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Son of the Mask

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Son of the Mask
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLawrence Guterman
Written byLance Khazei
Based on
The Mask
by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyGreg Gardiner
Edited by
  • Malcolm Campbell
  • John Coniglio
  • Debra Neil Fisher
Music byRandy Edelman
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • February 18, 2005 (2005-02-18) (United States)
  • August 26, 2005 (2005-08-26) (Germany)
Running time
94 minutes[3]
Countries
LanguageEnglish
Budget$84–100 million[2][4]
Box office$59.9 million[4]

Son of the Mask is a 2005 superhero comedy film[1] directed by Lawrence Guterman. A stand-alone sequel to The Mask (1994), it is the second installment in The Mask franchise, an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name by Dark Horse Comics. 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. 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 at the beginning of the film as Doctor Arthur Neuman from the original film.

The film was a critical and financial failure upon release, being panned by both critics and fans of both the original film and comic books 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 talk in-depth about his experiences working on the movie in the years since its release on his YouTube channel.

Plot

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 to spread chaos among mankind, and that those who wear it are granted his powers. When Neuman mentions Loki's imprisonment at his father Odin's hands, a stranger 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 and puts it in the case, disposes of the arriving authorities, and storms out of the museum.

In Fringe City, the real mask is found in a river by a dog named Otis, who belongs to Tim Avery. An aspiring animator, Tim is reluctant to accept parenthood with his wife, Tonya. On a tropical island, Loki is relaxing until Odin orders him to resume the search for the mask, believing it has caused too much chaos for mankind. Loki asks his father for help, but Odin says that he has to take responsibility for his actions. Tim puts on the mask for his studio's Halloween party, and becomes a green-faced party animal who can magically alter his surroundings. 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", invigorating the event and giving Tim's boss, Daniel Moss, the inspiration for a new cartoon.

That night, Tim returns to his house and has sex with Tonya, while still wearing the mask. A baby is conceived, and is born with the same powers as the mask, which alerts Odin. Possessing a store clerk, Odin informs Loki 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 Alvey. Tim, now promoted, desperately tries to work on his cartoon at home, but is continuously disrupted by Alvey. To get some peace and quiet, Tim lets Alvey watch various cartoons on television, which inspire Alvey to torment his father using his powers. Otis, who has been feeling neglected by Tim, accidentally dons the mask, gains its power, and tries to get rid of Alvey, but his attempts are foiled by the craftier infant.

Leaving a trail of mayhem in his wake, Loki finds Alvey and confronts Tim for the mask, but Alvey uses his powers to protect his father. Odin, possessing Tim's body, scolds Loki's destructive approach and strips him of his powers. Tim is later fired after failing to impress Moss during a pitch but reconciles and bonds with Alvey. Loki, determined to please his father, sneaks into the Avery household and completes a summoning ritual and appeals to Odin to restore his powers. Odin agrees, but only for a limited time, stating this is his last chance.

Loki kidnaps Alvey in exchange for the mask. Tonya returns home and goes with Tim and Otis, to whom Tim had apologized for his negligence, to make the exchange. 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, prompting Loki to halt the fight, suggesting they let Alvey decide who 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. Enraged, Loki tries to kill Tim, but his time runs out and Odin appears in person, again scolding Loki for his failure. Tim, however, feels sympathy for Loki and reminds Odin that regardless of their problems, they are still family. Odin reconciles with Loki, and the duo returns home.

Some time later, Tim is rehired when his cartoon, based on 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.

Cast

Jack Black and Ryan Reynolds were offered for the role of Tim Avery, but both turned it down.[5][6]

Voices

Production

Not long after the release of The Mask, Nintendo Power announced 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.[7] Chuck Russell, who directed 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. 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.[8]

In 2001, it was reported that Lance Khazei was asked by New Line Cinema to do the script for a sequel to The Mask.[9] Addressing the differences between the sequel and the original film, director Lawrence Guterman compared it to the differences between Alien and Aliens, stating that, "Son of the Mask is a completely different story."[10]

Ben Stein reprises his role as Dr. Arthur Neuman from the original film, re-establishing 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.

The film was shot at Fox Studios in Sydney. Principal photography began on August 18, 2003.[citation needed] 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.[11]

In 2021, Jamie Kennedy released 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.[6] 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.[12]

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.[13]

Reception

Box office

The film earned back $59.9 million of its $84–100 million budget, making it a financial failure.[2]

Critical response

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.[14] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 20 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[15] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[citation needed]

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."[16] 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".[17] 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."[18] 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."[19]

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."[20]

Kennedy's response

When asked in a 2012 interview whether the film's negative critical reaction had damaged his morale in wanting to 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."[21] The poor reception of Son of the Mask, which affected Kennedy personally, inspired him to co-create the documentary film Heckler, an examination of both hecklers and professional critics.

