The Mask (1994) 4K UHD Review

Arrow Video

Blu-ray Release: November 11th, 2025

Video: 1.85:1/2160p/Color

Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM 2.0

Subtitles: English SDH

Run Time: 101:15

Director: Chuck Russell

Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) is a bit of a doormat. He's going nowhere at his job, his best friends are a sleazeball who works at his bank and his trusty dog Milo, and worst of all, he's got no prospects in his love life. Then one night, after a series of escalating embarrassments trying to get into a hip nightclub, he stumbles upon an old wooden mask. Unbeknownst to Stanley, the mask contains the spirit of Loki, the ancient god of mischief, and putting it on will bring out Loki's powers in the person who wears it. Becoming The Mask turns Stanley from zero to hero, but it also turns his life upside down when he finds himself on the wrong side of Tina's gangster boyfriend, Dorian Tyrell (the late Peter Greene).

It's the stuff of contemporary Hollywood legend. After making ends meet as a stand-up comedian and scoring parts here and there (including the last Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool, and Earth Girls Are Easy), Jim Carrey first landed on the public's radar as the token white guy on the Wayans Brothers comedy show "In Living Color." Although the show turned Carrey into a rising star, Hollywood moves slow, but in Carrey's case, the wait would pay off when not one, not two, but three starring vehicles would become major hits in the same year: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective would open in February 1994, The Mask dropped in July, and Dumb and Dumber would wrap up his banner year in December. Overnight, Carrey became a household name and jumped to the top of the A-list, and the rest is history.

Looking back, one particular bit of kismet for Carrey is that, while his energy is naturally similar across the movies, all three offer a fairly different kind of role and style to tap into. Setting aside its problematic reveal, Ace Ventura is a strange mash-up of sketch comedy character and mystery that gives Carrey complete freedom to riff to his heart's (or butt's) content. Dumb and Dumber is a two-hander between himself and Jeff Daniels, and in some ways, it's the most grounded, with the "star" arguably being the Farrelly brothers' screenplay and willingness to push the envelope on outrageousness. Then there's The Mask, a wildly ambitious 1940s/1960s pastiche inspired by a comic book, featuring not only cutting edge visual effects, but dazzling, jazzy musical numbers, and a second breakout star in Cameron Diaz and her 1000-watt smile.

Another observation one can make looking back is that The Mask and Carrey are in the shadow of Batman on both sides. It's fascinating hearing director Chuck Russell explain in one of the new interviews on this disc that The Mask was not an expensive studio movie, having only an $18m budget, with $7m going to the visual effects. Thanks to backlot work with great lighting, the Coco Cabana set, and some judicious use of existing Los Angeles locations (as well as a matte painting or two), the movie feels like it fully exists in the lineage of Tim Burton's Batman -- a movie that cost $30m more than The Mask. Of course, the year after The Mask, Carrey would be invited to play The Riddler in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever, a choice that feels directly inspired by this film. Both films also use the throwback elements of style to create something that feels disconnected from time and setting themselves in a heightened world that reflects the comic books they were based off of.

Of course, Hollywood history is littered with great-looking movies that don't work, and the real magic in The Mask is the way everything works in tandem with each other. Take something small, like Stanley, transformed into The Mask for the first time, tip-toeing down the hallway past Stanley's landlord. Even Carrey's robe, which appears to have a wire in it to help it keep its shape and add to the cartoon energy of his movements, is part of the gag. Carrey and Diaz have spectacular chemistry, especially in that explosive dance sequence to "Hey, Pachuco!" Watching the sequence today, you can still feel both performers becoming movie stars as the sequence unfolds, and throughout they are assisted not only by the technicians at ILM adding in various Tex Avery-style cartoon effects, but by Russell, whose vision for the film is cohesive and helps everything flow smoothly. The same goes for the iconic "Cuban Pete" dance sequence, which is infectious in its energy (despite Carrey suffering from the flu during filming it -- flabbergasting). The fact that the movie has one of the greatest and most adorable dog actors in movie history is just icing on the cake.

Not everything has aged perfectly -- Stanley's "nice guy" persona has a different meaning in 2025 (although he's more of a traditional doormat than a bitter Redditor), and the Pepe le Pew-style persona he adapts as The Mask when trying to romance Tina near the end is more creepy than funny -- but the movie thankfully always stops short of becoming uncomfortable. Comic book movies are a dime a dozen these days, and their ambitions have stretched into more serious territory, but The Mask deserves to be remembered as an early crown jewel in the genre, a wildly entertaining melding of direction, performance, music, and effects.

