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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Ted (Blu-ray) (2012)

Ted (Blu-ray) (2012)

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Released 21-Nov-2012
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Deleted Scenes Alternative Version Outtakes Featurette-Making Of-2 Audio Commentary
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	106:09
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Seth MacFarlane
Studio Distributor	Universal Sony	Starring	Mark Wahlberg Mila Kunis Seth MacFarlane Joel McHale Giovanni Ribisi Patrick Warburton
Case	Standard Blu-ray	Starring
RPI	?	Music	Walter Murphy

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 French dts 5.1 Spanish dts 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English French Spanish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

Gross out comedies have become all the rage recently with the success of films like Hangover, Superbad or Get Him to the Greek. Generally speaking I have been somewhat disappointed by these films as they try to shock more than they try to be funny, in my opinion anyway. Ted is a bit different in that it is very funny as well as being rude and disgusting. Ted is the brainchild of Seth MacFarlane, best known for his animated television series, Family Guy & American Dad. MacFarlane wrote the screenplay, directed the movie and provides the voice and movements for Ted himself.

The film focuses on John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) a Boston resident whose life has been dominated by his friendship with Ted, his best friend. Ted is a little different to other best friends as he is a teddy bear who came to life when John wished for it one Christmas in his childhood. Ted was a bit of a celebrity for a while but now he and John live a life of parties, drugs and good times. They share an apartment with John's girlfriend, Lori Collins (Mila Kunis) who now wants more out of her relationship with John, than just partying. Ted is gross, drinking, taking drugs and having sex wherever he can get it. Lori tells John that although she loves Ted it is time for John to ask him to move out on his own and get a job. How will John choose between his girlfriend and Ted and will his relationship with Lori survive the advances of Lori's sleezebag boss, Rex (Joel McHale)? Another challenge for Ted & John is a guy called Donny (Giovanni Ribisi) has been desperate to have Ted for many years and is getting closer to his aim.

This basic premise provides a good foundation for a very funny film, with lots of great one liners. The humour is smart but also disgusting at times and will offend less broadly minded audiences. The disc deserves its MA15+ rating, especially considering the additional jokes in the extras. This is not a film for kids, despite the presence of a big teddy bear. Wahlberg does a great job as the straight man easily handling the obvious difficulty of acting against a character filled in later via CGI. MacFarlane is very funny as the voice of Ted. The fight scene between Wahlberg and Ted is hilarious and a true highlight of the film. There is a nice voiceover at the beginning by Patrick Stewart plus a very amusing cameo by Sam J Jones who played Flash Gordon in the cheesy 1980 film.

The disc contains both the theatrical version and an extended edition. Some jokes are different in the two versions as opposed to just additional jokes in the extended version. The difference is about six minutes. A full run down on the differences can be found here.

This is a funny film which will be enjoyed by broad minded comedy fans.

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Transfer Quality

Video

The video quality is excellent.

The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio.It is 1080p HD encoded using the AVC codec.

The picture was extremely clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was excellent throughout.

The colour is excellent with no issues to report.

There was some minor aliasing at times.

There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired, French & Spanish which were clear and easy to read.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The audio quality is very good, doing everything required for a film of this type.

This disc contains an English soundtrack in DTS HD-MA 5.1 plus Spanish & French DTS 5.1 tracks and an English Audio Descriptive Service track.

Dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout which is obviously critical in a comedy.

The score by Walter Murphy is light big band jazzy orchestral music which works well for the vibe of the film.

The surround speakers provided a nice enveloping sound field plus the required directional effects.

The subwoofer supported the music plus some ambient sounds such as cars etc.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

A good selection of extras are included, which fans will thoroughly enjoy.

Deleted Scenes (14:54)

Quite a bit of stuff here which contains some different jokes and extra small scenes. They are mostly inconsequential although the very last scene will certainly surprise!

Alternate Takes (10:32)

These are significantly better than the deleted scenes with lots of alternate lines and different jokes. Some very funny stuff here.

Gag Reel (6:24)

Not bad, this contains some ad-libbing and various stuff ups. Funny.

Ted - Making Of (24:42)

A high quality making of featurette which has three parts but can be played in total. Covers the character, the idea, how MacFarlane was able to act with the other cast members as Ted whilst also directing the film, visual effects, on-set hijinks and some jokes which are not in the film or the other extras. Very worthwhile and interesting from a filmmaking perspective.

Teddy Bear Scuffle (5:58)

A specific making of for the Ted Vs John fight scene which is very interesting and well worth watching. It shows how they got the initial physical acting and then how they added the bear as a visual effect. Well worth a watch.

Commentary - Seth MacFarlane, co-writer Alec Sukin & Mark Wahlberg

This commentary is available for the theatrical version only. This is a good combination of informative and amusing which makes it a better than average commentary. They tell stories, talk about casting, trivia, songs, the music, the fight scene and other topics. They also crack jokes and amuse themselves and the audience. Good stuff.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The US Region A release seems to be exactly the same as ours, as does the UK Region B release.

Summary

A funny adult comedy about a man and his best friend, a teddy bear that came to life.