Low Key Loki not so Dokey
In a way I am glad "Son of the Mask" was made and trust me it's not because I thought it was good, in fact it is one of the worst movies I have watched. Nope I'm glad because it shows what a great comedian Jim Carrey is because without him "Son of the Mask" is missing his anarchic energy and sense of over the top comedy and so it fails. Okay so it is not helped by a lame script which seems to lack focus but some of the jokes would have worked if it had been Carrey behind the CGI rather than Jamie Kennedy and Alan Cumming.
270 miles from Edge City the mask washes up in a stream where cartoonist Tim Avery's (Jamie Kennedy - Scream 3) pet dog Otis fishes it out and takes it home. And soon the mask is causing all sorts of chaos as during a works Halloween party Tim puts it on and not only wins a promotion thanks to the mask releasing his crazy alter ego but he also goes home and gets his wife pregnant. But Loki (Alan Cumming - X2) the son of Odin is looking for the mask as it belonged to him and with Odin threatening to strip him off his powers Loki must track down the mask and also Tim's baby who ends up inheriting the masks manic powers.
There is part of me which feels like I should be praising "Son of the Mask" because whilst it manages to pay reference to the original with some jokes it comes up with a completely different story. But the trouble is that the storyline it comes up with is slim and unfocussed as we have numerous stories going on. We have Tim under pressure from work; Tim not being very good with the baby, Otis feeling sidelined by the baby and of course Loki who wants his mask back. It doesn't come together in a coherent storyline and so ends up all over the place.
But that isn't the worst of it because when it comes to the actual Mask antics it is also comes up short. We have the homage to the first movie as Tim gets the Halloween party started when he puts on the mask and then we have some comic book action when Otis puts on the mask and tries to get rid of baby Alvey but that is pretty much it. So instead what we get is mainly creepy humour as baby Alvey acts like a possessed baby, at times quite literally which isn't funny. Ironically the party homage to "The Mask" comes early on and it is painful but it is nowhere as near as painful as what follows which fails time and again to make you laugh. I'm sorry a baby peeing numerous different ways when being changed is not funny or gross just dumb.
But as already mentioned the big let down is that "Son of the Mask" doesn't feature Jim Carrey and for all their trying neither Jamie Kennedy nor Alan Cumming can deliver that same sense of anarchic humour. It is in truth uncomfortable when they do from Jamie Kennedy forcing it during the party montage to Alan Cumming, well stuck with a lot of dumb jokes.
What this all boils down to is that "Son of the Mask" is a failure, plain and simple and never once delivers a laugh anywhere close to those from the first movie. The only good thing about it is that by his absence it makes you realise what a funny guy Jim Carrey can be.
