Ted

For those of you that don't want to read my entire review, I will sum it up in one line.

Ted was the longest episode of Family Guy I have ever seen.

For those of you interested in a deeper look, I'm more than willing to yammer on a bit about a pretty funny movie.

Now, I know some of you stopped finding Family Guy as funny once you saw how South Park believes the show is written.  I'm not saying Family Guy is as funny as it always was, but Ted is actually a very humorous film that takes the structure of Family Guy and makes it work in a live action environment.

While it's obvious that Ted is CGI, it is also obvious that he is well done CGI.  At no point in time do the filmmakers shy away from exposing him in all his teddy bear glory.  We see him wet, dry, and worn.  Small touches, such as patches where his fur is largely worn away, make Ted seem even more realistic.  The relationship between Ted and the other characters further cements him as a believable character.*

For those unaware, Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis are both quite funny.  Even if you don't care for Family Guy, I would hope you can recognize Seth MacFarlane's talent as a voice actor.  That, right there, is a pretty solid cast for a comedy.  As a bonus, you even get some Joel McHale and Patrick Warburton.  But, wait!  There's more!  There are some great cameos in the film.  Due to my no spoiler policy, I won't tell you who, but I will tell you that they garnered some laughs.

Upping the humor are some of the cut-a-ways in the film.  As I stated before, this film really is like a live action Family Guy.  It has a more cohesive plot than your average episode, but it's littered with moments that make you feel like you're watching another Family Guy episode.  The good news is that it still feels fresh enough that you can enjoy Ted, even if you don't care for Family Guy anymore.  If you love Family Guy, you'll be in seventh heaven watching Ted.

That concludes my review of Ted.  Now, let me tell you about some of the funnier things that happened that were not related to the movie, that were the audience's gift to me.

1.  A much older man and his wife sat down right beside me.  In response, Mark and I moved over one seat, to provide everyone with more room.  The man gave me a hurt look when we moved.

2.  I think he was feeling better later, when he took his shoes off and propped his socked feet up on the bar.

3.  I know he enjoyed his Goobers after he spent five minutes getting them open.

4.  About half way through the film, the young lady behind me was kind enough to exclaim, "That's Peter Griffin!"  Apparently, it took her half of the movie to recognize the voice.

5.  Not to be out done, the older gentleman decided to laugh during the one really sad, really touching moment of the film.  Now, this wasn't a snicker.  He full on brayed.  I am very familiar with inappropriate laughing during movies, as I participate in it quite frequently.  I'm not sure if the guy was me from the future or if he was really just that insensitive to the story.  Either way, that man was enjoying himself.

6.  Well, he was enjoying himself until two dudes kissed.  At that point, he turned into a four year old and, quite loudly, exclaimed, "Ew!"

This was definitely one of those movies where the audience added to my experience.

*Aside from the fact that he's a talking teddy bear.  Derp.