Ted

Is there anyone in this world who really didn't grow up with a stuffed teddy bear? It's something that defines childhood and can create long lost memories. A fine example of this in the film world is Pixar's first film "Toy Story". It was about a boy's childhood told through toys; a story of kindness and the early years of school. Even though it may be somewhere in the back of the mind with those notions, the movie Ted is the exact opposite of what a teddy bear is or a film about teddy bears should be and that's what makes it fun.

In 1985 on Christmas morning in Boston, 8 year old version of John Bennett (Brett Manley) gets a stuffed teddy bear and John wishes the bear he calls Ted could be real. As it goes, Ted does turn real and an everlasting friendship starts. Now in 2012, still as friends, Ted and John are pot smoking, both have bad jobs and they look like they will never grow up. The plot involves both of them growing up and some more of that friendship.

With the older John Bennett being played by star Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane directing the movie and voicing Ted, no doubt this is a star-studded cast. Wahlberg is playing a tough character that brings both characteristics of a slacker and a hard worker but he evens out this character and gives a good performance. With many ties to the television show Family Guy, Ted definitely is more of a slacker than John but MacFarlane with good voice work makes Ted fit nicely into the story. Ted creates some messages that we have never seen before nor I don't think we will see again. The needed story that we do get is John's love interest Lori Collins (Mila Kunis) who has the necessary chemistry with Wahlberg and is a very likable and even lovable character .

Out of everything that MacFarlane does here that I like, what I like the most is how he plays a nerd in this story. From the Phantom Menace jokes, the Indiana Jones poster in the background in the first scene and all the cracks he makes about Flash Gordon, he gives a side of a director that is welcome in a film and I enjoyed it.

Ted is a strange concept and a silly film, especially the scenes at Fenway Park. Still, if you just go with it, it's pretty much bearable. (pardon the pun) This is a different coming of age story that could never not stand out.

4/5

Jack the Giant Slayer

Jack the Giant Slayer is the first film in a while where I had some mixed feelings beforehand. This film was supposed to be released in the summer of 2012 but it got moved back to now which sometimes is not a good sign. It is also a film from director Bryan Singer who can be good or bad. It does however have Nicholas Hoult in the lead role and he was very fun to watch in Warm Bodies. My mixed feelings before the movie turned out to be on point as the film is an up and down affair.

This has the same familiar plot of an old kingdom with a bean stalk leading to the sky with something up there. The film is beautiful with great aerial and ground shots. There are castles, forests, trolls and period costumes that really give the feel of being in a far-away land. It's all good  but none of it is really new as we have seem stuff like this in the Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings movies. This could really appeal to followers of all those films but frankly I didn't really love any of those films.

The plot involves a love story between the princess of the land, Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) and a farm boy Jack (Hoult). There is some chemistry between them but not full or intense. There is a repeat of the Shrek and Shakespeare story lines with Lord Roderick (Stanley Tucci) who has been chosen to marry a reluctant Isabelle and of course Jack comes between them.

                                            


One thing in this movie that is above average is the cast. Nicholas Haut is good and quite likable. Eleanor Thompson is kind of a weak link and maybe a little bland but she tries. Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor as leader of the King's elite guards are as usual very good in their roles and I should add that it is fun to watch McGregor's hair change in every scene.

Act 3 which closes the movie is kind of a mixed bag. It is mostly a climatic battle between the king's army and the invading Giants who came from above down the bean stalk, but I kind of got lost in the battle once we got in it. It felt a little too easy and it also had a few silly draw-bridge scenes. Finally, the characters did not age at the very end of the movie which is a pet peeve of mine.

Fantasy-adventure is not really my favorite genre but that said, I found Jack the Giant Slayer to be an average movie and something I would probably watch again.

3/5