Ted 2 - C

Rated R, 115 minutes

I will fully admit that Seth MacFarlane's 2012 crude yet likable comedy "Ted," about a foul-mouthed talking teddy bear, was an amusing guilty pleasure, but much like the early days of his animated show "Family Guy" the one-joke premise of "Ted 2" has little place to go or grow. Peppered with a few low-brow laughs, this time is far less original and fun than the first time out. Newlywed couple Ted (Seth MacFarlane) and Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) want to have a baby, but Ted's claimed as property and as a result, he loses his job and his life crumbles. In order to remain married and qualify as a parent, Ted must prove he's a person in a court of law, so he and John (Mark Wahlberg) set out to find a lawyer to sue for Ted's civil rights and they settle on an amateur lawyer named Samantha Leslie Jackson (Amanda Seyfried). The mildly entertaining yet crass and thin "Ted 2" is directed and co-written by MacFarlane and a couple of his "Family Guy" producers and writers, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, which is maybe why it feels very familiar: like a naughty, live-action extension of that show that tends to squeeze all it can out of a couple of jokes - instead of Peter and Brian the dog, here it's John and Ted the bear. The thin, predictable premise, in which Ted must prove he is more than property, could've easily been resolved in a 30-minute "FG" episode, but it's stretched out with some annoying hit-and-miss mischief, some of which work - the Comic Con section in the last act provided a few (thanks Darth Vader) - while others don't - an ongoing, profane gag involving the results of any internet search that can't be repeated here, which is less funny each time MacFarlane shows it. In spite of MacFarlane's penchant and over reliance on stale pot and pop-culture jokes, most of which a young audience won't get anyway, he can be charming and likable, especially with a jazzy opening dance number or an original song, like the uncharacteristically sweet "Mean 'Ol Moon" that Seyfried sings mid-film, both courtesy of "Family Guy" composer Walter Murphy. "Ted 2" goes on way too long and suffers mostly from MacFarlane's lazy direction and storytelling, not to mention the very awkward Morgan Freeman cameo (as well as the Liam Neeson one) is just badly handled, while Wahlberg himself seems a little disinterested this time, but he's still a decent Peter Griffin-esque foil for the pot-smoking, cussing teddy bear who tends to upstage him. If you liked the first one, you'll enjoy this one too, just not as much.
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