FILM: Ted 2 (dir: Seth Macfarlane, 2015)

You could have been an inspiration to the world.  Instead you're just Justin Bieber."

Ted 2 is a fair sequel that relies on a lot of goodwill carried over from the original on the part of the audience.  The narrative structure is a loose re-tread of Ted, but here the film is less relationship-driven and more an exploration of issues, meaning it is a bit less fun and the gag-rate is sparser yet still enough of a crowd-pleaser to entertain.  When the humour is being pointedly outrageous the film delivers - the sperm donor clinic lab and the comedy improv theatre sequences are spectacularly and offensively hilarious - but at other times it meanders or fails to pay off, such as a Jurassic Park nod that delivers the joke but then falls flat as an attempt is made to extend it.  Ted himself is now so convincing that suspension of disbelief is barely required, Wahlberg is a little more muted this time round, and Seyfried is no Kunis but shows some good comic timing.  As ever, Walter Murphy's score delights, and Ted 2 is a significant improvement on the dismal A Million Ways To Die In The West, but like that film, the script and pace of Ted 2 lacks the snap that would make it really great.