Mrs. Doubtfire: Behind-The-Seams Edition – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Mrs. Doubtfire DVD
Available at Amazon.com

Robin Williams in drag? That could work.

Robin Williams is known for his trademark manic, almost bordering on insane, brand of comedy. He is a master at different voices. So a movie that lets him play different characters seems perfect for him. Even when that means Williams has to dress up like a woman who calls herself Mrs. Doubtfire.

As the titular character in Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams stars as Daniel Hillard, an actor who specializes in dubbing the voices of cartoon characters. He is estranged from his wife, Miranda (Sally Field), and three kids (Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence, Mara Wilson), because unfortunately he acts more like a kid than a father. Devastated by a court order limiting his time with his children to only on Saturdays, Daniel disguises himself as a warm, old British nanny who becomes the kids’ best friend named Mrs. Doubtfire thanks to the help from Daniel’s gay brother (Harry Fierstein), who also happens to be a makeup expert.

The plot really just seems to be a set up for the comedy that follows. That’s done a bad thing, but it really solidifies the point that the story in this film is not unique. In fact, at times it feels like a rip-off of Tootsie with Robin Williams playing an older version of Dustin Hoffman’s character. There are also elements of Kramer vs. Kramer thrown in for good measure.

That said, this movie was made for Robin Williams. This role really lets Williams run wild and improvise, which is what he does best. Even during the serious moments in the film, Williams is still well-suited for that. Sally Field is decent enough as Daniel’s ex-wife, but she doesn’t have enough material to be make good use of her. Still Williams and Field do have good chemistry together on the screen. The kids in the movie do an admirable job in their respective roles as well. Mrs. Doubtfire also a strong supporting cast with Harry Fierstein as Daniel’s gay brother, and perhaps the best addition to the cast in Pierce Brosnan as Sally Field’s new love interest. You would think he would be the perfect villain in this film as he is the complete opposite of Robin Williams, but really he is presented as a charming man who has a good heart. Quite the pleasant surprise there.

The main weakness for this film, besides it not being that original, is that at times it tries to hard to deliver a message. Mrs. Doubtfire has something to say about how divorce affects the kids, and how fathers should make the effort to remain close to their children. That’s all well and good, and a little sentiment is nice, but near the end the sentiment feels forced. This drags down the movie in parts, which seems to last longer than it should have to get the job done.

Despite it being a copycat of past “men in drag” movies like the already-mentioned Tootsie, Robin Williams makes this Chris Columbus comedy feel fresh and unique thanks to his ability to improvise and pull comedy out of unusual situations. While the story is predictable and at times filled with too much sentiment, it again all goes back to Robin Williams. While it’s hard to imagine anyone being better at playing a woman than Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams comes close. The supporting cast is also able to keep pace with Williams to make Mrs. Doubtfire an underrated romantic comedy than the whole family can enjoy.

The video is given in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen color. This is the best this film has looked so far. Despite it being 15 years old, the colors look bright and the black levels are strong as well. No problems at all here.

The audio included is available in either English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, Spanish Digital Dolby 2.0 Surround sound, or French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English and Spanish as well. The music and dialogue come out loud and clear, so no major problems here either.

“From the Man to Mrs.: The Evolution of Mrs. Doubtfire” Featurette – is standard five-part “making-of” featurette that runs 26 minutes total. It contains interviews from the 1990s with various members of the cast and crew as they about the the script, casting, make-up, and just general craziness happening behind-the-scenes on the set of Mrs. Doubtfire. Fairly decent featurette.

“Aging Gracefully: A Look Back at Mrs. Doubtfire” Featurette
This is a uniquely different featurette that runs for 13 minutes. Robin Williams and director, Chris Columbus, sit on a couch together and reminisce about the film. Williams is a little more calm than expected, but still manages to entertain while Columbus provides more insight into the film. A good addition to the “extras” section.

“The Improvisation of Mrs. Doubtfire” Featurette – There is 36 minutes worth of improvisation from Robin Williams in this film. Seven scenes are featured with numerous takes for each scene. Again this is interesting to see for sure.

A Conversation with Legendary Animator, Chuck Jones – This is a short 4 minute conversation with Chuck Jones, the legendary animator who created the animation scenes at the beginning which Robin Williams does voiceover work. Decent enough, but it’s a small part of the movie. Still it’s nice to hear the thoughts on everything.

Original Pencil Test – The pencil drawings of the cartoon mentioned above is in full action here with Robin voiceover work included.

Final Animation Sequences – Now the complete cartoon, which has been mentioned before, that appears in the film. There is also the complete cartoon with different color backgrounds that is not in the film, which Chuck Jones requested to reflect his “style” or cartoon and not the realistic style in the film.

Makeup Application – This is a short four minute featurette on the process of applying makeup to Robin Williams in this film. The makeup artist, Ve Neill, comments on the process as well. There are also photos of the makeup application in here as well.

Make Up Screen Tests – Probably the best next “extra” added is the makeup screen tests which give you three different looks for Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire. You also have Robin Williams interacting with the kids in some of these screen tests. Very enlightening to see this process.

“Original 1993” Featurette – This a short five minute featurette used for publicity back in 1993. It even includes that one man who does all the hype voice-over work for every BIG blockbuster movie. Nothing that special really.

“Meet Mrs. Doubtfire” Featurette – Another short five minute used for publicity back in 1993. Pretty much the same format as the one before, except Robin Williams leads this one instead of the “voice-over guy” above. Again, not as good as the other featurettes.

Deleted Scenes – There is 30 minutes worth of scenes that didn’t make the final cut of the film. These were all deleted for time reasons, but there is some funny stuff in here for sure. So check these out.

Alternate Scenes – There is only 4 minutes worth of alternate scenes of some scenes that were shot for the movie. This is really not worth checking out as they don’t add anything to the movie nor are they that funny.

Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery, Photo Gallery, TV Spots, Trailers are all here as well to round out the “extras” for this edition of the film.

Robin Williams makes for great comedy, and he’s really at his best here. Chris Columbus is a good enough director to let Williams run wild. That makes for a better film than the script would have you believe, if you just read it on paper. There are two hours of “extras” for this special edition of Mrs. Doubtfire, but somehow they didn’t include the full-length audio commentary from Chris Columbus that was on the previous release. That’s really a shame as it means you have to get a different version of the film, if you want to hear that. There still is enough “extra” stuff here that you might not miss the lack of a commentary here. If you haven’t seen this film, at least rent it. I recommend a purchase for anyone who likes Robin Williams as this is easily one of his best films ever.

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20th Century Fox Home Entertainment presents Mrs. Doubtfire. Directed by Chris Columbus. Starring Robin Williams, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein, and Robert Prosky, and Matthew Lawrence. Written by Anne Fine (Novel “Alias Madame Doubtfire”); Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon (Screenplay).Running time: 125 minutes. Rated PG-13. Released on DVD: March 4, 2008. Available at Amazon.com

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