During his early days, I really didn’t care for Jim Carrey. Before he became a movie star, I only knew him through his annoying TV work on In Living Color. When Ace Ventura Pet Detective came out in early 1994, it did nothing to change my mind; it seemed like just more over the top stupidity from old Rubberface. (For the record, I know that Ace wasn't Carrey's first movie, or even his first starring role, but it was the first film in which he featured prominently since he attained some measure of stardom through In Living Color. So there!)

When The Mask came out a few months after Ace, I held similarly low expectations for it. However, I felt pleasantly surprised with the results. Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask seemed like virtually the perfect role to match Carrey's talents. One one hand, he got to display his "over the top" tendencies in a wonderful manner through a literal cartoon character; The Mask was supposed to be larger than life, so the higher the degree of mugging and hamminess, the better.

But Carrey also got to show that he could play a real character through his portrayal of average-guy/semi-loser Ipkiss. It's become somewhat fashionable over the years for people to claim that they enjoyed Carrey's work as Ipkiss more than as The Mask, but I won't say that; The Mask's antics are what give the film spark and excitement.

However, Carrey’s performance as Ipkiss grounds the flick and offers a character about whom we can care. Carrey creates a somewhat cartoony but surprisingly real and human character in Ipkiss, and that achievement really makes The Mask a movie that's more than just a series of absurd comic sequences.

The Mask offered the first role through which Carrey showed he could play characters who weren't absurd imbeciles. It also gave us our first glimpse of Cameron Diaz, and I'd argue it's still one of our best glimpses of her. Partly this is because I don't think she's ever looked hotter than in The Mask; she's not really my type, but she scorches here.

However, although The Mask was her first movie, Diaz gave a nicely understated performance as the stereotypical blonde bombshell. She had even less to work with here than Carrey did as Ipkiss, but she took her opportunities to make Tina believable and sympathetic.

Good work also comes from veteran actor Peter Riegert, who plays police Lieutenant Kellaway with appropriately comic levels of cynicism and gruffness, and Jim Doughan's Doyle, who provides a hilariously innocent counterpoint to Kellaway's harshness.

Special attention also has to be made of Milo the dog. Okay, I'm a serious dog lover who has been known to cry, "Go Poochy! You can do it, Poochy!" when movie canines are endangered, ala Vivica Fox's dog in Independence Day. Still, Milo clearly stands out among performing pups. He works very well as an integral part of the plot, and he offers quite a few solid comedic moments. Apparently Carrey improvised with many of Milo's miscues; it would have been great if they'd included some of those outtakes here.

I have less positive feelings about Peter Greene's work as villain Dorian. Greene's a capable actor, as shown through his work in films like Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects, but no one seems to have told him that The Mask was supposed to be a comic book comedy. Greene plays Dorian with a seriousness and malice that simply seem out of place in a film such as this.

In a way, it's somewhat refreshing to see that kind of acting. Theoretically, the harshness of Dorian should add a realistic flavor to this fantasy. However, that doesn't happen here. In the end, Dorian simply seems like a character from another movie and Greene's scenes make for jarring transitions from the rest of the film.

I also found Richard Jeni's work as Ipkiss's smooth hipster buddy Charlie to be lacking. Like Greene's turn as Dorian, I felt like Jeni's Charlie seemed to be part of a different movie, though for less tangible reasons. I guess it never made sense to me that a modest schlub like Stanley would be friends with a butt-kissing poseur like Charlie, and Jeni's portrayal offers no clues about this attraction. He creates an absolutely charmless character whose presence grates on the viewer at virtually all times.

Much attention was paid to the groundbreaking special effects in The Mask upon its release in 1994; the computer work seemed to effectively create characters who became cartoons. However, as time passes, these elements begin to look less and less acceptable. I used to feel they were very solid, so I was surprised to notice how bad they look based on more modern standards. The CGI isn’t atrocious, but those parts seem relatively poor.

Thankfully, the charm of The Mask does not depend on the believability of its special effects. That aspect remains solidly grounded in the charm of most of the performers and the wit with which the plot is executed. 20 years after its release, The Mask remains one of Carrey's most effective performance and film.

The Mask appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though it showed its age, the image usually pleased.

Overall sharpness seemed good. Largely due to the film stock in use, some mild softness crept into the presentation at times, but this didn’t cause substantial distractions. Instead, the movie usually looked well-defined.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and the disc came with no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to mar the presentation, and with a moderate layer of grain, I didn’t sense any digital noise reduction to mar the image.

The movie’s cartoon palette came to life pretty well. These didn’t quite excel on a consistent basis, but they showed mostly positive vivacity and range. Blacks were tight and firm, while low-light shots came across as smooth and appropriately opaque. This turned into a satisfying image.

Though the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix usually favored the forward channels, it presented an engaging and active track for the most part. In the front, stereo music sounded clear and lively, while the effects appeared well delineated and accurately placed across the spectrum. The surrounds mostly came to life during the Mask sequences, and for those scenes, we got a nice sense of the comic book tone.

Audio quality appeared positive. Speech appeared acceptably natural and distinct, and I discerned no problems related to intelligibility. Effects sounded clean and accurate. They showed good range and presented no signs of distortion.

