Son of the Mask

Son of the Mask
Theatrical release poster
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 Bob Hoskins
Music by	Randy Edelman
Cinematography	Greg Gardiner
Editing by	Malcolm Campbell John Coniglio Debra Neil Fisher
Studio	Dark Horse Entertainment Radar Pictures
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	February 11, 2005 (2005-02-11)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$84 million
Box office	$57,552,641

Son of the Mask is a 2005 American fantasy family-comedy film directed by Lawrence Guterman, starring Jamie Kennedy as Tim Avery, an aspiring cartoonist from Fringe City who has just had his first child born with the powers of the Mask. It is the stand-alone sequel to the successful 1994 film The Mask, an adaptation of Dark Horse Comics which starred Jim Carrey. The film had an $84 million budget and $57.6 million worldwide box office gross.

It also stars Alan Cumming as the god of mischief, Loki, whom Odin has ordered to find the Mask. It co-stars Traylor Howard, Kal Penn, Steven Wright, and Bob Hoskins as Odin. Ben Stein makes a quick reappearance as Dr. Arthur Neuman from The Mask to reestablish the relationship with the mask and Loki. The film was widely panned by critics. It won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel.

Unlike the first film which was more adult oriented, this film is a family film as the tone is much lighter and more comical than the first one's.

Plot

Ten years after the first film, Dr. Arthur Neuman (Ben Stein) is giving a tour of the hall of Norse mythology in Edge City Museum. A man in black comes in to view the hall. When Dr. Neuman reaches the part concerning Loki's imprisonment, the stranger becomes very angry and transforms, revealing himself to be Loki (Alan Cumming). The tourists panic and flee, but Dr. Neuman stays to argue with the angry god. Loki takes his mask, but realizes it is a fake. In anger he removes Dr. Neuman's still talking face from his body and puts it on the mask's stand before getting rid of the guards and storming out of the museum in a whirlwind of rage.

In a town called Fringe City, Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy), an aspiring cartoonist at an animation company, is feeling reluctant to become a father. He has a beautiful wife, Tonya (Traylor Howard), and a best friend, Jorge (Kal Penn), who is very shy around women. Tim has a close relationship with his dog Otis (Farmer and Horvitz}, who finds an ancient mask in a creek and brings it to his owner's house.

Tim puts on the mask for a Halloween party, transforming into a party animal that is similar to the mask character from the first film. Tim notices Jorge's crush, Sylvia standing alone in the back, eagerly confronts her, and has her stripped out of her costume and into a skimpy red suit. Sylvia falls into Jorge's arms, which pleases him, and they remain together for the rest of the evening. When the company party turns out to be a bore, Tim uses his mask powers to perform a remix of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", therefore making the party a success, and giving Tim's boss the idea for a new cartoon. Tim returns to his house and, while still wearing the mask he conceives a baby. The baby, when he is born, has the same powers as Loki. Meanwhile, Loki is trying to find the child born from the mask, from his father Odin (Bob Hoskins) possessing a store clerk, saying if he finds the child, he will find the mask.

Later, Tonya goes on a business trip, leaving Tim with the baby. Tim, who has been promoted at work, desperately tries to work on his cartoon at home, but is disrupted by baby Alvey. In order to get some peace and quiet, Tim lets Alvey watch TV, which shows Michigan J. Frog. Alvey devilishly obtains the idea to mess with his father's head by using his mask powers. Meanwhile, Otis the dog, who has been feeling neglected by Tim because of Alvey, dons the mask by accident and becomes a crazed animal version of himself, who wishes to get rid of the baby. Tim starts to notice his son and dog's wild cartoonish behavior, when Alvey starts harassing him, while Otis attempts to kill baby Alvey two times, but is thwarted each time.

Eventually, Loki finds the mask-born baby, and confronts Tim for the mask back. When Tim is unable to present the mask to him, Loki chases him into an alley and attempts to kill him with a giant grenade, but Alvey protects his dad from the imposing danger, revealing he still loves his father on the inside. Before Loki attempts to attack Tim again, Odin possesses Tim's body, only to find that Loki has failed to obtain the mask and takes his powers away as punishment, not knowing the baby was in his hands and not listening to Loki. Being freed from danger, Tim realizes he is late for the presentation of his first cartoon. Unfortunately, Tim is unprepared when he arrives, and the company head Daniel Moss (Steven Wright) fires him as a result. Back at home, Alvey and Tim are finally even with each others companies, but Otis, still feeling neglected and sad that Tim has put more of his attention on Alvey instead of him, again puts on the mask, becoming his cartoon version of himself again.

Loki, meanwhile, summons Odin, and convinces him to give him his powers back for an hour, to get his mask back. He threatens Tim into showing up with the mask or else he will never see his son again. Tonya returns, and she and Tim go to find Otis who is on a date with a girl dog named Venus. Tim then apologizes to Otis, and convinces him to give him back the mask to save Alvey. They then meet Loki in the alley, but Loki refuses to give the baby back, after happening to have bonded with him.

