THE UN-MASKED

THE MASK (1994)
dir: Chuck Russell

THE UNMASKED
Cracked Monster Party #26, Winter 1994
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Walter Brogan

From the Australian version of MAD. There was no official parody in the American version other than references and I don't think the Australian edition did own parody.

Now the Cracked parody.

There's a prologue about how an ancient treasure in the water has been found off the coast of Edge City and a mask from that treasure has risen to the surface.

Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) is working at a bank and Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz) is there to open an account, but has brought a camera with her she's hiding, and is actually the girlfriend of one of the gangsters who plans to rob the bank later and is casing the joint. Their headquarters are at the Coco Bongo night club. Ipkiss' car is in the shop still being fixed and hevhas been given a loaner in the meantime, a real clunker, which makes him the laughing stock when trying to get into the Coco Bongo (that last part's not shown). On his way back home, he attempts suicide and is about to jump off a bridge when he finds the mask. He comes home greeted by his dog Milo and sees a psychologist on TV (Ben Stein, who looks nothing like this) talking about how we all metaphorically wear masks.

Ipkiss puts on the mask he found out of curiosity, which turns him into a cartoon character that can do anything. He decides to go see Tina, who works at the Coco Bongo, and who he thinks sees him as a joke.

Stanley takes revenge on the car mechanic that screwed him over, then takes money from the bank where he works, beating the gangsters that were planning to rob it. Then he arrives at the Coco Bongo in a stretch limo and starts dancing with Tina. The gangsters are after them and he outsmarts them with Bugs Bunny stunts.

He has a date with Tina the next evening in his 'Mask' persona, cops are on to him and tell him to freeze, which he does literally. Then when the police have him surrounded, he starts a mambo number, manipulating all of them. Later at the club there's charity event, and the head gangster Dorian (Peter Greene) has managed to get the mask. When you put it on, it turns you into an exaggerration of your personality, in this version it turns him into Marlon Brando as The Godfather.

Dorian, in the mask, ties up Stanley and Tina. Stanley's dog Milo shows up, manages to get the mask, puts it on himself, and frees them. Here he turns into Goofy. Also here, Tina puts on the mask instead of how they just get rid of it because she prefers his true personality.

THE MASK: ANIMATED SERIES
CBS 1995-1997

DUMB AND DUMBER
ABC 1995-1996

ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE
1995-1997 CBS

THE DUMB AND DUMBER MASK MEETS ACE VENTURA
Cracked #307, May 1996
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Walter Brogan

All three of Jim Carrey's first few major movies appealed to children (unless you count Earth Girls Are Easy), so it was inevitable there would be Saturday morning cartoons of them. This is a mash-up of them.

The Mask/Stanley (Rob Paulsen)'s dog (Frank Welker) was smarter and more anthropomorphic in this but still didn't talk.

For those that don't recognize the quote in the next to last panel, it's from Network.

The van Harry (Bill Faggerbakke) and Lloyd (Matt Frewer) drove was named Otto and they had a Beaver named Kitty.