Son of the Mask
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| Son of the Mask | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for Son of the Mask |
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| Directed by | Lawrence Guterman |
| Produced by | Erica Huggins Scott Kroopf |
| Written by | Lance Khazei |
| Starring | Jamie Kennedy Alan Cumming Traylor Howard Steven Wright Kal Penn and Bob Hoskins |
| Music by | Randy Edelman |
| Cinematography | Greg Gardiner |
| Editing by | Malcolm Campbell John Coniglio Debra Neil-Fisher |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | February 18th, 2005 |
| Running time | 86 min |
| Country | USA Germany |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $74 Million |
| Preceded by | The Mask |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Son of the Mask is the Raspberry Award-Winning 2005 sequel to the 1994 comedy film, The Mask, directed by Lawrence Guterman. The movie had a $74 million budget and a $17 million box office gross.
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[edit] Production
Ben Stein is involved in the movie to reestablish the relationship between the mask and its creator, Loki. He is the only actor to appear in both films as well as the Mask cartoon series. The dog's name, Otis, connects with the dog from the first movie and comic book, Milo, as a reference to the movie The Adventures of Milo and Otis. The naming of "Tim Avery" pays homage to famous cartoonist Tex Avery.
[edit] Plot
Ten years after the adventures of Stanley Ipkiss in Edge City, Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy), an aspiring cartoonist, is feeling reluctant to become a father when he has to take care of a baby with amazing abilities. The baby possesses strange and terrific shapeshifting powers that he uses to torture his father. The baby was conceived while his father was wearing the Mask of Loki, a mythological object that transforms the wearer into a manic shapeshifter alter-ego (as it did to Ipkiss in the first film). As bad as a baby with godlike powers might seem, there is also the family dog, Otis, who is trying to use the Mask to do away with his competition for Tim's affection. But the really bad news is that Loki (Alan Cumming) wants his mask back, under command by his father Odin (Bob Hoskins).
Loki tries to find the child born of the mask, since if he finds the child, he will find the mask. Eventually, Loki finds the baby, and fights them. This results in Odin taking away Loki's powers, since Odin doesn't know the baby was right in his arms, since he was possessing Avery at the time.
Loki summons Odin, and convinces him to give him his powers back for an hour, to get his mask back. He threatens Avery into showing up with the mask or else he will never see his son again. Eventually, it ends in a brawl between Loki and Avery donning the mask (actually for the second time, he had donned the mask earlier in the film, when he was going to a costume party), turning into a wild character similar to the one in the first film. After a crazy fight between the god and the "superhuman", Loki figures they are evenly matched opponents, and believes that they should let the baby decide who he wants to be with. He chooses Avery after the latter delivers a tearful apology to his son for not paying attention to him. But Loki, not prepared to give up so easily (knowing the price he will have to pay if he fails in his mission) grabs a giant hammer and chases Avery, his wife, and the baby. As he is about to attack them, Avery suddenly protects his wife and the baby from the hammer with super strength (probably side effects from wearing the mask). Just when it looks like Loki is about to finally crush them, his time finally runs out Odin comes back, and attacks him for failing at his mission, even going so far as to say that he is "in every sense of the word, a failure". As he is about to banish Loki again, Avery stands up to the powerful god, telling him that Loki is his son, and that the most important thing in the universe is the relationship with your family. Avery then gives the mask to Loki who presents it to his father, then Loki and Odin (now reconciled) return to (supposedly) Asgard happily. Tim comes up with a great idea for a cartoon: A baby and a dog competeing for Dad's attention.
[edit] Cast and characters
- Jamie Kennedy — Tim Avery/The Mask
- Alan Cumming — Loki
- Ryan Falconer and Liam Falconer — Alvey Avery
- Traylor Howard — Tonya Avery
- Bob Hoskins — Odin
- Ben Stein — Dr. Arthur Neuman
- Peter Flett — Mr. Kemperbee
- Magda Szubanski — Betty
- Richard Steven Horvitz — Otis the Dog/The Mask
- Mona Marshall - Baby Alvey/The Mask
[edit] Trivia
- At one point in the film, the mask is used during the day time. According to the original film, the mask only works at night.
