Son of the Mask

Infobox Film
name = Son of the Mask


caption = Promotional poster for "Son of the Mask"
director = Lawrence Guterman
producer = Erica Huggins
Scott Kroopf
eproducer = Kent Alterman
Toby Emmerich
Beau Marks
Mike Richardson
Michele Weiss
aproducer = Sean Gorman
Stephen Jones
writer = Lance Khazei
starring = Jamie Kennedy
Alan Cumming
Traylor Howard
Steven Wright
Kal Penn
and Bob Hoskins
music = Randy Edelman
cinematography = Greg Gardiner
editing = Malcolm Campbell
John Coniglio
Debra Neil-Fisher
distributor = New Line Cinema
released = February 18th, 2005
runtime = 86 min
country = USA
Germany
awards = Razzie for Worst Remake or Sequel
language = English
budget = $84,000,000
gross = "Domestic"
$17,018,422
"Foreign"
$40,534,165
"Worldwide"
$57,552,587
preceded_by = "The Mask"
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:291046
imdb_id = 0362165

"Son of the Mask" is the Raspberry Award-Winning 2005 sequel to the Academy Award-Nominated 1994 comedy film, "The Mask", directed by Lawrence Guterman. The movie had a $84 million budget and a $17 million domestic box office gross, along with a $40 million foreign box office gross.

Plot

Ten years after the adventures of Stanley Ipkiss (who doesn't appear in this film) 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 Tim 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 Tim into showing up with the mask or else he will never see his son again (because he will keep him and eventually plays "Twister" with him,where the baby's ear stretches out and tickles Loki's armpit,resulting in him losing the game,just as Tim's truck smashes through the wall). Eventually, it ends in a brawl between Loki and Tim 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 ring on a Telephone and Angry "Give Me Back my Son!" 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 Tim, his wife, and the baby. As he is about to attack them, Tim suddenly protects his wife and the baby from the hammer with super strength (probably side effects from wearing the mask). However, drills popped up under the hammer and was slowly drilling towards Tim. Just when it looks like Loki is about to finally crush them, his time finally runs out Odin comes back, and attacks him for being unsuccessful 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. Tim 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 competing for Dad's attention.

Also, at the end of the movie, Tonya reveals she's pregnant again.

Production

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 Peggy in the original. Russell 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 Carrey decided not to return.

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.

This is one of three films which were sequels to films starring Jim Carrey, but did not involve Carrey in any way (the others being "", and "Evan Almighty"). There will also be another sequel that doesn't feature Jim Carrey in 2008: "Ace Ventura Jr."

Cast and characters

Reaction

Critical reaction to the film was almost unanimously negative. Getting an average grade of "D" in most movie websites, "Son of the Mask" was disliked by critics and was also a box office flop. Richard Roeper (on the television show "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 and on Cartoon Network to win a small part in the film. The film is #46 as of May 2008 on the IMDb's Bottom 100 Movie List Of All Time.

Awards and Nominations

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")

Won:

* Worst Remake or Sequel

Mythology

Despite having a mythological background, nearly all the mythology in the movie is inaccurate. Odin is not the father of Loki; he is his bond brother and therefore he is also not Thor's brother. He also was never said to be chained under the earth, but he was bound by intestines and having acidic venom poured on him.

In the first movie, the Mask only works at night due to Loki being a "night god." In this film the powers of the Mask, Loki, and the baby show no such restriction, similar to the cartoon series.

ee also

*List of films considered the worst

References

External links

* [http://www.sonofthemask.com/ Official site]
*imdb title|id=0362165|title=Son of the Mask