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The Movie: "The Mask" was an enormous hit for Jim Carrey way back when, and spawned the career of Cameron Diaz. Since the film's release, there had been frequent rumors of Carrey returning to the role. Then, all of the sudden, ads for "Son of the Mask" happened, and all that went out the window. Instead of Carrey, the mask of the title has now been picked up by Jamie Kennedy, who finds himself in a movie that could have fit comfortably in a direct-to-video release. Kennedy stars as Tim Avery (read: nod to Tex Avery), an "everyguy" that's not nearly as "every" as Carrey's so well-played Stanley Ipkiss in the original. Tim is a wannabe animator whose girlfriend, Tonya (Traylor Howard), desperately wants a baby. Tim's pooch finds the mask from the first movie floating by and eventually, gives it to his owner, who doesn't think much of it at first. When he puts the mask on at the Halloween party for his office, he's finally noticed by his boss. Viewers also get to see a montage of Kennedy's character doing different songs on-stage - a scene that, I must say, will go down as one of the most painful moments of cinema that I've ever experienced in my lifetime. Afterwards, Tim impregnates his girlfriend while wearing the mask, giving his new son the mask's powers. However, also seeking out the mask is Loki (Alan Cumming), the god of mischief, and his father (Bob Hoskins), who's pissed that the mask is lost. The remainder of the film, focuses on Tim's troubles taking care of the baby and on the baby and Tim's pooch. Given the dog's jealousy of the newcomer, he steals the mask and starts a mini-battle with the infant. As terrible as "Son of the Mask" is at times, there are still some highlights, such as the choice of incredibly deadpan comic Steven Wright as Tim's boss. Aside from that, its difficult to see why anyone would have wanted to actually produce this screenplay. Full of bathroom jokes (there's a pee joke that's utterly disgusting and an "Exorcist" joke that isn't much better, along with some farts thrown in) and hyperactive sequences that are about as pleasant as someone screaming in your ear, the movie is so ridiculously loud and jumpy that it becomes severely grating. Worse yet, some of the CGI sequences involving the baby are downright creepy when they're supposed to be funny. There's some moments of strangeness where people in the immediate area don't seem to notice what's going on, and a couple of elaborate transitions between scenes are so bizarre as to be confusing. Directed by Larry Guterman (whose "Cats and Dogs" I thought had moments), "Son of the Mask" gets one or two minor chuckles and then, for the rest of the time proceeds to be almost impressively dismal, often topping itself when you thought it couldn't get any worse. The DVD VIDEO: "Son of the Mask" is presented by New Line in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. Picture quality is perfectly adequate, as the presentation offers first-rate sharpness and detail, with no inconsistencies. Minor edge enhancement is present on a couple of occasions, but no pixelation or print flaws were spotted. The film's cartoonish color palette was bright and well-rendered, with nice saturation and no smearing. Black level was solid, while flesh tones looked accurate. SOUND: "Son of the Mask" is presented by New Line in Dolby Digital 5.1. As expected, the film's sound design has a pretty significant amount of surround activity, with sound effects tossed about in the rear speakers. The sound mix isn't particularly detailed or layered or even entirely effective - it is, however, about as hyper as the movie itself. Audio quality is perfectly fine, with crisp effects, music and dialogue. EXTRAS: Director Larry Gutterman, actor Jamie Kennedy and writer Lance Khazei offer an audio commentary. The disc also offers a few other supplements: deleted scenes, storyboards and three featurettes: "Chow Bella: Hollywood's Pampered Pooches", "Creating Son of the Mask - Digital Diapers and Dog Bytes" and "Paw Prints and Baby Steps - On the Set". Final Thoughts: Movies like "Son of the Mask" are part of the reason why theater attendance is down again this year. Relentlessly abrasive, lowbrow and unpleasant, the film is an embarassment. New Line's DVD edition offers fine audio/video quality, along with some decent supplements. Still, not recommended. 
Film Grade The Film D DVD Grades Video 91/A Audio: 88/B Extras: 80/B- |