He can change shapes at will and move faster than the eye can see he has unbelievable strength and is impervious to harm. Not only does he look different, but he's acquired superhuman powers. When the whirlwind clears, Stanley has been transformed into a zoot-suited apparition with a green head, huge mischievous eyes and enormous teeth. Instantly, the mask conforms to his features and he becomes a human tornado. Stanley takes the mask home and discovers its magical powers when he puts it on. He jumps in, only to find out that what he thought was a body is just flotsam - and an ancient wooden mask. One night, while walking on a bridge (his car has broken down), he sees what he thinks is a man drowning. But he's got a vivid sense of humor and his dreams are heroic and romantic. In the words of his tyrannical landlady, Stanley is "a big nothing," a sad sack who works in a bank in Edge City, lives alone with his dog, Milo, and whose idea of fun on a Saturday night is watching tapes of old cartoons. And, like Jerry Lewis films, "The Mask" is a form of wish fulfillment: the shy, nutty hero (who's terrified of women and can't take a step without bumping into something) wins an incredibly good-looking woman - in Stanley's case, Cameron Diaz's Tina, who looks like Jessica Rabbit come to life. Like Warner Bros.' wonderful old "Loony Tunes," "The Mask" creates an incredibly violent world in which permanent damage is rarely done. When Stanley wears the mask that gives the film its title, it's as if he's both Jerry Lewis and Bugs Bunny you can't tell where one ends and the other begins.Ĭomparison of "The Mask" to Bugs Bunny cartoons and Jerry Lewis comedies is a considered judgment. "The Mask" supersedes that achievement: in Carrey's Stanley, human and cartoon characteristics blend perfectly in one person. The breakthrough of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988) was the way it permitted actor Bob Hoskins to blend almost seamlessly with the denizens of the " 'toon" world. There's been a lot of excited speculation about the dazzling technique of "The Mask" - the way, for example, it uses computerized graphics and editing techniques to blend human acting with animation.