. All of them seem action packed to the brink! My 5 most action-y looking films are below but there are a couple more I can think of, I just feel from looking at the trailers these ones will have the most guns and fighting.
