The Mask

  • Review Date: June 13, 2005
  • PG-13
  • Genre: Comedy
  • 1994
 Review

Common Sense Media says

A bit crude, but fun and relatively harmless.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this film contains a great deal of cartoon violence. There are shootouts, some bloodshed, and a death off screen. Property is destroyed without consequence. A man is shown with a car muffler protruding from his behind. A condom is exposed briefly in a balloon gag. Several shots focus on a woman's cleavage and jokes intimating sex are numerous.


What's the story?

In THE MASK, Jim Carrey plays Stanley Ipkiss, a bashful bank teller who aside from his dog Milo, lives a very solitary existence. After a particularly humiliating day, Stanley stumbles upon a magical mask that allows him to play out his wildest fantasies. While wearing the mask, Stanley is transformed into a green faced, zoot-suit wearing hepcat that personifies everything he is not -- a confident lady-killer who doesn't take nothing from nobody. His exploits lead him into trouble though, after he pulls a bank job and steals a mob boss' girlfriend (Cameron Diaz). By movie's end, Stanley has gained enough confidence to be himself without the mask, learning a valuable lesson in the process.


Is it any good?

 

Back in 1994, an unknown ingénue and a seemingly one hit wonder starred in The Mask. The movie went on to become one of the year's biggest blockbusters, securing Jim Carrey's status as a legitimate movie star and launching the career of it-girl Cameron Diaz. Carrey's previous experience in both dramatic and physically comedic roles made him the only choice for this film. The Mask is a perfect vehicle for his abilities to play both a lovable loser and a manic menace. Industrial Light and Magic's special effects are integral to the success of this film. Without them, audiences would have to pay attention to the plot, which is uneven, predictable, and not worth the price of admission alone.

Kids will love this movie. Carrey lives out a child's every fantasy -- destroying things without getting caught, saving the day, and getting the girl. You may rue the day you brought this film into your home when catchphrases like "Smokin!" and "Somebody stop me!" remain in your child's vernacular until his or her next birthday. Still, the film is entertaining and relatively harmless.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about the idea of making judgments about people based on their looks, wealth, and personality. Parents can use this film to discuss setting personal goals toward self-improvement.


This review was written by Marjorie Kase
Parent of 4 and 6 year old
March 13, 2011
 
Three uses of the word "a**", three uses of the phrase "son of a b****", and one "bast***". Other than that, pretty tame and my 4 and 5 year olds really liked it.

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 17 years old
December 22, 2010
 
NOT for under thirteens
The review wasn't nearly complete enough. There was some swearing and several kissing scenes. There was no real violence (you might see a bit of blood at the worst), but there is one fight scene with a lot of fist fighting. Also, there were several crude jokes and pretty much everyone smoked. It's not the greatest movie, but half funny and appropriate for 13+.

Flag as inappropriate 
Parent of 3, 9, and 12 year old
May 19, 2010
 
WOW WOWOW
Wow, wow, wow.... I`m affected. That movie was..... Wow.... The green guy was making cute little baloons for little kids then he made a gun and started shooting people!! This movie is VIOLENT,SEXUAL AND HAS LOTS OF LANGUAGE!

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 14 years old
August 26, 2010
 
pretty funny

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 14 years old
October 10, 2011
 
Stumped
The violence was off, the sexual stuff was off, if I were the MPAA person to rate this, I would really be stumped.

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 12 years old
October 6, 2011
 
I AM ITS BIGGEST FAN & YES ITS FOR KIDS
I am 11 years of age I started watching this movie since I was 4 years old and just plain loved it and I still do when I was 8 I'd always watch it everyday when I got home from school I'm disappointed in the haters out there. This is Jim Carrey the best actor ever, he is my favorite and I just absoloutley love it to death.

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 17 years old
September 22, 2011
 
Carrey Classic and tons of fun for teens and up
The Mask is a very funny, very well made (despite the very low budget, even for the time it was released in summer 1994) and has a number of very fun action sequences which are also mixed with humor. Personally, if the violence and profanity was toned down a bit more, and the frequent sensuality and innuendo between Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz's characters where a little more toned down as well, it would have been Rated PG. Still, it's a lot of fun for older tween's, teens and up.

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 11 years old
July 16, 2011
 
old,werid,cool
very weird movie but cool

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 12 years old
August 21, 2009
 
a little green man was taking all of there things steeling money from a bank

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 14 years old
August 21, 2009
 
a little green man was taking all of there things steeling money from a bank

Flag as inappropriate 

This review was written by Marjorie Kase
Studio:New Line
Director:Chuck Russell
Cast:Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey, Peter Riegert
Genre:Comedy
Run time:97 minutes
Theatrical release date:June 14, 1994
DVD release date:May 14, 2000
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:some stylized violence

This review was written by Marjorie Kase
 

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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