Review of Mrs. Doubtfire

Video

Filmed in 1993 it’s nice to see that this DVD has a great transfer. It’s nice to see the not-so-new movies get decent treatment on a DVD. I was pleased to see no evidence of artefacts or film grain at all.

The movie is a comedy so isn’t really about quality of the dark scenes or the vibrancy of the explosions. The predominant picture concerns are flesh tones and natural looking colours. I will admit to being a bit perplexed as to what I should write about the picture for this very reason. It simply does a good job and looks natural ok :)

The visuals in the movie are first class. When this was on general release the most talked about feature was the make up. How Robin Williams was made to look so convincing as an old woman is amazing, this is possibly the best make up job ever! It is worth seeing just for the transformation.

Audio

Again I find myself struggling for things to say about the soundtrack. It is, of course, Dolby Digital 5.1 but this is a comedy where the sound is never going to be put through it’s paces. It does what it does well but I can’t really remark on it more than that.

The incidental score is touching in places and the accompanying songs (including the excellent “Dude looks like a lady” from Aerosmith) sound great.

Features

Loads of extras on this one. I won’t bore you with the list (take a look at the preceding page to this one for that) but amongst some of the highlights are some excellent deleted scenes, 30 minutes worth. This shows a whole new sub plot involving the nosey next door neighbour and it is a real shame that they left this sequence out as it had me in stitches. The interviews are interesting along with the behind-the-scenes footage. I am hoping to get to listen to the audio commentary by Chris Columbus (Director) so I can’t really comment on whether that is any good or not.


So lots on offer here. I would be happy with just the deleted scenes so the other extras are just more icing on the cake :)

Conclusion

The film is a nice family comedy. No you don’t need a family to enjoy it but there is something for everyone here, young or old. Robin Williams’ ad lib humour can be a bit too much to bear at times however he is just perfect as Mrs.Doubtfire. There are one-liners aplenty and many of them really tickled me. It is particularly amusing when Mrs.Doubtfire is giving advice to his/her ex-wife (Sally Fields) about her new love interest. The love interest in question is played by Pierce Brosnan (Bond to the more shallow amongst you :) ). He is delightfully straight and acts as a nice counterbalance to Robin Williams. The film sends a touching message about family break-ups and doesn’t overdo it . . . although it does come perilously close at times.

I was very impressed when I saw this on general release and it has lost nothing over the years. It’s simply a timeless comedy and one that everyone should have seen at least once