Daniel Hillard is voice-acting for an animation studio but loses that job when he doesn’t follow the script. He picks up his 3 kids from school. There’s Lydia, the oldest, Chris, the middle, and Natalie, the youngest. 

Despite Chris’s poor grades on his report card, Daniel offers to throw him a birthday party. It involves lots of children, music, and even farm animals.

Daniel’s wife, Miranda, comes home, and is horrified by the party. She and Daniel get into a big fight about it. She also accuses him of not being responsible. So, the two file for a divorce. 

Miranda gets full custody of the kids while Daniel is allowed to see them once a week only. If he can keep his apartment clean and get a job within 90 days, the judge could consider changing the custody plan.

The kids are devastated over this since they enjoy spending time with Daniel. Miranda plans to hire a housekeeper to be there when the children get home from school. Daniel, who has superb voice changing and acting talent, decides to disguise himself as a housekeeper in order to see his kids more often.

He gets a makeover to “become” a woman and answers to Miranda’s housekeeper ad while using different voices. He eventually gets hired under the name, Mrs. Doubtfire.

While working as Mrs. Doubtfire, Daniel makes his kids do their homework and chores. They dread that.

However, overtime, they enjoy spending time with “Mrs. Doubtfire.” Eventually, Chris opens the bathroom door and discovers that “Mrs. Doubtfire” is not only a man, but Daniel in disguise. Daniel tells Chris and Lydia not to tell Natalie or anyone else about this.

Meanwhile, Miranda is dating another man, Stu. This, of course, worries Daniel.

At his new job, which involves shipping movies, Daniel is playing with props on a recently canceled kid’s show. His boss, Jonathan, is so impressed that he invites Daniel out for dinner–only for it to be the same day as Miranda’s birthday–and at the same time and restaurant. Miranda even insists that “Mrs. Doubtfire” joins her family for her birthday dinner.

Daniel ends up in a dilemma…

There are many aspects I enjoyed about this movie. As with many films starring Robin Williams, it has many humorous moments.

Some examples include:

• When Daniel and his makeover artists sang, “Matchmaker, matchmaker” (from Fiddler on the Roof) while he wore a headscarf
• When a pony ate Chris’s birthday cake at his party
• When Daniel put his face inside whipped cream to keep up with his “Mrs. Doubtfire” disguise because his mask flew out the window of his apartment and got run over by a bus

Even though I’m an adult, I will admit that the strong language also contributed to the humor. Yes, this movie is not exactly kid-friendly since it’s rated PG-13 for profanity and tobacco usage. But it should be okay for anyone 13 or over–maybe a little younger if they’re mature enough.

One of the biggest strengths is the characterization, especially Daniel. I was impressed with how he could use different voices to hide his own identity. 

But what I especially adored was Daniel’s relationship with his kids. It was so sweet. They enjoyed spending time with him because he was fun and loving.

The concept of the story was also strong as it involved thinking outside the box. I loved how Daniel could wear different hats, such as when he first came to see his children while disguised as Mrs. Doubtfire.

Here’s a fun fact: Mrs. Doubtfire was adapted into a Broadway show in December 2021. But it closed a few months later due to the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Regardless of the strengths, there were a couple of weaknesses. One was when Chris considered it an emergency when “Mrs. Doubtfire” turned out to be a man. Another was when Jonathan got mad at Daniel for dressing like a woman at dinner (he was going back and forth between his family and Jonathan). 

I know this was made in 1993. But I considered those parts to have aged poorly. Plus, crossdressing has actually been going on since ancient times.

Yet those flaws are minor. I really enjoyed Mrs. Doubtfire and found it both funny and beautiful.

I give this movie 4.5 out of 5 stars.