Mrs. Doubtfire – Blu-ray Disc

May 9, 2008 – 4:22 am - Posted by: Justin Sluss

Tags: Chris Columbus, FOX, Robin Williams

has an average rating of 6.6 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
include DVD ports in Standard Def
–
– 1993
– 125 minutes
– FOX

Buy it for $27.95 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by Justin Sluss

The Movie Itself is Directed by Chris Columbus, known originally for doing the first two “Home Alone” films and then doing two “Harry Potter” films. Six years later he’d work again with the star of this film Robin Williams on a film called “Bicentennial Man” but this (“Mrs. Doubtfire” in 1993) was their first project together and it’s quite the memorable one at that. It’s safe to say that even after 15 years this film is still pretty funny thanks to the wild antics from the comedic genius that is Robin Williams.

“Daniel” (played by Robin Williams) and “Miranda” (played by Sally Field) have quite the rocky marriage. Both seem to disagree on how to punish their children. When Daniel throws his son “Chris” (played by Matthew Lawrence) a huge birthday party, the final whistle is blown and Miranda demands a divorce. Obviously wanting to spend more time with his children Daniel asks if he can have them after school. Miranda isn’t comfortable with this idea so she decides to put out an ad in the paper for a sitter. Once Daniel finds out about this he goes to his brother “Frank” (played by Harvey Feinstein) who happens to be a make-up artist. Frank (with the help of lots of make-up) transforms Daniel into “Mrs. Iphegenia Doubtfire,” a woman that is instantly loved by the children. Now it’s up to Daniel to continue being “Mrs. Doubtfire” while trying to lead a normal life.

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte Dual-Layered Blu-ray Disc). This runs at an average of 28.5Mbps according to the back of the box and for a fifteen-year-old 35mm High Def transfer this looks pretty nice. There’s an obvious presence of film grain present and some occasional noise which is to be expected for this dated material but unlike most cases this is inconsistent in it’s amount of film grain. The inconsistency visually of film grain, noise, hairs and so forth is enough to be a tad bit bothersome and also at times make you think you’re just watching the DVD upconverted.

It’s the external shots or bright scenes that really hold the detail here that will remind you it is an actually 35mm film negative to High Def transfer. This isn’t anywhere as bad as FOX (MGM) has done in the past but it’s nothing too visually impressive either. This is an improvement over the original DVD release yes but it’s just not always going to hold the best picture quality, keep that in mind. This earns a somewhat respectable “3 1/2 Star Rating” for overall video quality on this back catalog Blu-ray Disc release from FOX.

Audio Quality on this release is in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and Dolby Digital 5.1 as well. Things start off nice with the Score coming across mostly in the front channels, Robin Williams singing (and eventual dialogue doing voice acting work) in the cartoon and the sound of a projector emanates from the rear channels adding a realistic feel to the soundscape. Throughout the film you’ll find that dialogue is delivered perfectly clearly through primarily the center channel as it should be and that the rear channels are mostly only used for a slight bit of the film’s musical Score and sound effects. While not one of the most impressive DTS-HD Master Audio mixes I’ve heard (from FOX especially) it does manage to get the job done and deliver the audio presentation well enough. This earns a somewhat decent “3 1/2 Star Rating” overall for audio quality.

Bonus Materials are presented in Standard Definition MPEG-2 video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound except for the Photo Gallery features which are presented in HD (1080i/p) using AVC for video.

• Deleted & Extended Scenes (32 minutes)
• Alternate Scenes (4 minutes)
• From Man to Mrs.: The Evolution of Mrs. Doubtfire (26 minutes) is your basic “making of” documentary featurette split up into different parts.
• Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery (7 minutes HD) is the first of three different photo galleries presented in High Def.
• Acting Gracefully: A Look Back At Mrs. Doubtfire (13 minutes) is an interview with Director Chris Columbus and Star Robin Williams reflecting years later on the film. The sound quality isn’t that great here but this is totally IS worth the watch for fans of the film and/or Robin Williams.
• Animation Studio takes a look at the opening animated scene created by Legendary Animator Chuck Jones. It’s split up into separate parts and they are as follows:
A Conversation With Legendary Animator Chuck Jones (4 minutes)
Original Pencil Test (2 minutes) is obviously really rough but nice to look at to compare with the final product.
Final Animation Sequence (5 minutes) is the full-length version of the animated scene in the beginning of the film.
Final Animation Sequence With Alternate Backgrounds (6 minutes) uses some different colored backgrounds that Animator Chuck Jones believed suited his “style” more than the ones in the final product which he felt looked too realistic.
• Make-Up Application With Ve Neill (4 minutes) gives us an even deeper look at the work Make-Up Artist Ve Neill did on Star Robin Williams to turn him into “Mrs. Doubtfire.”
• Make-Up Photo Gallery (2 minutes HD)
• Make-Up Tests (18 minutes) shows us some early screen tests with Star Robin Williams in make-up doing the “Mrs. Doubtfire” character and such.
• “Stage A” (37 minutes) gives you some improvised scenes that Robin Williams did. These didn’t make it into the film, into the outtakes or vice versa. They get their own special feature of their very own and are pretty damn funny to say the least.
• Original 1993 Featurette (5 minutes)
• Meet Mrs. Doubtfire (5 minutes) involves Robin Williams interviewing himself in character as “Mrs. Doubtfire.” This is obviously worth a short laugh and worth the watch.
• Theatrical Trailers (4 minutes) gives us three different theatrical trailers.
• TV Spots (1 minute) gives you two original TV spots for the film.
• Theatrical Posters (7 seconds) is pretty pitiful. It not only includes just TWO original theatrical posters but has a running time of 7 SECONDS as I just noted which is way too quick to take in what little it has to offer. Avoid this!
• Publicity Photo Gallery (2 minutes HD) is the last of the bonus materials and Hi-Def photo galleries.

Overall these bonus materials are pretty lengthy but at the same time only in (mostly) Standard Definition. This is to be expected for a 15-year-old film like this so I’m not really going to complain too much there. This is sure to leave fans pleased with it’s DVD ported bonus materials and the few Blu-ray additions in High Definition (photo galleries).

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