Psycho's Movie Reviews #400: The SON Of The Mask (2005)

Son of the Mask is a 2005 superhero comedy film[1] directed by Lawrence Guterman. The film stars Jamie Kennedy as Tim Avery, an aspiring animator from Fringe City who has just had his first child born with the powers of the Mask. A spin-off to The Mask (1994), it is the second instalment in The Mask franchise, an adaptation of Dark Horse Comics which starred Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz.

It also stars Alan Cumming as Loki, whom Odin has ordered to find the Mask. It co-stars Traylor Howard, Kal Penn, Steven Wright, Bob Hoskins as Odin, and Ryan and Liam Falconer as Tim's baby Alvey. Ben Stein makes a brief reappearance in the beginning of the film as Doctor Arthur Neuman from the original film to re-establish the relationship with the mask and Loki. The film was a critical and financial failure upon release, being panned by both critics and fans of the original for its story, lack of the original cast, and moments too inappropriate for a PG film. It grossed $59.9 million against its $84–100 million budget. Kennedy would later talk in-depth about his experiences working on the movie in the years since its release on his YouTube channel.

Plot

A decade after the events of the first film, Doctor Arthur Neuman is giving a tour of the hall of Norse mythology in Edge City's local museum. Neuman mentions that Loki, the God of Mischief, created the mask and unleashed it on Earth in order to spread his chaos among mankind, and that those who wear the mask are granted his powers. When Neuman brings up Loki's punishment and imprisonment at Odin's hands, a stranger suddenly becomes furious and transforms, revealing himself to be Loki. The tourists panic and flee, but Neuman stays to argue with Loki, who takes the mask in the display case, only to realize it is a replica. In anger, he removes Neuman's face from his body and puts it in the case, before disposing of the arriving authorities and storming out of the museum in a rage.

Meanwhile, the real mask, which was disposed of by Stanley Ipkiss and Tina Carlyle, makes its way to Fringe City and is found in a river by a dog named Otis - who belongs to Tim Avery, an aspiring animator at an animation studio, who is reluctant to accept parenthood with his wife, Tonya. On a tropical island, Loki is relaxing until Odin confronts and orders him to resume the search for the mask he had sent him on, as he believes it has caused too much chaos for mankind. Loki asks his father to help him, only for the latter to sternly say that he has to take responsibility for his actions. Later that night, Tim puts on the mask for a Halloween party held at the studio, becoming a reincarnation of Stanley Ipkiss' "The Mask" alter-ego. When the party turns out to be a bore, Tim uses his newfound powers to perform a remix of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", making the party a success and giving Tim's boss, Daniel Moss, the inspiration for a new cartoon, resulting in Tim's promotion the next day.

Tim returns to his house that night and, while still wearing the mask, conceives a baby. The baby, Alvey, is born with the same powers as the mask, which alerts Odin. Possessing a store clerk, Odin informs Loki about this and tells him that if he finds the child, he will find the mask. Months later, Tonya goes on a business trip, leaving Tim with their son. Tim, now promoted, desperately tries to work on his cartoon at home, but is continuously disrupted by Alvey. In order to get some peace and quiet, Tim lets Alvey watch various cartoons on television, giving Alvey the idea to torment his father using his powers. Meanwhile, Otis, who has been feeling neglected by Tim because of Alvey, dons the mask by accident and becomes a reincarnation of the masked persona of Stanley Ipkiss' dog, Milo, who tries to get rid of Alvey, but all of his attempts are foiled by the much craftier infant.

Eventually, Loki, after searching from home to home for the baby and leaving a trail of mayhem in his wake, finds Alvey and confronts Tim for the mask back, but Alvey uses his powers to protect his father. Odin, possessing Tim's body, becomes fed up with Loki's destructive approach and strips his son of his powers. Tim is later fired after failing to impress Moss during a pitch, but is able to reconcile and bond with Alvey. Loki, still determined to please his father, sneaks into the Avery household that night and manages to complete a summoning ritual and appeal to Odin to restore his powers. Odin agrees, but only for a limited time, stating this is his last chance. He immediately turns the head of the neighbour Betty into a big nose for being a nosey neighbour.

Loki then kidnaps Alvey in exchange for the mask. When Tonya returns home, she goes with Tim and Otis, whom Tim had apologized to for his negligence towards him and convinced him that Alvey could be his new best friend, to make the exchange with Loki, but Loki decides to keep Alvey despite the exchange, forcing the group to chase after them as Tim becomes the Mask once more. The subsequent confrontation is relatively evenly matched due to both of them possessing equal powers, prompting Loki to halt the fight, and suggest that they should let Alvey decide who he wants to be with. Although Loki tries to lure Alvey to him with promises of fun, Tim takes the mask off and convinces his son to choose him using the connection he had forged with him. Saddened and enraged, Loki tries to kill Tim, but his time runs out and Odin appears in person, once again scolding Loki for his failure. Tim, however, feels sympathy for Loki and reminds Odin that regardless of their problems, they will still be family and nothing is more important than that. Touched by Tim's speech as the mask is returned, Odin reconciles with Loki and the duo return home.

