Family Guy Supremo Seth MacFarlane delivers a second big screen outing for his self-voiced foul- 
mouthed teddy bear Ted. Co-star, and thunder buddy, Mark Wahlberg returns for Ted 2 following the success of its 2012 original, with Amanda Seyfried and Morgan Freeman joining the cast for this raucous weed-induced comedy sequel.
In an attempt to save their marriage, the all-talking, pot-loving Ted and his ever-classy wife, Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth), want to adopt a baby. A legal oversight sees the unconventional bear declared as property – leaving him not only unable to adopt, but leaving his marriage annulled and him out of a job. With the help of best bud, Johnny (Wahlberg), and Amanda Seyfried’s newbie lawyer Sam L. Jackson (see what they did there!?!), the threesome take on the government in court to try and win Ted’s civil rights back.
MacFarlane’s third outing as director is like watching a big kid play with a surprisingly tricky jigsaw puzzle: a bundle of reasonably acceptable comedy sketches pieced together in an overly long period of time, in the faint hope of making something adequately enjoyable.
His brand of humour is, and always will be, boundary pushing – testing the limits of acceptableness one racial stereotype gag at a time. The scatter gun approach brings mixed results, but Ted‘s reliance on those ever-popular Seth Rogen-esque weed-smoking, porn-watching puns leaves you with a feeling of ‘been there, done that, got the penis-shaped crack pipe to prove it.’ However, from Disney-like musical numbers and cringe-tastic sperm-related antics to a light sprinkling of geeky pop culture references, there’s just enough variety (including an awesome cameo from Liam Neeson) to keep things ticking over, regardless of its threadbare plot.
Neither as funny nor fresh as its original, there’s still enough stupidity and out-right Family Guy-ness in it – despite its ridiculously over-inflated running time – to make Ted 2 an easily watchable comedic romp.
5.5/10
FILM TRANCE 