Accolades

It was the most nominated film at the 2005 Golden Raspberry Awards with eight, winning for Worst Remake or Sequel,[22] and won several 2005 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, including Worst Actor (Jamie Kennedy), Worst Sequel, and Worst Couple.[23]

Award Category Recipient Result
Golden Schmoes Awards[24] Worst Movie of the Year Won
Golden Raspberry Awards[22] Worst Picture Nominated
Worst Director Lawrence Guterman Nominated
Worst Actor Jamie Kennedy Nominated
Worst Supporting Actor Alan Cumming Nominated
Bob Hoskins Nominated
Worst Screenplay Lance Khazei Nominated
Worst Screen Couple Jamie Kennedy and "anybody stuck sharing the screen with him" Nominated
Worst Prequel or Sequel Won
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards[23] Worst Picture Erica Huggins and Scott Kroopf Nominated
Worst Actor Jamie Kennedy Won
Most Intrusive Musical Score Randy Edelman Won
Worst Song or Song Performance in a Film or Its End Credits "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Jamie Kennedy Nominated
Worst On-Screen Couple Jamie Kennedy and anyone forced to co-star with him Won
Most Annoying Fake Accent (Male) Kal Penn Nominated
Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy Nominated
Worst Sequel Won
Foulest Family Film Won
Least "Special" Special Effects Nominated
  • In a 2007 countdown of the 94 "worst to best" comic book to film adaptations Rotten Tomatoes listed the film 94th.[25]

Video game

A video game based on the film was released on mobile phones on February 10, 2005. The game was published and developed by Indiagames.[26]

Possible sequel

On the possibility of a third film, Mike Richardson has said, "We've been talking about reviving The Mask, both in film and in comics. We've had a couple of false starts".[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Detail view of Movies Page". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Son of the Mask (2005)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  3. ^ "SON OF THE MASK - British Board of Film Classification". Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Son of the Mask (2005)". The Numbers. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  5. ^ "Jack Black Passed up Son of the Mask". 5 September 2003.
  6. ^ a b Son of the Mask: The Untold Story. YouTube. Jamie Kennedy. March 25, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13.
  7. ^ "Player's Poll Contest". Nintendo Power (77): 82–83. October 1995.
  8. ^ Ponce, Tony (February 4, 2015). "Meet the winner of Nintendo Power's The Mask II contest". Destructoid. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  9. ^ "'Mask' Sequel in the Works but Will Carrey Be Back?". Yahoo! News. July 31, 2001. Archived from the original on August 6, 2001. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  10. ^ Johnson, Kim Howard (April 2005). "Mask Amuck". Starlog (333): 57–61.
  11. ^ Snyder, Gabriel (21 February 2005). "'Hitch' richer as Keanu raises hell". Variety. "Mask" carried an extraordinarily hefty $84 million pricetag.
  12. ^ Son of the Mask: The Untold Story PART 2. YouTube. Jamie Kennedy. May 12, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13.
  13. ^ Filming Son of The Mask: The Untold Story. YouTube. Jamie Kennedy. November 23, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13.
  14. ^ "Son of the Mask (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 5, 2021. Edit this at Wikidata
  15. ^ "Son of the Mask". Metacritic.
  16. ^ Roeper, Richard (Feb 22, 2005). "Ebert & Roeper". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  17. ^ Ebert, Roger (February 18, 2005). "'Son of the Mask' fails even cartoon logic test". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 15, 2010.
  18. ^ Lumenick, Lou (18 February 2005). "'SON' DOESN'T SHINE". New York Post.
  19. ^ Minow, Nell (2010-04-22). "Son of the Mask - Movie Review". Common Sense Media. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  20. ^ Schembri, Jim (2005-10-04). "Son Of The Mask". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  21. ^ "Jamie Kennedy Interview - Jamie Kennedy on Son of the Mask and Creative Control". Movies.about.com. 2012-04-10. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  22. ^ a b "Razzies© 2003 Press Release". Razzies.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  23. ^ a b Weinberg, Scott (March 3, 2006). "2005 Stinkers Awards Announced". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  24. ^ "Golden Schmoes Awards (2005)". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  25. ^ "Comix Worst to Best". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 2007-05-08. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  26. ^ "Son of the Mask". GameSpot. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  27. ^ Sunu, Steve (7 August 2014). "EXCLUSIVE: Richardson Details Dark Horse's "Itty Bitty Mask" Plans". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
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