Ted 2

Cuddly little Winnie-the-Poopy-Mouth (voiced by director and co-writer Seth MacFarlane) is back, but his marriage to girlfriend Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) is in jeopardy because he's not legally a person. With his lifelong pal (Mark Wahlberg) and a tyro attorney (Amanda Seyfried), he sues to prove otherwise. Adding Seyfried—and Morgan Freeman as a wise, old legal eagle—helps, but it's the old sequel story: without the first movie's element of surprise the joke goes stale fast, and laughs grow few. Oddly enough, the highlights are two musical numbers: (1) a lavish Busby Berkeley-ish rendition of Irving Berlin's “Steppin' Out With My Baby” under the opening credits; and (2) Seyfried's singing of a new song, “Mean Ol' Moon,” that just might end up winning MacFarlane and composer Walter Murphy an Oscar. J.L.