Some time later, Tim is rehired when his subsequent cartoon, based on his own experiences of Alvey and Otis competing for his attention, becomes a success. After the Avery family watches the cartoon's premiere, Tonya reveals that she is pregnant again.

Production

Development and Writing

Not long after the release of The Mask, it was announced in Nintendo Power that Jim Carrey would be returning in a sequel called The Mask II. The magazine held a contest where the first prize would be awarded a walk-on role in the film. Director Chuck Russell, who helmed the original film, expressed his interest in a Mask sequel in his 1996 Laserdisc commentary. He was hoping Carrey would come back as the title character, along with Amy Yasbeck, who played reporter Peggy Brandt in the original. Russell decided to cut scenes when Peggy dies and leave the character open for the sequel, which became this film. In a 1995 Barbara Walters Special, Carrey revealed that he was offered $10 million to star in The Mask II, but turned it down, because his experiences on Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls convinced him that reprising a character he'd previously played offered him no challenges as an actor. Due to Carrey declining to reprise his role, the project never came to fruition, and the concept for the sequel was completely changed. The winner of the failed contest was given $5000 and other prizes, and was issued an apology in the final issue of Nintendo Power in 2012.

In 2001, it was reported that Lance Khazei was asked by New Line Cinema to do the script for a sequel to The Mask.

Addressing the differences between the sequel and the original film, Guterman compared it to the differences between Alien and Aliens, stating that, "Son of the Mask is a completely different story."

Ben Stein reprises his role of Dr. Arthur Neuman from the original film. He is involved in the movie to re-establish the relationship between the mask and its creator, Loki. He is the only actor to appear in both films as well as in The Mask cartoon series. The dog's name, Otis, connects with the dog from the original film and comic book, Milo, as a reference to The Adventures of Milo and Otis. The naming of the Avery family pays homage to Tex Avery as its patriarch and the film's protagonist, Tim Avery, wants to be a cartoonist throughout the film. The film was shot at Fox Studios in Sydney.[citation needed] Principal photography began on August 18, 2003.

In 2021, Jamie Kennedy revealed in a series of in depth videos on his YouTube channel about his experience making the film. He was offered the lead role after a couple of other projects he was to make with Warner Bros. did not go into production. He had initially turned down the offer to star due to scheduling conflicts with his television series The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. Both the studio and network managed to work his schedule and he was signed. However, Kennedy was once again hesitant due to Tim only having minuscule time as the Mask and considered instead playing the role of Loki due to the versatile nature of the character. A chance encounter with Jim Carrey convinced him to take the role as well as talks with the director and producers who pitched the film as a romantic-comedy of a simple man going through relatable circumstances as a newly married man and sudden father. Kennedy admitted that he was also impressed with the special effects and hoped that the film would at least succeed in that aspect.

Kennedy stated that filming was exhausting primarily due to the Falconer twins and Bear the dog's constant maintenance. This combined with the heavy deadline and constant onset rewrites made it difficult to determine how the film would turn out. The original cut was roughly two hours long and only went through minor changes before getting screened for executives. Kennedy claimed that this version was much more accessible and had "scope and tones"; praising Guterman's attention to detail. However, the film was deemed "not funny" and was demanded to have thirty-eight minutes cut from the film. This resulted in what Kennedy described as an "ADHD clusterfuck" with numerous VFX based scenes added that focused on Alvey and Otis.

The film had a budget of $84 million, New Line Cinema paid $20 million of that for the North America distribution rights while international partners paid the rest, as it was expected to do well in its home media release.

Release/Reception/Box Office

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 6% based on 105 reviews and an average rating of 3/10. The site's consensus reads: "Overly frantic, painfully unfunny, and sorely missing the presence of Jim Carrey." The site ranked the film 75th in the 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 20 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavourable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale.

In his review Richard Roeper stated, "In the five years I've been co-hosting this show, this is the closest I've ever come to walking out halfway through the film, and now that I look back on the experience, I wish I had." Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 stars and stated, "What we basically have here is a license for the filmmakers to do whatever they want to do with the special effects, while the plot, like Wile E. Coyote, keeps running into the wall." He later named it the fifth worst film of 2005. On their television show, Ebert & Roeper, they gave the film "Two Thumbs Down". Lou Lumerick of the New York Post gave the film a zero-star rating and said that: "Parents who let their kids see this stinker should be brought up on abuse charges; so should the movie ratings board that let this suggestive mess slip by with a PG rating." Nell Minow of Common Sense Media gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "This movie is dumb and loud, which some kids will confuse with entertaining, but others will just find it overwhelming."

Jim Schembri of The Sydney Morning Herald was more positive, saying that the film was "a bright, fast, kiddie-oriented lark with US TV comic Jamie Kennedy doing well as the beneficiary of the magical mask that turns anyone who wears it into a dazzling display of computer-animated effects."

The film earned back $59.9 million of its $84–100 million budget, making it a financial failure.

Budget $84–100 million

Box office $59.9 million

My Review

Series note: As this is not a direct, chapter-like continuation of The Mask (1994), one can easily watch either film first.