Music also featured positive dynamics and brightness. Low-end usually worked well, especially in regard to the movie’s songs; for instance, “Cuban Pete” sounded very good. The track didn’t dazzle but it added some life to the proceedings.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the 2005 Platinum Series DVD? Audio showed a bit more range and involvement, while visuals seemed tighter and smoother. The Blu-ray offered an obvious step up over the DVD.

The Blu-ray repeats the 2005 DVD’s extras, and we get two audio commentaries as part of this package. The first comes from director Charles Russell, who offers a running, screen-specific affair recorded back in 1996. Russell brings a nice sense of energy and excitement to his monologue, and he provides a solid level of information about the film. For example, we learn that The Mask was originally conceived as the first in a new series of horror films.

Russell also tells us about deleted scenes, the cast and working with them, the movie’s production design and look, makeup and effects, music and choreography, editing and pacing, and changes from the original comic. Some gaps occur, but Russell fills most of the piece with good information.

For the second commentary, we get a 2005 compilation that includes remarks from director Charles Russell, New Line Cinema co-chairman Bob Shaye, writer Mike Werb, executive producer Mike Richardson, producer Bob Engelman, ILM VFX supervisor Scott Squires, animation supervisor Tom Bertino, and cinematographer John Leonetti. All of them are recorded separately for this edited piece.

We learn a ton in this track. The participants go over the origins of the character and how it came to the attention of New Line, Russell’s early career and his affiliation with the studio, development of the project and scripts, the Tex Avery influence, casting and other possibilities for the roles, the film’s color palette, visual effects and all those challenges, the rules of the Mask’s universe, story issues and changes, working with the dog, marketing the movie, testing it, and expectations for its success.

Does this commentary not touch on any relevant information? I don’t think so – it’s an awfully complete discussion. Of course, it repeats a little material from Russell’s old solo track, but those moments of redundancy remain few. This tightly-edited piece packs a ton of quality details and proves extremely useful. While I liked Russell’s original commentary, if you only want to listen to one, I’d recommend the new track.

Next we find a series of featurettes. Return to Edge City runs 27 minutes, 16 seconds as it gives us notes from Engelman, Richardson, Russell, Shaye, Werb, Leonetti, Bertino, animal trainer Steve Berens and actor Jim Carrey. They discuss the origins of the project, Russell’s desire to work on it, scripts and changes, influences and themes, the characters and casting, improvisation and the atmosphere on the set, use of the dog, the movie’s look and setting, makeup, visual effects, reshoots, the film’s release and its legacy.

On its own, “Return” presents a solid overview of the production. However, since I watched it after I listened to two audio commentaries, it became much less valuable. Really, you’re unlikely to learn much new from this piece if you’ve already screened the commentaries. Some of the behind the scenes footage is fun, even though the program teases us with those bits; I’d like to see more of the test between Carrey and Cameron Diaz. Nonetheless, this is a good - if redundant - documentary.

Entitled Introducing Cameron Diaz, the next featurette lasts 13 minutes and 17 seconds. It presents remarks from Russelll, casting associate Mark Paladini, and casting director Fern Champion. They delve into the casting of Tina with an obvious emphasis on their experiences with Diaz. Of course, some of this repeats what we heard elsewhere, but it digs into matters with greater detail than in the other pieces, so it becomes a good piece.

For a look at the movie’s influences, we head to Cartoon Logic. The 13-minute, 43-second featurette provides comments from Engelman, Russell, Bertino, Squires, Beren, Leonetti and animation historian John Canemaker. They go over the work of Tex Avery and his impact, particular cartoons that connected to Mask, bringing the Avery concepts to a live-action film, visual effects and necessary techniques.

As with “Diaz”, we hear about these topics elsewhere, but “Logic” delves into them with more depth. In addition, the inclusion of Avery cartoons and test images makes this one useful. I also really like the raw footage of Carrey as he does his work before the addition of the effects.

Entitled What Makes Fido Run, the final featurette goes for 10 minutes and 51 seconds. It features notes from animal trainers Beren, Nicole Zuehl, and Brandon McMillan. They discuss general notes related to dog training, adapting the pooches to specific roles and casting, and issues connected to working on the set. “Fido” doesn’t focus much on The Mask itself, which is fine with me. It’s fun to learn more about how dogs receive their training and behave during shoots, so this proves to offer a lively and informative chat.

In addition to the film’s trailer, the disc also provides two deleted scenes. The “Alternate Opening” runs one minute, 49 seconds, while “The Death of Peggy” lasts two minutes, four seconds. These are interesting to see but not missed in the final film. In a new component, we can watch these with or without commentary. He provides some production notes about the clips and lets us know why they cut “Peggy”, but we don’t find out why the “Opening” got the boot.

In The Mask, we find one of the best uses of Jim Carrey’s talent. The film lets him show off his exuberant side while it also allows him to broaden his range, and the movie offers a generally amusing and winning experience. The Blu-ray provides good picture and audio along with a strong roster of bonus materials. I still like the movie and I think the Blu-ray replicates it well.

To rate this film, visit the 1997 Platinum Series review of THE MASK