Son of the Mask

This sequel to the Jim Carrey/Cameron Diaz original arrives a decade late. And way too soon. Carrey’s rubbery, manic energy and Diaz’s radiant, other-worldly beauty were perfect for the cartoon-slapstick world of the 1994 movie. Here we have faceless non-entity Kennedy (the horror nerd in ‘Scream’) and bland girl-next-door Howard. Loki, the shape-shifting Norse god of mischief, is a fey, giggling Goth portrayed by Cumming. The latex-masked Hoskins plays his domineering dad, Odin, who has sent Loki to Earth to retrieve the missing mask. After donning the mask, fatherhood-phobic animator Tim Avery tears it up at his employer’s Halloween party, then impregnates his career-woman wife, Tonya. Their son Alvey, being ‘born of the mask’, has special powers. Left alone with him, Tim struggles to cope with his all-singing, all-dancing, all-pissing, seemingly possessed sprog. ‘Cats and Dogs’ director Guterman wildly misjudges his target audience(s). The movie in-jokes and Tex Avery/Chuck Jones-style animation seem aimed at grown-ups; but the gross-out humour, messy musical numbers and syrupy family values are an insult to anyone over eight years old.