Falseies on Fire! (Mrs Doubtfire (DVD))

Member Name: Critchyboy

Product:	Mrs Doubtfire (DVD)
Date:	03/10/01 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun film, Acting is OK

Disadvantages: The littlest kid - urgh!

Mrs Doubtfire is one of those Robin Williams films that is actually quite good. (Good Will Hunting actually fits into the excellent bracket - a rareity for Williams). Based on the book 'Alias Mrs Doubtfire' by Anne Fine it tells the story of a Father who will go to any lengths to see his children...

Robin Williams is perfectly cast as the titular Mrs. Doubtfire and seems to have a wonderful time hamming it up. Williams plays Daniel Hillard who gets fired from his voice-over job (Williams doing what he does best namely funny voices) gets kicked out of his home by his wife (Sally Field) and loses custody of his children. He then discovers that his ex-wife has advertised for a housewife to look after the house and the children and after putting his ex off with a few phonecalls pretending to be potential employees he lands the job as Mrs. Doubtfire.
With a little help from his gay brother, played by Harvey Fierstein (who played another gay character in Independance Day) creates the perfect make-up job, wig and dress sense to convince the whole world that he is in fact a woman. Even the bus driver, who saw his incredibly hairy legs, was fooled by the charade. We are then treated to the induction of Williams as the housekeeper, getting close to his kids, getting jealous of his ex's new boyfriend (Pierce Brosnan) and setting his falsies on fire on the kitchen stove which, if we are honest with each other, never fails to amuse!

The second half of the film descends into saccharine-sweetness with the kids discovering who Mrs. Doubtfire really is, the unvieling of the identity of the new housekeeper to all and the inevitable court case for Williams to do the watery eyes and trembling lip 'But I love my kids' routine. The ending is satisfactory as he gets a job on TV as Mrs. Doubtfire so his kids can see him/her everyday and he can talk children across America through the pains of a parental divorce...(vomit).

The actors playi
ng the children are OK, but the littlest one will get up your nose. The rest of the cast perform ably, particularly Sally Field - shes great. To give him his dues, Williams is great fun too especially where he throws himself into the charcter of Mrs. Doubtfire.

The DVD is interesting with a commentary by the director and various interviews with the actors simply backslapping each other. It does give chance to see Pierce Brosnan sporting a hideous mullet - very amusing! The deleted scenes are what deleted scenes always are. A mixed bag. The best being between Mrs. Doubtfire and a nosy neighbour. Although it is clear to see why these have been deleted - they do nothing to endear Mrs Doubtfire to the audience.

The make-up footage is excellent as it goes into some detail about the creation and application of the make-up to Robin Williams. It is a pity that they are no outtakes included on this DVD as that is where Williams' wit really shines through - give him the chance to go crazy and he will!

For those of you into animation it may interest you to know that there is a comprehensive section dedicated to the creation and animation of the cartoon that Williams', as Daniel Hillard, is doing the voice-over for at the beginning of the film. It includes a chat with Chuck Jones and is well worth it for those interested in animation techniques.

The sound and picture, as with the majority of DVD's, are both clear and such an improvement on VHS.

Overall the DVD is a pleasing one. An entertaining film, though prone to a little bit of preachiness towards the end and a mixed bag of extras for those interested.

Summary: