ted

Seth MacFarlene is certainly one of those workers in animation that's very hit and miss with what he does. He's mostly known for "Family Guy," and his two other shows, "American Dad" and "The Cleveland Show." However, some seem to forget that he got his start working as a writer for Cartoon Networks' first three Cartoon Cartoons: "Dexter's Laboratory," "Cow and Chicken," and "Johnny Bravo." But whether you like his work or not, you can at least say his work is...something. And today, we're here to talk about his first feature film, "ted."

"ted" is about a young loner named John, whose never had any friends that will hang out with him. One Christmas, he gets a teddy bear and wishes he could talk to him, and on the night of a falling star, Ted comes to life and fame comes to him, but still stays with John as his best friend. Fast forward to 27 years later, and Ted's now a pot-smoking former celebrity, and John's still a kid at heart, working at a car-rental. On his four year anniversary with his girlfriend Lori, John has Ted move out and get work, all while trying to decide on if he should still be hanging out with Ted or move on in life with Lori.

Now with what I saw in the trailers, it looked pretty good, and it got me hoping that they weren't the funniest parts of the movie. Luckily, I was treated to so much more in the film, with great humor, great acting, and some great chemistry between the characters. You might think it's the same typical humor from "Family Guy," but this is something different.

Mark Wahlberg plays John, and it's one of his best performances. Since Wahlberg is a great comedic actor, he was a great choice in the film, and delivers some great dialogue. Mila Kunis was pretty good too, and her being in the movie was a bit expected, since this IS a Seth MacFarlene movie. Speaking of which, Alex Borstein and Patrick Warburton are in the movie as well. Borstein appears in the beginning of the movie as John's mother, but that's it. She doesn't appear anywhere else. Patrick Warburton plays John's co-worker, Guy, and I felt that he should have been in there more, but that's a minor gripe. It was said that Seth Green wouldn't be in the movie, mostly because he and MacFarlene aren't as friendly as they used to, so I don't know. Sam Jones, who you may remember as Flash Gordon, is in the movie playing himself, and what he does is hysterical. He was such and enjoyment to watch, and you could tell that MacFarlene was a "Flash Gordon" fan, with many references to it. However, the performance that really stands out, is Seth MacFarlene as Ted. He does the motion-capture of Ted, and his performance, timing, and everything else really does an excellent job, and at one point pulls reference to "Short Circuit 2," in a way.

Overall, "ted" is one the best comedies I've seen, as well as one of my favorite movies of the year. It's funny, it's clever, it's acted great, and it has a very unique charm to it. Was it better than "That's My Boy"? In a way, yes, because as I look back at that film, I feel that there were some other comedies that I liked better, and "ted" is one of them. Don't get me wrong, I still think "That's My Boy" was great, but I think I gave it a bit too much praise, saying it was the best comedy I've ever seen. But still, both films are great, especially since both of them have similarities with their premise, but I recommend "ted" more.

Rating: 10/10