Son of the Mask (PG, 2005)

In this sequel, would-be animator Tim (Jamie Kennedy) lives with his wife Tonya (Traylor Howard) in a cartoony-looking little house. She wants a baby, but he's not ready. On his way to the office Halloween party, Tim finds the magic mask from the first film and decides to wear it, unaware it will unleash his hidden desires and remove all his inhibitions. Tim impresses the party goers with his wild behavior -- everyone thinks he's testing out a new cartoon character. Back home, he's now willing to help his wife conceive. Nine months later the baby is born with some of the mask's powers, because Tim had the mask on when he was conceived. This comes to the attention of Loki (Alan Cummings), the Norse god of mischief and the mask's original owner. His father, Odin orders him to get it back, so Loki begins checking out every baby born on Tim's baby's birthday. Tim is also hunting for the mask – he's unaware of his baby's unusual abilities; he needs the mask back to finish up creating a new cartoon character. Tonya leaves town on a business trip, with Tim on full-time daddy duty, just as the baby's transformational powers really start to take over and Loki finds what he was looking for. The movie then gets turned over to the special effects department for some cartoon-ish fun.

SON OF THE MASK is both watered down and jazzed up, like a kid who's had too much sugar. This semi-sequel (all new characters except for Ben Stein's cameo) is directed at a younger audience, and despite some questionable material, it is more mild than wild. There's not much by way of imagination and few of the effects qualify as "special." Jamie may be many notches down the star pole from Jim Carrey (star of the original film), but he is a likeable and funny guy. For some reason, though, this film fails to make the best use of the talents he does have, making him the straight man.

Kids will enjoy the silly humor, but parents may question the appropriateness of some of the material in the movie, especially for younger children, although there's nothing explicit. This movie is dumb and loud, which some children will confuse with entertaining but others will just find overwhelming. It is a shame not to make better use of Kennedy's talents; he is mostly limited to reaction shots. It's a bigger shame to waste this technology and the goodwill left over from the first film on a dull story with forgettable characters.

Studio: New Line
Director: Lawrence Guterman
Cast: Alan Cumming, Jamie Kennedy, Kal Penn
Genre: Family and Kids
Run time: 86 minutes
Theatrical release: February 18, 2005
DVD release: May 17, 2005
MPAA Rating: PG
MPAA explanation: action, crude and suggestive humor, and language