Video

The Mask made its Blu-ray debut way back in 2008 via Warner Bros. 2008 was the same year that New Line Cinema started releasing films on Blu-ray, including the abysmal, DNRed-to-death Dark City in July, and then the equally bad Elf in October. Thankfully, by the time The Mask rolled around, the results weren't so bad. Warner's transfer is dated, but respectable. Popping the disc into the player, colors are decent, and the picture hasn't been destroyed with grain scrubbing, but there's a hazy softness to it, and at least the sensation of a hint of edge enhancement (perhaps an attempt to mitigate the softness). For this release, Arrow has commissioned a brand-new 4K scan from the original camera negative, which was completed by Warner Bros.' MPI. Going back to that haziness, it's true that the film, which was obviously drawing from '30s and '40s mob and noir movies for the club and gangster scenes in particular, can have a smoky look, but everything gets nicely tightened up in this new presentation, which adds an extra layer of vibrancy to already pleasing colors (with no hint of contemporary revisionism), and more importantly, offers a significantly improved clarity and level of fine detail throughout the presentation. Given The Mask looks and sounds like a big-budget studio movie (even though it wasn't), it might surprise some viewers that the pop factor of the new versus the old is relatively subtle, but again, there wasn't anything egregiously wrong with Warner's Blu-ray to begin with.

Audio

Three audio tracks are on offer. Dolby Atmos/7.1, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and LPCM 2.0. The star of the show, of course, is the brand-new Atmos mix, which is incredibly lively, and may even impress viewers more than the upgrade to the picture. The transformation sequences are outrageous, of course, as is all other action and anarchy throughout the film, but the real highlight was the musical numbers, with the new mix adding even more sparkle to sequences that were already among the film's most delightful sequences. You may find yourself putting on the Coco Cabana dance or "Cuban Pete" just for the joy of listening to them. English captions for the deaf and hard of hearing are also provided. Technically, I didn't notice any errors, but it does seem wrong that The Mask's signature Smokin'! is presented with a g on the end, especially since they named an extra after the correct, stylized spelling!

Extras

The Mask was already treated pretty well on home video, having been released first as a New Line Platinum Series DVD way back in 1997, and then upgraded in 2005 with even more bonus material. Now Arrow has added even more extras, as well as porting over the archival material.

• "The Man Behind The Mask: A Talk With Director Chuck Russell" Interview with Director Chuck Russell (20:27) - Russell is generous and enthusiastic in this new sit-down chat, discussing his experiences with the executives at New Line on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and how that informed his take on The Mask, pulling it back from a horror film that was even darker than the source material and putting his faith in Jim Carrey and the CGI to help him realize his vision. Topics touched on include his decision to give the film a timeless quality through the fashions and music, directing the late Peter Greene, dismissing the studio's attempts to hip it up (Aerosmith!), making sure to preserve Carrey's face through the makeup, Carrey valiantly fighting through illness to film the "Cuban Pete" sequence, the meticulousness needed for the effects to work, and premiering out of competition at Cannes. Similar to the film, Russell hovers around potentially sticking his foot in his mouth (singling out a moment as something that may not have "aged well" that I doubt is among the parts that anyone might have mild reservations about), but ultimately veers off, staying charming and funny throughout.

• "From Strip to Screen: Adapting the Comic into a Blockbuster" Interview with Creator/Executive Producer Mike Richardson and Screenwriters Mike Werb and Mark Verheiden (18:33) - A delightful piece where all three participants are eager to give credit to the other two, as well as Russell, Carrey, and Diaz. They speak about the development of the script from its more serious elements into the version that ended up on screen, including the inspiration to use "Cuban Pete," turning Stanley into a character the audience could relate to, adding the romantic lead, working out problems with the beginning and ending of the movie, Richardson giving his seat at Cannes up to an important guest, and their shared gratefulness that the movie turned out great. There's also an especially charming part where Werb discusses his inspiration for adding the dog to the movie with his own dog asleep on his lap.

