Released Date: 17 March 2005

Synopsis:

A decade after the legendary Mask of Loki wreaked havoc on the life of an unsuspecting adult in New Line Cinema’s hit The Mask, the magical mask finds its way into the possession of a young father in the family comedy Son of the Mask.

Just as aspiring cartoonist Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) gets over his fear of parenthood with the birth of his new son Alvey, he quickly finds himself in over his head as his new baby is born with the Mask’s spectacular powers. Further complicating matters is the family’s jealous dog, who turns the household upside down and sparks a comical kid-versus-canine battle for control of the Mask. But unbeknownst to them all, the mischievous Norse god Loki (Alan Cumming) has come looking for his Mask, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it back.

Movie Review:

Most of my critic peers gave this film the thums down (some even rejected this film before watching it). Picking up on the few common things they don’t like about this film and one factor stood out as the most prominent one!

Jim Carrey is not in this film!No Cameo, No Mention and Son of Mask is not even remotely linked or related to the 1994 blockbuster hit starring Jim Carrey.

Actually it’s not surprising that the sequel turn out to be such a childish film. Looking back to where The Mask had originated from, way before the movie adaptation, The Mask was a dark and violent comic character. It does have it’s zany moments but there are blood spilled in that comic version and the bullets that The Mask used actually killed people.

Then came The Mask movie and Jim Carrey with his trademark rubbery face had created a whole new franchise for the younger generation. Cartoons, Toy and even the comic books are targeted to cater to the younger and more profitable audiences. So the transformation into a childish type of film as in Son of Mask was not totally unexpected.

It’s not easy to wear this famous green mask that has been left behind by Jim Carrey. Both Jamie Kennedy and Alan Cumming, who are normally good entertainers in films like Scream and X-Men 2, tried hard to fit in as the new guys behind the green mask. However the hole left behind is too big for them to fill and their performance felt wooden, out of place and stiff like the green wooden mask.

There’s a dog that don on the green mask too (as in the first Mask), but somehow this dog, Otis doesn’t pull off the audience’s heartstrings as well as Milo did in the first one. The fight for attention between Otis and the new baby of the household was rather uninspired and forgettable.

So what good about this movie? It had a lot of wacky special effect and an awfully cute baby who looks like it’s a computer generated image. But after checking the cast information, it’s a real baby playing the role. There was also some spoof on other famous films, which raised a few chucks from the older audiences.

I am sure that there will be some audience that enjoyed this film; there are folks who are not picky about the films they watch. And then, there are those who love and enjoy cutesy stuff such as babies and dogs. I also noticed there was a little girl seating on the edge of the seat, enjoying every moment of the show and I am sure she was born before 1994. So if you have any kids, nephews or nieces that you are indebted to, bring them to watch Son of Mask.

Movie Rating: C for adults, B for kids

Review by Richard Lim Jr