- This film ignores the events of the 1990's Mask animated series.
- At the end of The Mask, Stanley threw the mask into the Hudson River. However, at the beginning of the film, Otis gets the mask from the stream. Though the river may flow into the stream.
- This is one of four films which were sequels to films starring Jim Carrey, but did not involve Carrey in any way. The others being Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, Evan Almighty, Ace Ventura Junior and Batman and Robin. (Batman Forever starred Jim Carrey.)
- Director Chuck Russell, who helmed the original film, expressed his interest in a Mask sequel in his 1996 commentary when DVD became popular with comsumers. He was hoping Jim Carrey would come back as The Mask, along with Amy Yasbeck, who played Peggy in the original. Chuck decided to cut scenes when Peggy dies and leave the character open for the sequel, which became this film. The concept was completely changed when Jim decided not to return.
[edit] Reaction
The critical reaction was almost unanimously negative about the film. Getting an average grade of "D" in most movie websites, Son of the Mask was a critical and box office failure. Richard Roeper (of Ebert & Roeper) said about the film:
"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."
The sequel, originally planned shortly after the first movie, even featured a contest in Nintendo Power magazine to win a small part in the film (it is unlikely this prize was honored so many years later). Much to fans of the original Mask's disappointment, Jim Carrey did not appear in the movie, and his non-involvement canceled the planned The Mask 2. Many fans had also hoped for a darker film based on the original comics in the wake of Hellboy's success at theaters. However, the character seems to have fallen out of favor with the Dark Horse owners in the past few years (the last known book was published in 2001). The film is #18 on the IMDb's Bottom 100 Movie List Of All Time.
Even from the first teaser trailer involving a baby dancing, heavily created from CGI, left a bad taste in audiences' mouths. Some said the effects looked ropey, some even said that it didn't capture the realistic flavour of the original. The film opened to negative reviews.
[edit] Reviews
- "Son of the Mask is an irredeemable mess, a computer-animated Punch and Judy show without wit, heart or a single memorable performance." (Dana Stevens, The New York Times)
- "It's astonishing how dull a movie that packs so much visual overstimulation into its frames can be." (Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times).
- "Doing a sequel to "The Mask" without Jim Carrey sounds like a really bad idea. As "Son of the Mask" proves, it is." (Chris Kaltenbach, Baltimore Sun)
- "The creaks are louder than anything in The Son of the Sheik. So-called sequel to The Mask is raucous without mercy, and burdened by a charmless cast; it has to plunder Chuck Jones' cartoon One Froggy Evening to glean even a few good moments." (Leonard Maltin)
[edit] Awards and Nominations
[edit] 2005 Golden Raspberry Awards
Eight Nominations:
- Worst Picture
- Worst Actor (Jamie Kennedy)
- Worst Supporting Actor (Alan Cumming)
- Worst Supporting Actor (Bob Hoskins)
- Worst Director (Lawrence Guterman)
- Worst Screenplay (Lance Khazei)
- Worst Remake or Sequel
- Worst Screen Couple (Jamie Kennedy & Anybody stuck sharing the screen with him)
One Award:
- Worst Remake or Sequel
[edit] Mythology
Despite having a mythological background, nearly all the mythology in the movie is inaccurate. Odin is not the father of Loki, he's his bond brother (this may have been because of the Mighty Thor superhero in Marvel Comics). Loki is also not Thor's brother (though Thor is Odin's son). He also was never said to be chained under the earth, he was bound by intestines and having acidic venom poured on him.
In fact, the movie even contradicts the mythology established by The Mask. In the first film, a scene filmed (but cut- though included in the comic book adaptation of the film) set in the past saw Vikings sailing to the "new land" to bury the mask as Loki had been trapped inside the mask as a form of imprisonment. Professor Neuman later makes a comment believing the mask may be just that (to a degree, as Neuman didn't believe in the stories). The sequel, thus, is impossible—Loki cannot be trying to regain "his mask" if he's trapped inside it.