It ends in a brawl between Loki and Tim, who puts on the mask again. After a crazy fight between the god and the "superhuman", Loki figures they are evenly matched opponents and believes that they should let Alvey decide who he wants to be with. He chooses Tim after the latter delivers a tearful apology to his son for not paying attention to him. But Loki is not prepared to give up so easily, knowing the price he will have to pay if he fails in his mission. He pulls a giant hammer out, and tries to smash Tim, his wife, and Alvey. As he is about to smash all three of them, Tim suddenly protects his wife and the baby from the hammer with apparent super strength. Drills come from the hammer and proceed towards Tim. Just when Loki is about to finally crush them, his time runs out. Odin comes back, and scolds him for his failure at his mission, saying that he is "in every sense of the word, a failure". As he is about to banish Loki, who says he is done trying to please him, Tim stands up to the powerful god, telling him that no matter how many times he banishes Loki, he will still be his son, and that the most important thing in the universe is the relationship with your family. Tim then gives the mask to Loki who presents it to his father. Loki and Odin, now reconciled, return to Asgard happily and Loki asks if he could get along with his mother.

Tim then comes back to work, with a great idea for a cartoon: A baby and a dog competing for Dad's attention. At the end, Tonya reveals that she is pregnant again.

Cast

• Jamie Kennedy as Tim Avery/The Mask
• Alan Cumming as Loki
• Traylor Howard as Tonya Avery
• Bear as Otis (Masked Otis voiced by Bill Farmer and Richard Steven Horvitz)
• Ryan and Liam Falconer as Alvey Avery (voiced by Joyce Kurtz, Mona Marshall, Mary Matilyn Mouser, and Neil Ross)
• Kal Penn as Jorge
• Steven Wright as Daniel Moss
• Bob Hoskins as Odin
• Ben Stein as Dr. Arthur Neuman
• Magda Szubanski as Betty

Production

Not long after the release of The Mask, it was announced in Nintendo Power that 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 commentary when DVD became popular with consumers. He was hoping Jim Carrey would come back as The Mask, 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 the then-record-setting sum of $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 Jim Carrey declining to reprise his role, the project never came to fruition, and the concept for the sequel was completely changed.

Ben Stein reprises his role of Dr. Arthur Neuman from the first film. He 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. Tim Avery wants to be a cartoonist throughout the film.

Reception

"Overly frantic, painfully unfunny, and sorely missing the presence of Jim Carrey."

Rotten Tomatoes

The film was a critical and commercial flop, only earning back $57.6 million of its $84 million budget.

The film was also critically panned for its bad effects and the fact that Jim Carrey was not even in the film. It remains on the Internet Movie Database Bottom 100, ranked 52. Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film 75th in the 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s, with a rating of 6%. It is considered to be one of the worst films ever made.

In his review on At the Movies, 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 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." Lou Lumerick of the New York Post said "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." When placing blame for the film's critical failure, critic Willie Waffle of WaffleMovies.com asserted, "How far down the Hollywood food chain do you have to go before you get stuck with Jamie Kennedy as the star of your movie? Did Ben Affleck turn down Son of the Mask? Was Carrot Top busy? Did Pauly Shore refuse to return your calls?"

It was the most nominated film at the 2005 Golden Raspberry Awards with eight, winning for Worst Remake or Sequel, and won several 2005 Stinkers Awards, including Worst Actor (Jamie Kennedy), Worst Sequel, and Worst Couple (Kennedy and Traylor Howard).

When asked in an interview about whether the film's negative critical reaction had damaged Kennedy's morale in wanting do another project like this, Kennedy replied to the interviewer; "Yes. You got me right after a batch of bad interviews so I’m going to be honest with you about this. It does because I’m just being killed, absolutely killed...But honestly, doing this movie is an interesting experience because I just came off my show and “Malibu’s Most Wanted” where I had a good amount of control. And then in this movie I didn’t have any control. I just can’t do that. I have to have my voice in there. If I can’t, I’m just going to be like I’m doing someone else’s thing. I have to have some of my voice because I have my own experiences that I lived through. All I can do is just try to make things independently. That’s the only way you can do it. The only way you can do that is if you’re a huge, huge, huge star. I’m not there yet. I’m just like a working actor."

Video game

A video game based on the film was released on Wireless Phone on February 10, 2005. The game was published and developed by Indiagames.

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
Razzie Award	Worst Screen Couple	Anybody stuck sharing the screen with him.	Nominated
		Jamie Kennedy	Nominated
	Worst Actor		Nominated
	Worst Supporting Actor	Alan Cumming	Nominated
		Bob Hoskins	Nominated
	Worst Screenplay	Lance Khazei	Nominated
	Worst Picture	Erica Huggins	Nominated
		Scott Kroopf	Nominated
	Worst Director	Lawrence Guterman	Nominated
	Worst Remake or Sequel		Won

External links

• Official website
• Son of the Mask at the Internet Movie Database
• Son of the Mask at Box Office Mojo
• Son of the Mask at AllRovi
• Son of the Mask at Rotten Tomatoes
• Son of the Mask at Metacritic