Son of the Mask

The next generation of mischief...

Son of the Mask is the 2005 sequel to the 1994 Jim Carrey fantasy comedy The Mask, which was itself based on the Dark Horse Comics series of the same name about a magical green mask that gives strange, almost unlimited powers to anybody who wears it, but also causes them to lose all their inhibitions and self-control. The violent tone of the comics was toned down in the first film adaptation to suit Carrey's comedy stylings, so fans clamoring for a more loyal adaptation were displeased even more when Son of the Mask reduced the style further, to the point of making it family-oriented.

Not to mention that it wasn't very good.

The plot concerns failed cartoonist Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy), who is afraid of conceiving a child with his wife Tonya (Traylor Howard) because he believes his kid would be ashamed of him and his dead-end job. But then, he gets a hold of the Mask, which works its usual magic, transforming him into the green-faced cartoony maverick that not only becomes the toast of the company party, but also impregnates his wife without his consent. (not rape, mind you)

Nine months later, out pops young Alvey Avery, the titular son of the Mask, who's sometimes cute, but mostly an insufferable sadist and smack dab in the middle of the Uncanny Valley. When Tonya leaves town for business, Tim is left taking care of him, and Alvey proceeds to drive his dad totally insane with his bizarre abilities. Joining the battle royale is the family dog, Otis, who wears the Mask and uses its powers to try to kill Alvey because he doesn't want to compete for Tim's attention. (are we having fun yet?)

But that's not the end of it! The Norse god of mischief and original creator of the Mask, Loki himself (Alan Cumming) is making the rounds, trying to find the Mask to take it back to Valhalla because it's caused too much trouble in the human world, under the instruction of his dad, Odin the All-Father (Bob Hoskins). The movie's climax features a Mask'd Tim and Loki duking it out over possession of both the Mask and the Son it has spawned.

This movie is pretty much universally hated by everyone who's seen it. Sad thing is on the special features on the DVD, the cast and production team is very happy about making it. They talk excitedly about their roles and describe the top-notch special effect this movie pioneered. They were proud of their baby, in other words.

As the movie had time to settle down now, reactions are mostly mixed and many don't see it as bad as most made it out to be, citing it at least as a nice love letter to old school cartoons (particularly Tex Avery and Bob Clampett style). Alan Cumming portrayal of Loki was also applauded.

Tropes used in Son of the Mask include:

Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Alvey does this when Tim mentions The Exorcist.
An Aesop: About the importance of getting along with your family, delivered by Tim.
Actor Allusion: Jamie Kennedy's brief rap number at the Halloween party.
Adaptation Decay: Boy howdy! Only the dance number at the start is from the original mini-series.
Adult Child: Tim's opening scene has him play a Mario game on a gameboy while his wife tries to talk to him.
Alternate Continuity: This movie flat out ignores the cartoon series which was made as a direct follow-up and sequel to the first movie.
Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Loki's boxing ring at the film's climax.
Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese theme song for Son of the Mask is "Mask" by Tackey & Tsubasa.
Amusing Injuries
Animals Lack Attributes: Otis the dog is partly played by a real dog and partly by horrifying animation. When the dog is real, it obviously has the equipment you would expect but as soon as it puts on the mask and becomes animated the downstairs department is noticeably lacking. This could have been handwaved as being an effect of the mask itself, had it not been for the fact that the whole premise of the movie is that a human male impregnates his wife whilst wearing the mask.
Artistic License: Biology: You can't get pregnant that fast!
- Well, the Mask is magical...
- Actually, the first 20/30 minutes of the movie took place during October (The party Tim goes to while wearing the mask is a Halloween party.) and when Loki looks up the birth of Alvey and the other babies on the hospital computer, the date is July 29, nine months after October.
Artistic License Geography: OK, so, Fringe City is located 270 miles southwest of Edge City. Stanley Ipkiss tossed the Mask into the ocean ten years previously. At the start of the movie, it's floating upriver near Tim's home. So, to recap: not only did the Mask float the wrong way up the river, it also took ten years to travel 270 miles. And it's going at about five miles per hour.
- If the whole point of Loki being there is that the Mask has caused too much trouble, don't you think it's safe to say that some other things happened with it between the two movies?
  - Plus, the mask DOES seem to have a mind of it's own.
Becoming the Mask: Tim and Otis (literally, of course!)
The Cameo: Ben Stein reprises his role as Prof. Arthur Newman.
Cain and Abel: Loki's jealousy over his brother Thor.
Children Raise You: "You made me grow up"
City of Adventure: Fringe City, 270 miles southwest of Edge City.
Cool Car: Tim's car at the end is the only cool thing in this movie.
- Unless you count Loki's outfit as cool. And you should.
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Tim walks up to Odin, the king of Norse gods and says "Hold on a minute, Grizzly Adams"
Earn Your Happy Ending: Tim ultimately becomes a cartoonist, but he has to go through a lot of crap to make it happen.
Everytown, America: Fringe City
Evil Old Folks: Odin Chief of the Norse Gods, and is Supreme Ruler of Midgard & Valhalla.
- "LOKI!"
Evil Plan: Averted; there is no single villainous plan driving the plot. There are, however, a number of smaller ones.
Family-Unfriendly Violence: Alvey and Otis' battle royale.
Fridge Logic: Wasn't Loki trapped inside the Mask before?
- As a half-assed answer to this, the sequel declares the source of this plot point (Dr. Neuman) to be unreliable, and retcons the Mask's history in the first scene, so as to get it out of the way and get right to the new stuff. In The Mask, it's Neuman who delivers the exposition regarding the Mask's connection to Loki. In the beginning of the sequel, Neuman returns to relate Loki's back-story to a museum tour group, ending it with Loki's binding. The actual Loki happens to be in the group, disproving (and loudly objecting to) Neuman's mythology.
  - But even that was a massive retcon. There was a scene filmed for the first movie, though cut for time, showing vikings carrying the wooden mask across the ocean and burying it because it had Loki himself trapped inside. The comic adaptation of the film also incldues this same scene with enough exposition to confirm that, yes, Loki himself was sealed away.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: This deleted scene is this, Nightmare Fuel, Squick and What Do You Mean It's for Kids? all rolled into one.
Goth: Loki.
Groin Attack: Loki gets bitten in the junk by Otis.
Jerkass: Alvey and Loki (and Odin, to a degree)
Lighter and Softer: Even more so than The Mask.
Mandatory Motherhood: Tim didn't want a child but the mask took over his body and impregnated his wife.
Mask of Power
Oh Crap: When Tim tries to get Alvey to say mama it works and its cute like most babies do, but when he tries to get him to say Dada.....

