Official Synopsis:
Mrs. Doubtfire is in the house! We've pulled off the wig and let out the seams to bring you even more fun in this Special Edition DVD of the hilarious and heartwarming blockbuster. With over two hours of special features, including never before seen improvisational clips, making of featurettes, deleted scenes and a retrospective featurette, you'll be in on all the on set hijinks!  Struggling actor Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) can’t keep a job. And if it were up to his fed up wife (Sally Field), he wouldn't be allowed to keep his family, either! So when a judge says Daniel can only visit his kids once a week, the inventive dad becomes Mrs. Doubtfire - the perfect nanny to his own children!
  
Our Take:
Growing up a child of divorced parents, I was never a big fan of Mrs. Doubtfire, as it always seemed to dredge up painful memories. Looking back on it all these years later, it is surprisingly much more enjoyable, and the message just as relevant today was it was nearly fifteen years ago.

Mrs. Doubtfire is arguably one of Robin Williams’ best on-screen performances. He brings Mrs. Doubtfire to life, but doesn’t seem to be acting as over the top as he often can; the situations which he finds himself in are funny enough without the need for overacting. That results in a film that never requires to you suspend your disbelief and say, “How can they not see she’s really a guy?”.

Men in drag is nothing new to the comic genre; Dustin Hoffman did it as Tootsie, and it’s still done today (albeit very poorly) in such weak films as Big Momma’s House or Norbit. But Mrs. Doubtfire doesn’t set out to poke fun at rotund old ladies, as that isn’t the point of the movie. Granted, the film does at times seem a little overly sentimental, almost to the point of being hokey, but that’s just what the movie is and it won’t change.

This new Behind-The-Seams Edition manages to pack in quite a lot of bang for your buck. Regrettably, Chris Columbus’ audio commentary from the previous release is omitted here; however, there is more than enough footage here to garner a new special edition. One thing that would have been nice is a Where-Are-They-Now? feature for the kid actors. For those of you who might be wondering, Lisa Jakub, who played the oldest daughter and Mara Wilson (Matilda) who was the youngest have taken a break from acting and are going to school. Matthew Lawrence, the middle child, has kept acting and went on to enjoy a role in Boy Meets World.

* Cutting Room: Deleted, Extended and Alternate Scenes (37 minutes) - Eighteen deleted scenes, along with four alternate scenes which are all playable together or separately.

* Production Office: From Man to Mrs. - The Evolution of Mrs. Doubtfire (27 minutes) - A behind the scenes making-of.

* Aging Gracefully - A Look Back at Mrs. Doubtfire (14 minutes) - Sit down with director Chris Columbus and Robin Williams as they discuss the film.

* Behind The Scenes Photo Gallery – Various stills from the set.

* Animation Studio: A Conversation with Legendary Animator Chuck Jones (4 minutes) – Chuck Jones, who is the creator of many classic cartoons, created the film’s title sequence.

* Original Pencil Test (2 minutes).

* Final Animation Sequence (5 minutes) – The full animated sequence featured at the beginning of the film.

* Alternate Final Animation Sequence (6 minutes) – Chuck Jones had made some changes to the sequence, and although they did not make it into the film, they are included here.

* Make Up Department: Makeup Application with Ve Neill (4 minutes).

* Make Up Department: Photo Gallery -Various stills of Mrs. Doubtfire seen as a work in progress.

* Test Footage (18 minutes) This is footage shot while Williams & Co. were working on bringing Mrs. Doubtfire to life. It is interesting to see the many different ways that they could have taken the character.

* Stage A: The Improvisation of Mrs. Doubtfire (37 minutes) - Footage of Williams in his element.

* Publicity Department: Original 1993 Featurette (5 minutes) - This original featurette shows some behind-the-scenes footage as well as clips of various actors.

* Easter Egg: Meet Mrs. Featherbottom (2 minutes) - A clip from Arrested Development featuring David Cross dressing up as an old woman, “Mrs. Featherbottom,” to be with his daughter, Maeby.

Mrs. Doubtfire manages to successfully balance comedy while also trying to deliver an important message, which is that there are all sorts of different families out there and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some kids have two parents, some only have one, some live with their grandparents and some have two mommies or two daddies. Robin Williams gives a brilliant performance here, but does not outshine his co-stars, Sally Field, Pierces Brosnan and the children. After fifteen years the film has aged well and is sure to entertain a whole new generation of fans.

RECOMMENDED!

Overall Picture:
Movie: A
DVD: A-

- Chris Lawrence
Staff Writer