FIGARO! FIGARO! FIGARO! FIGARO! FIGAROFIGAROFIGAROFIGAROFIGAROFIGARO!
The opening scene of Mrs. Doubtfire starts with Robin Williams singing opera style as Pudgy the parrot in a birdcage. Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is voicing over an animated cartoon of a hungry cat cooking the bird. As the cat gives a cigarette to the bird as a last wish, Daniel improvs and vocalizes the bird fighting against having to smoke. The director cuts the scene and yells at Williams for the improvisation. As Daniel tries to get others to back him up that they shouldn’t be promoting smoking to young children, he realizes everyone around him is smoking as well. “Ooooo! They’re biased. That’s a mistrial.”
He then refuses to read the script promoting smoking, walking out of studio.
Daniel Hillard is a father of 3 who spoils his children with fun. His wife, Miranda, is much more serious, and does not approve of her husband’s care-free nature. After a particularly bad fight, Miranda asks for a divorce. As an unemployed actor, Daniel loses custody of his children in the proceedings.
Daniel immediately begins working to win back custody of his children. He meets with his court liaison to look for a job and a place to stay.
When Daniel finds out Miranda is looking for a housekeeper, he sabotages the ad in the newspaper. He then calls his wife (in a time before caller ID) in many disguised voices as people looking for the position. He gets the position as a distinguished Englishwoman named Mrs. Doubtfire, who has every desirable attribute a nanny could have.
He becomes his children’s nanny and whole family quickly falls in love with him/her. He uses his new role to make his children healthier, smarter, and have more fun. He learns to cook and clean. While making his children’s and ex-wife’s life better, he is making his own life better too.
“I can’t live without air and I can’t live without them.”
Though not the model husband in this movie, Daniel Hillard is the perfect father figure. He loves his children more than life itself Robin Williams ends the movie as Mrs. Doubtfire by responding to a young girl who’s parents just got divorced. He tells the little girl that just because her parents might not love each other anymore, it doesn’t mean that they don’t lover her.
Robin Williams plays another character full of kindness and compassion, who is a hilarious role model for children and adults alike.
“A woman would never make a nuclear bomb. They would never make a weapon that kills – no, no. They’d make a weapon that makes you feel bad for a while.” –Robin Williams
Shannon Reinke says
I haven’t seen this movie in years, and I still haven’t watched it in its entirety! But I love Robin Williams so I’m sure I’ll love this movie. I’ll have to put it on my watch list. Maybe I can even watch it over break 🙂
Pratiti Roy says
Another classic movie I have to watch. The good news is, I’m on a 12-hour flight at the moment, and they have Mrs. Doubtfire and Dead Poets Society (and a slew of other great movies, like The Theory of Everything and Birdman), so I know what I’ll be watching 😉 Thanks for all the recommendations, Josh!