Starring:	Jim Carrey	100min
	Cameron Diaz
	Peter Reigert	1994
Screenplay:	Mike Werb	Comedy
Director:	Charles Russell	Colour

Region	2 (Dutch)	Studio:	Polygram / New Line
Format	Single Sided, Single Layer	Subtitles	Dutch
Aspect ratio	16:9	Extra Features	Director's commentary
			Behind the scenes clips
Anamorphic	Yes		Interviews
			Production featurette
Soundtracks	Dolby Digital 5.1		Animated menus & music
			Biographies
Case type	Jewel		Theatrical Trailer

The DVD * * * *		The Movie * * * * *
Polygram? This? Why, it's got animated menus, full motion scene access, a director's commentary and goodness knows what else. So it's a straight New Line copy, right? Well, no actually - it's an all new special edition, credited here to N.O.B. Interactive. For the most part, things are just great, and held together by an attractive (and English only) animated menu. The anamorphic transfer is flawless, with gorgeous colours leaping out of the screen at you, and the 5.1 sound whirls round your head with all the frenetic energy of The Mask himself. The commentary by director Russell is lively and entertaining (didn't know the budget was an astonishingly low $18 million), although something is suss. Why does he claim he wrote and rewrote half the scenes, when the story is credited to two people, and the screenplay to another - and none of them him? As Marge Simpson would say, "Mmmmm..." The Making Of is the standard short studio fare, while to so called "B-Roll" is a crudely hacked together selection of behind the scenes stuff - it's a bit like watching someone's home video of it all. The interviews are pretty bizarre, since they have been split into around 20 individual snippets. And here come the bugs - one clip of Carrey has the sound from one answer, and the pictures from a completely different answer. Oh well, the dog talking about his role is very funny. But here are the more serious bugs - top of the list is a five minute section out of sync - the reporter being introduced in Stanley's office. I can't give you a time quote, since that is the next bug - no time or chapter numbers are available in play. Even more astounding (and there's no easy way to put this), you can't actually stop the disc! You can go to menu or eject, but not stop. Then, upon returning to the film from the menu, the default sound and subtitle options are restored, which is the film sound and the Dutch subtitles. One final bug - in the full motion scene selections (which do work), the move-back-a-page button doesn't. All these flaws appear on my Panasonic A100 - I can't be sure if they are universal. Well, that's a lot wrong, but there again there's a lot on the disc, the majority of which is great - the only serious problem is the slipping sync. Compared to the New Line US version, we miss 2 deleted scenes, but gain quite a bit of other stuff to make up for it. On balance, this is a great fun disc from Polygram, and shows up what the same company are doing in the UK rather badly...		That entrance. Oh, that entrance. Even before Jim Carrey turns into a cartoon character, the sound of a million jaws hitting the floor as Cameron Diaz says a big Wonderbra "Hello" to the male-movie-watching-world truly is a sound to behold. Even loser Stanley Ibkiss (Carrey) notices her. Put upon by everyone, he seeks solace in two things - his beloved Tex Avery cartoons, and his dog. Until one day he chances upon a magical mask, whereupon he transforms into into a green faced, devilishly funny and superhuman character that even Tex would have been proud of. Now is his chance to lure her away from the clutches of her evil Mob boyfriend, and wreck havoc on the entire town to boot. The film rips into life whenever Stanley becomes The Mask, partly for the great CG cartoon gags (lovers of the classic 40's stuff will be in cel-heaven), and partly for Carrey's chance to impersonate just about every actor that ever lived. The rubber faced loon has a riot with this material, and even manages just about to pull off the straight stuff. Meanwhile, this is Diaz's first ever film role at all it seems, and with no acting background she really is annoyingly good. Finding strong star vehicles to people as distinctive as Carrey isn't easy, but The Mask hits the cartoon nail on the head. For a budget way, way below the other blockbusters of the year, this is a helluva lot more entertaining than most of them.