• "Green Faces, Blue Screens: The Visual Effects of The Mask" Interview with Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Squires (14:16) - This is a more technically-minded interview with Squires, who speaks briefly about his experiences breaking into the industry before getting into the process of working on The Mask. He discusses the approach they took with the effects and gives a little bit of a peek into the making of the sequence where Stanley smashes the clock in the hallway, as well as his working relationship with Carrey and why he feels the film holds up.

• "Sssssssplicin'!: Editing The Mask" Interview with Editor Arthur Coburn (6:50) - Coburn sits down for a brief chat about how he got involved with the film and his history, touching on his process (including visiting the set), figuring out a clever way to mock up hypothetical cuts for Russell, his impression of Carrey's performance, how many takes the dog required, and cutting musical numbers. By Coburn's own admission, he doesn't have much in the way of specific memories of The Mask, so this is nice but perhaps inessential compared to the other interviews.

• "Ask Peggy: Amy Yasbeck Tells All!" Interview with Actor Amy Yasbeck (12:37) - Of all the interview subjects on the disc, Yasbeck gives the impression of being the most candid with her memories, recalling an embarrassing moment at the audition (which thankfully didn't prevent her from getting the part), hearing about the visual effects, her process learning her lines with her late husband John Ritter, her working relationship with Peter Reigert (discussing appearing in the same magazine), Peter Greene (asking for re-takes while in Mask makeup), and Jim Carrey (who she met at an audition for The Whoopee Boys), her enjoyment at playing the character's arc of betrayal, Peggy's deleted exit from the picture (complete with prop), and her delight at seeing the finished film at the premiere.

• "Toeing the Congo Line: Making The Mask Move" Interview with Choreographer Jerry Evans (10:09) - Many of the interviews on this disc are fun, but for my money, this interview takes the cake. Not only is there some fantastic candid B-roll footage of Carrey and Diaz rehearsing, but Evans has so many great stories about working on the movie, primarily talking about the two major sequences, "Hey, Pachuco!" and "Cuban Pete," including teaching them the dance moves, collaborating with Russell (who was trying to sneak some of the musical sequences in past the studio), the implementation of a couple of dance doubles for the "ballistic" (aka lifts and spins) bits in the earlier sequences, the use of future Step Up and Proposal director and professional dancer Anne Fletcher in the latter, and the overall enjoyment of working on the project. Like the dance sequences, this piece is aces.

• "Terriermania: The Mask and America's Obsession with the Jack Russell Terrier" Visual Essay by Elizabeth Purchell (10:18) - The new extras are rounded out by a discussion of Milo, and more specifically, his breed, as well as the whole history of dogs in movies and television. Purchell traces the explosion of animals in entertainment from television ("Full House," "Mad About You," "Frasier,") to movies (Beethoven). Not sure that Clean Slate or A Summer Story had quite the same cinematic impact as The Mask (the other two 1994 movies featuring Jack Russell Terriers), but for dog lovers, this will be a fun watch.

• Archival extras - Returning from older editions: two commentary tracks, one featuring director Chuck Russell, and the other an edited track featuring soundbites from Russell, New Line co-chairman Bob Shaye, screenwriter Mike Werb, executive producer Mike Richardson, producer Bob Engelman, ILM VFX supervisor Scott Squires, animation supervisor Tom Bertino and cinematographer John R. Leonetti; the featurettes "Return to Edge City," "Introducing Cameron Diaz," "Cartoon Logic," "What Makes Fido Run," deleted scenes, and the film's theatrical trailer. Additional archival material added for this edition includes an EPK (3:11), the raw interview footage that went into that EPK (4:38) and B-roll footage (5:24).

As usual, while the check disc Genre Grinder received technically represents the Limited Edition release, none of the actual packaging has been included. Those who buy the retail version will also get a nice matte hardbox featuring the original poster artwork, a collector's booklet featuring writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and the film's original production notes, a reversible sleeve, six art cards, and a double-sided fold-out poster.

Conclusion

As Russell discusses in his interview, there's a timeless quality to The Mask. The movie remains popular, and Arrow's track record is excellent as well, so it should come as no surprise that their new 4K of the film is a great package both in terms of the presentation and the hefty collection of new and old extras. Highly recommended. Also, here's hoping that Dumb and Dumber (long trapped on Blu-ray in only an inferior Unrated version) isn't far behind, either from Arrow or from Warner themselves.

The images on this page are taken from the 2008 Warner Bros. Blu-ray and sized for the page, and are not representative of this release. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.