I love animation and have done for goodness knows how long, and I loved The Mask starring Jim Carrey. This is a true gem of a show, every bit as good and fun as the movie, and one of the best cartoon shows of the 90s alongside Peter Pan and the Pirates, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Tiny Toon Adventures, Darkwing Duck, Talespin and The Little Mermaid.
The animation has so much vibrancy and colour, and The Mask has one of the coolest intros of any animated show. The story lines are both exciting and intriguing, with my favourites being Sister of the Mask, Bride of Pretorious, To Bee or Not to Bee and the Mask and Ace Ventura crossover, and I was always impressed at how fresh and witty, as well as intelligent, the writing was.
I also can't get enough of the slapstick humour, there is plenty of it and all of it works. Of the shows of my childhood I revisited recently The Mask was the one that stood out to me as the funniest. The characters are wonderful, Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask never fails to crack me up with his disguises, his fast-paced antics and his exclamations of "wedgie", Milo is ever so cute and Doyle and Kellaway are such a contrasting and entertaining duo.
As the villains, they are all interesting and well developed. I liked Mayor Tilton, Stinger, Lonnie the Shark and Gorgonzola, but my favourite has to be Pretorious, my love for Tim Curry is a big part of why and he doesn't disappoint here. Can't complain about the voice acting either, to say that Rob Paulsen is amazing is an understatement, he had big shoes to fill and he more than makes the character his own, easily one of my favourite voice overs of his. Jim Cummings, Neil Ross, Cree Summer, Tim Curry et al are equally terrific and they are helped hugely by the writing and how the characters are written.
Overall, a 90s gem and perfect to go with the movie. If I were you though, I would avoid Son of the Mask, I consider it not just one of the worst sequels ever but also one of the worst movies ever. 10/10 for this series that said. Bethany Cox
