During his early days, I really didn’t care for Jim Carrey. Before he became a movie star, I only knew him through his work on TV’s In Living Color, and his persona there annoyed the heck out of me.

When Ace Ventura Pet Detective came out in early 1994, it did nothing to change my mind. It seemed like just more over the top stupidity from old Rubberface.

When The Mask came out a few months after Ace, I held similarly low expectations for it. However, I felt pleasantly surprised with the results.

Bank teller Stanley Ipkiss (Carrey) leads an insular life. Though his brash friend Charlie Schumaker (Richard Jeni) tries to break him out of his shell, perpetual nice guy lets women walk all over him as he fantasizes about a more dynamic existence.

One day he finds an ancient wooden mask. When he wears it, Stanley turns into the confident and charismatic green-faced Mask, a situation that causes Stanley’s live to go through many changes.

Stanley/The Mask seemed like virtually the perfect role to match Carrey's talents. One one hand, he got to display his "over the top" tendencies in a wonderful manner through a literal cartoon character.

The Mask needs to seem larger than life. The more Carrey’s mugging and hamminess we got, the better.

But Carrey also got to show that he could play a real character through his portrayal of average-guy/semi-loser Stanley. Carrey’s performance as Ipkiss grounds the flick and offers a character about whom we can care.

Carrey creates a somewhat cartoony but surprisingly real and human character in Ipkiss. That achievement really makes The Mask a movie that delivers more than just a series of absurd comic sequences.

The Mask offered the first role through which Carrey showed he could play characters who weren't absurd imbeciles. It also gave us our first glimpse of Cameron Diaz, and I'd argue it remains one of our best glimpses of her.

Diaz gives a nicely understated performance as the stereotypical blonde bombshell. She gets even less to work with here than Carrey does as Ipkiss, but she takes her opportunities to make Tina believable and sympathetic.

Good work also comes from veteran actor Peter Riegert as police Lieutenant Kellaway with appropriately comic levels of cynicism and gruffness. As Kellaway assistant Doyle, Jim Doughan provides a hilariously innocent counterpoint to Kellaway's harshness.

I encounter less positive feelings about Peter Greene's work as villain Dorian. Greene's a capable actor, as shown through his work in films like Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects.

However, one seems to have told him that The Mask was supposed to be a comic book comedy. Greene plays Dorian with a seriousness and malice that simply seem out of place in a film such as this.

In a way, I find it somewhat refreshing to see that kind of acting. Theoretically, the harshness of Dorian should add a realistic flavor to this fantasy.

However, that doesn't happen here. In the end, Dorian simply seems like a character from another movie and Greene's scenes don’t fit with the rest of the movie.

I also find Jeni's work as Ipkiss's smooth hipster buddy Charlie to flop. Like Greene's turn as Dorian, Jeni's Charlie seems to exist as part of a different movie, though for less tangible reasons.

It never makes sense to me that a modest schlub like Stanley would be friends with a butt-kissing poseur like Charlie, and Jeni's portrayal offers no clues about this attraction. He creates an absolutely charmless character whose presence grates on the viewer at virtually all times.

The then-groundbreaking visual effects of The Mask received a lot of attention upon its release in 1994. Back then, the computer work seemed to effectively create characters who became cartoons.

However, as time passes, these elements look less and less acceptable. I used to feel they were very solid, so I was surprised to notice how bad they look based on more modern standards. The CGI isn’t atrocious, but those parts seem relatively poor now.

Thankfully, the charm of The Mask does not depend on the believability of its effects. The movie remains solidly grounded in the charm of most of the performers and the wit with which the plot is executed. More than 30 years after its release, The Mask remains one of Carrey's most effective performances and films.

The Mask appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The Dolby Vision presentation worked very well.

Overall sharpness seemed good. Some visual effects shots displayed minor softness but that became inevitable due to the techniques involved, so the film otherwise appeared accurate.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and the disc came without edge haloes. Print flaws failed to mar the presentation, and with a moderate layer of grain, I didn’t sense any digital noise reduction to mar the image.

The movie’s cartoon palette came to life well, with a mix of bold and bright hues. HDR gave the colors added vivacity.