If I ever needed proof that I'm looking for something different in a film than most folks, here it is. While I don't think Son of the Mask is flawless, the only flaw I can really see is that the flow of the story doesn't quite make it as enrapturing or emotionally impactful as, say, Schindler's List (1993) or The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Two factors mitigate that lack. One, Son of the Mask isn't shooting for the same compelling emotional intensity as a film like Schindler's List. Two, Son of the Mask's other outstanding artistic qualities enable it to largely transcend any problems it has with achieving a spellbinding plot.

Of course, related to point one above, it's not that every film needs to have a paradigm-shattering plot to succeed. The Godfrey Reggio/Philip Glass trilogy of Koyaanisqatsi (1983), Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002) all receive scores of 9 or 10 from me, and debatably they have no plots, even if they make many cogent, often philosophical, "arguments" about culture.

But it's not that Son of the Mask's story isn't good. The plot is set in the same location--the fictional Edge City--as the first Mask (as well as John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke's comic books, upon which both films are based). The story could take place either before or after the beloved Jim Carrey film. Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) lives in the bucolic countryside that's ironically only two miles outside of Edge City (it seems almost like a north-eastern New Jersey, Westchester County or southwestern Connecticut joke). The mask of Loki, the "God of mischief" in Norse mythology, comes floating down a stream, to be found by Tim's dog, Otis (in an alliterative reference to Odin, Loki's father, and a pun on Milo and Otis). Tim puts it on just in time for a Halloween party, which enables him to get in the good graces of both his boss, played by comedian Steven Wright, and his wife, Tonya (Traylor Howard). Prior to this, Tim was having trouble at work as a struggling animator relegated to giving studio tours dressed up as a giant tortoise, and his wife was nagging him about having a baby.

Meanwhile, we get to meet Loki himself (played by Alan Cumming) in a fabulous prologue set in a museum. It seems that he's lost his mask (of course) and Odin (an almost unrecognizable Bob Hoskins) is nagging him to find it. Tim's masked persona enables him to get a promotion and procreate, but the baby just may metaphysically be the son of Loki, and Loki exploits this fact to try to find his mask.

{The whole reason I watched this film was Alan Cumming - he was the best character to be honest. Although, when he wears the Mask he looks as if he should be in the band KISS, anyone else think that?}

{Even while he's in a normal form, he has an interesting character design; he looks like an emo/punk who was a reject from The Lost Boys (1987)}

Although it sounds complex, perhaps, that's a more than attractive story to me. It actually trumps the first Mask film in a way by bringing the source of the mask into the proceedings. It's highly fantastical and surreal, and it enables a great number of deeper themes and subtexts. To a large extent, Son of the Mask is a film about fatherhood. It explores the fears and foibles that many fathers and fathers-to-be experience. The resolution to the film's dilemmas--and director Lawrence Guterman adeptly maintains two primary dilemmas throughout--hinge on learning how to be a better father. But there are other important themes and subtexts, including the importance of personal assertiveness (carried over from the themes of the first film), the quandaries of dual career families, "sibling" rivalry, child development issues, and maybe even the beginnings of an Oedipal complex.

Not that this is primarily a serious film, but it's not meant to be only or primarily a laugh-out-loud comedy, either. Guterman is much more concerned with achieving a thoroughgoing surrealism than he is with trying to make you laugh. I love surrealism, so I'm a prime candidate to love this film. In fact, I can't imagine anyone with a taste for surrealism not appreciating the film, at least to an extent.

The production design--including things like the sets, matte paintings, costumes, and the ubiquitous cgi (while terrifying at times) is pretty darn decent - especially as the whole film is meant to be cartoony. The surreal action sequences are even better. Perhaps even more than the first film, Son of the Mask realizes a "live action" cartoon.

Tex Avery is again a strong reference (made obvious by Kennedy's character being named "Tim Avery" and working as an animator), as is classic Warner Brothers animation in general. A long section in the middle is a clever spoof on Chuck Jones' One Froggy Evening (1955), and there is another long section that is straight out of the Roadrunner cartoons (involving Otis first drawing up blueprints then trying to execute an elaborate, almost Rube Goldbergian "elimination contraption").

The funniest aspect of the movie for me, perhaps, was a kind of "suspended absurdity", made most clear when Tonya returns from her business trip and finds her home (which was subtly modelled after cartoon homes circa the 1940s and 1950s) still in shambles from the cartoonish events that preceded--the piano is still hanging from the top of the stairs, the giant boxing glove is still engaged, and so on.

But the performers have many funny moments, too. Although Kennedy has a couple moments of Jim Carrey-like mannerisms when Tim is The Mask, and these underscore that Kennedy can't do Carrey like Carrey can (of course), these are few and far between. Kennedy is Tim as Tim for most of the film, and funny at that. Alan Cumming was hilarious in his different disguises when he's searching for his mask, and entertaining otherwise--he's impressed me in all of his films I've seen. I also found the baby frequently funny, especially when more surreal.

Giving Son of the Mask a 1 or 2 seems simply ridiculous to me, even if there are elements of the film you strongly dislike. Technically, at least, this is an exemplary work of art. It deserves to be reconsidered. 8/10

{While I was researching this stuff I came across this picture and it's literally one of the funniest things I've ever seen}