10 Films With Awesome Animated TV Shows You Forgot Existed

2. The Mask: Animated Series

Jim Carrey just kind of owned the nineties, didn't he?

On top of a wildly successful spate of onscreen appearances across the cinematic spectrum (my favourite of which has to be in Liar Liar), Carrey's characters managed to endear themselves to a generation of kids on TV as well, in both Ace Ventura (already discussed), and The Mask.

The Mask, of course, was one of Carrey's most fondly remembered cinematic excursions. Based on the comic of the same name, the film followed the character of Stanley Ipkiss as he came into contact with a magical nordic mask, an item that transformed its bearer into a Tex Avery-esque anti-hero who could bend the laws of time and space itself to fight crime. Or just do whatever the hell he wanted, the show had the tendency to fluctuate as well.

Tonally, visually and canonically, the series differs little from the film it's based on. It even managed to rope Mask writer John Arcudi into writing a couple of episodes too, which is pretty cool to say the least. Rob Paulsen (of TMNT fame) lent his voicework to the titular Ipkiss, and was accompanied by other voice acting heavyweights like Jim Cummings, Tim Curry, and Tress MacNeille (yes, the same MacNeille from The Simpsons). This cast played a huge part in making The Mask's cartoon spin-off a success for as long as it was, running for three seasons prior to its cancellation in 1997.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.