Blacks felt tight and firm, while low-light shots came across as smooth and appropriately opaque. Whites and contrast enjoyed a boost from HDR. This wound up as a terrific image.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos remix presented an engaging and active track. In the front, stereo music sounded clear and lively, while the effects appeared well delineated and accurately placed across the spectrum.

The other channels mostly came to life during the Mask sequences, and for those scenes, we got a nice sense of the comic book tone. This formed into an involving soundscape most of the time.

Audio quality felt positive. Speech appeared acceptably natural and distinct, and I discerned no problems related to intelligibility.

Effects sounded clean and accurate. They showed good range and presented no signs of distortion.

Music also featured positive dynamics and brightness. Low-end worked well, especially in regard to the movie’s songs. The track added some life to the proceedings.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? The Atmos audio showed a bit more range and involvement compared to its 5.1 predecessor, though both worked well.

The UHD’s Dolby Vision picture appeared better defined, richer and more vivid than the Blu-ray. Expect a nice step up from this fine 4K UHD.

The 4K UHD mixes old and new extras, and we get two audio commentaries from prior releases. The first comes from director Charles Russell, who offers a running, screen-specific affair recorded back in 1996.

Russell brings a nice sense of energy and excitement to his monologue, and he provides a solid level of information about the film. For example, we learn that The Mask was originally conceived as the first in a new series of horror films.

Russell also tells us about deleted scenes, the cast and working with them, the movie’s production design and look, makeup and effects, music and choreography, editing and pacing, and changes from the original comic. Some gaps occur, but Russell fills most of the piece with good information.

For the second commentary, we get a 2005 compilation that includes remarks from director Charles Russell, New Line Cinema co-chairman Bob Shaye, writer Mike Werb, executive producer Mike Richardson, producer Bob Engelman, ILM VFX supervisor Scott Squires, animation supervisor Tom Bertino, and cinematographer John Leonetti. All of them are recorded separately for this edited piece.

We learn a ton in this track. The participants go over the origins of the character and how it came to the attention of New Line, Russell’s early career and his affiliation with the studio, development of the project and scripts, the Tex Avery influence, casting and other possibilities for the roles, the film’s color palette, visual effects and all those challenges, the rules of the Mask’s universe, story issues and changes, working with the dog, marketing the movie, testing it, and expectations for its success.

Does this commentary not touch on any relevant information? I don’t think so – it’s an awfully complete discussion.

Of course, it repeats a little material from Russell’s old solo track, but those moments of redundancy remain few. This tightly-edited piece packs a ton of quality details and proves extremely useful. While I liked Russell’s original commentary, if you only want to listen to one, I’d recommend the new track.

Next we find a series of featurettes from the prior releases. Return to Edge City runs 27 minutes, 18 seconds as it gives us notes from Engelman, Richardson, Russell, Shaye, Werb, Leonetti, Bertino, animal trainer Steve Berens and actor Jim Carrey.

They discuss the origins of the project, Russell’s desire to work on it, scripts and changes, influences and themes, the characters and casting, improvisation and the atmosphere on the set, use of the dog, the movie’s look and setting, makeup, visual effects, reshoots, the film’s release and its legacy.

On its own, “Return” presents a solid overview of the production. However, since I watched it after I listened to two audio commentaries, it became much less valuable. Really, you’re unlikely to learn much new from this piece if you’ve already screened the commentaries.

Some of the behind the scenes footage is fun, even though the program teases us with those bits; I’d like to see more of the test between Carrey and Cameron Diaz. Nonetheless, this is a good - if redundant - documentary.

Entitled Introducing Cameron Diaz, the next featurette lasts 13 minutes, 19 seconds. It presents remarks from Russelll, casting associate Mark Paladini, and casting director Fern Champion.

They delve into the casting of Tina with an obvious emphasis on their experiences with Diaz. Of course, some of this repeats what we heard elsewhere, but it digs into matters with greater detail than in the other pieces, so it becomes a good piece.

For a look at the movie’s influences, we head to Cartoon Logic. The 13-minute, 44-second featurette provides comments from Engelman, Russell, Bertino, Squires, Beren, Leonetti and animation historian John Canemaker.

They go over the work of Tex Avery and his impact, particular cartoons that connected to Mask, bringing the Avery concepts to a live-action film, visual effects and necessary techniques.