Tim: Say Dada
Alvey: [Overly masculine voice.] MOTHER!!!

Pin-Pulling Teeth: Loki does this... with a little tongue too.
Plot Hole: Several, how did they get the Mask back?
- Stanley Ipkiss threw the mask into the river, and Milo and Charlie both jumped in to get it, and Milo is seen swimming away with it at the end. Alternatively, the sequel shows Otis finding the mask in a another river.
Roger Rabbit Effect: Mask'd Otis is all CGI.
Sadly Mythtaken: Odin and Loki are not father and son in Norse Mythology, they are bond brothers. And Loki would not have fooled Odin by telling him Balder was coming back. Balder is dead... because Loki killed him. (indirectly, but still)
- And since when does Odin threaten people with lightning? That's Thor's job!
Shout-Out: Tons and tons of 'em.
- Tim Avery's name is an homage to cartoonist Tex Avery.
- Tim's dog is named Otis, an homage to Milo And Otis.
- Alvey transforms into Woody Woodpecker at one point in the movie, and is seen watching several famous cartoons, including the Chuck Jones short One Froggy Evening, The Flintstones, and Transformers.
- Alvey's head spins all the way around, like in The Exorcist.
- While still in the womb, Alvey performs the Cuban Pete song.
- The fights between Alvey and Otis are very reminiscent of the old Wile E. Coyote / Road Runner cartoons, down to Otis sketching his plans on a blueprint exactly like the ones Wile E. used.
- While wearing the Mask, Tim does impressions of Mel Gibson ("Gimme back my son!"), Ozzy Osbourne (in a deleted scene), some kind of Neil Diamond / Tom Jones lounge singer hybrid, Al Pacino in Scarface ("Say hello to my little friend!"), not to mention of Jim Carrey himself ("Ssssmokin! ...causes cancer!")
- "And then Loki said, Let there be a brick wall..."
- Believe it or not, the "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" sequence was taken right from one of the Mask miniseries, one of the few things they did take.
Slapstick.
Squashed Flat: Otis is wrung flat (While wearing the mask, of course.) after one of his plans to kill Alvey goes wrong.
Toilet Humor: If vomit and pee jokes float your boat, SOTM is for you.
Victimized Bystander the neighbor's head was transformed into a giant nose.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Loki, although he hates his dad.
What Could Have Been: Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz and the original film's director, Chuck Russell were attached to make a sequel in the 90s.
Wild Take: Tim, Otis, and Loki, at different points.