Though I'm on the record as not caring in the least for "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective," I had a great time at "The Mask." And there seems little doubt that Jim Carrey has another movie vehicle primed to shoot his star even higher into the Hollywood stratosphere.
"The Mask" is a wacky and eye-popping (literally) combination of live-action comedy and computer animation, the latter perfectly complementing Carrey's rubbery comic persona.
In fact, it's fair to say that anyone else would have had trouble pulling off a movie like this. But it seems perfectly suited to Carrey's wild and weird talents. Unfortunateley, the story is strictly routine superhero stuff.
Carrey stars as Stanley Ipkiss, a mild-mannered bank officer in Edge City (which, like "Batman's" Gotham City, is this picture's version of Manhattan), where he allows himself to be browbeaten by everyone from his boss to his landlady to the garage mechanics repairing his car.
One night, Stanley comes across a mound of garbage floating in the river, which he mistakes for a body. Inside this unpleasant heap is a wooden mask that has been unleashed from a buried treasure box.
And when Stanley puts on the mask, it transforms him into a bizarre creature with a green face, a yellow zoot suit and an attitude. Actually, he's a cartoon character — part Tasmanian Devil, part Bugs Bunny and all Tex Avery (the artist who helped conceive the catalog of Warner Bros. cartoon characters).
While the film's highlights are far and away the amazing technical effects, which allow Stanley's alter ego, "The Mask," to perform all sorts of physics-defying feats, Carrey offers some hilarity of his own.
On the dance floor, while singing "Cuban Pete," he dances wildly; when confronting criminals, he turns balloon animals into automatic weapons; instead of running, he literally bounces off the walls; and when he sees a beautiful woman singing in a nightclub, his jaw drops about a foot, his tongue unrolls across the table, his eyes bug out about 6 inches . . . well, you get the idea.
The effects are startling and hilarious and come directly from those old Warner Bros. cartoons. But it is Carrey's performance that makes them acceptable and appealing.
Unfortunately, the story has a hard time keeping up, and the film lags a bit between the wild "Mask" set-pieces.
At one point the mask is explained as Scandinavian, representing Loki, the Norse god of mischief. Supposedly, it brings out repressed feelings, and since Stanley is a nice guy, "The Mask" is mischievous but never malicious. Except when he robs a bank, a plot point that is never dealt with, but which seems anachronistic.
Carrey gets good support from Peter Riegert as a straight-faced police detective, as well as Amy Yasbeck and Cameron Diaz as the women he gets mixed up with. And, best of all, the very funny dog, Milo.
But this is Carrey's show, and he is hilarious, whether being animated into doing the impossible or just reeling off a string of impressions to get the better of the bad guys.
Despite some flaws and the somewhat saggy final third, fans of the fantastic will have a great time. And Carrey may bring some new fans into his already enormous flock.
"The Mask" is rated PG-13 for violence, a few scattered profanities and a some vulgar gags.