As with “Diaz”, we hear about these topics elsewhere, but “Logic” delves into them with more depth. In addition, the inclusion of Avery cartoons and test images makes this one useful. I also really like the raw footage of Carrey as he does his work before the addition of the effects.

Entitled What Makes Fido Run, the final featurette goes for 10 minutes, 52 seconds. It features notes from animal trainers Beren, Nicole Zuehl, and Brandon McMillan.

They discuss general notes related to dog training, adapting the pooches to specific roles and casting, and issues connected to working on the set. “Fido” doesn’t focus much on The Mask itself, which is fine with me. It’s fun to learn more about how dogs receive their training and behave during shoots, so this proves to offer a lively and informative chat.

The Making of lasts a mere three minutes, 11 seconds and brings remarks from Carrey, Russell and actor Cameron Diaz plus a couple of unnamed tech folks. It exists as little more than promo fodder.

We also find Interview Bites (4:38) with Diaz, Carrey, Russell and actors Peter Greene, Peter Riegert and Richard Jeni. They give us basic fluff shot on the set, so don't expect insights.

In addition to the film’s trailer, the disc also provides two deleted scenes. The “Viking Scene” - previously called "Alternate Opening" - runs one minute, 50 seconds, while “The Death of Peggy” lasts two minutes, five seconds. These are interesting to see but not missed in the final film.

We can watch these with or without commentary. He provides some production notes about the clips and lets us know why they cut “Peggy”, but we don’t find out why the “Opening” got the boot.

From here we head to featurettes new to the Arrow release. The Man Behind the Mask runs 20 minutes, 27 seconds and provides more from Russell.

The director tells us what brought him to the film, aspects of his career, stylistic choices and some story elements, cast and performances, music and choreography, makeup, and effects. This exists as a decent overview but after two commentaries, Russell doesn't bring much new info.

From Strip to Screen goes for 18 minutes, 33 seconds. It involves creator Mike Richardson and screenwriters Mike Werb and Mark Verheiden,

All sit separately and tell us about the origins of the Mask comic, the character's move to the movies, casting and various story/character choices for the film. Inevitably, some of this repeats from the second commentary but "Strip" still becomes a good synopsis.

Next comes Green Faces, Blue Screens. This one spans 14 minutes, 16 seconds and brings remarks from visual effects supervisor Scott Squires.

After some notes on his career prior to Mask, Squires details his efforts on the film. Once again, we find some material also covered in Commentary Two, but Squires nonetheless adds more than enough new info to make this a quality piece.

Ssssssplicin’ occupies six minutes, 51 seconds. We find info from editor Arthur Coburn.

Like others, Coburn touches on his overall career before he gets into specifics about The Mask. The reel seems too short to go into depth but Coburn provides a few decent thoughts.

With Ask Peggy, we find a 12-minute, 37-second segment. It features actor Amy Yasbeck.

She looks at her film work prior to The Mask, how she got her role and her experiences during the shoot. Yasbeck proves amusing and insightful.

Toeing the Conga Line fills 10 minutes, nine seconds. Here we locate statements from choreographer Jerry Evans.

As expected, Evans talks about the movie's dance scenes and his efforts. He delivers some good notes.

Finally, Terriermania totals 10 minutes, 18 seconds. The reel involves critic Elizabeth Purchell.

The program looks at movie pets in the 1980s/1990s, with an emphasis on Jack Russell terriers and the pooch in The Mask. This becomes an engaging look at an unusual topic.

And for what it's worth, I once fostered a Jack Russell, and he was a sweet, well-behaved little guy. But boy did he shed! Nearly 20 years later, I think I'm still finding hair around the house!

B-Roll occupies five minutes, 24 seconds and shows raw footage from the set. It becomes a fun compilation.

We locate two Image Galleries: "On-Set Production Photos" (410 frames) and "Stills Gallery" (15). The latter brings promo shots and seems mediocre.

On the other hand, we get a lot of good shots in "On-Set" but 410 screens of images begs to be split into smaller categories. That's just too much for one domain!

In The Mask, we find one of the best uses of Jim Carrey’s talent. The film lets him show off his exuberant side while it also allows him to broaden his range, and the movie offers a generally amusing and winning experience. The 4K UHD provides strong picture and audio along with a strong roster of bonus materials. After more than 30 years, the movie continues to entertain and this becomes a fine release of it.