Harvey Fierstein

Shan Yu (Miguel Ferrer) is a Hun & attacks China after the Emperor builds the Great Wall. General Shigeta is in charge of defenses. Shan Yu has already crossed the Northern Borders when the news reaches the Royal Court. Chi-Fu (James Hong) is the Emperor's adviser and assistant. In the Imperial City, the Emperor (Pat Morita) orders a general mobilization, with conscription notices requiring one man from each family to join the Imperial Chinese Army. Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) is a tom boyish village girl who fails at finding herself a good husband. Mulan is expected to be quiet, graceful, polite, punctual and demure. Mulan has a pet horse Khan (Frank Welker) and cricket Cri-Kee (Frank Welker). She is arranged to meet a matchmaker (Miriam Margolyes) to demonstrate her fitness as a future wife. Fa-Zhou (Soon-Tek Oh) prays to the ancestors to help Mulan impress the matchmaker and bring honor to the family. Fa Li (Freda Foh Shen) is her mother and her Grandmother Fa (June Foray). In these times Women bring honor to their family by getting married to a suitable groom and giving birth to boys, who can serve the Emperor. Women are only expected to conduct house chores and look beautiful. Mulan is bathed and dressed up for her meeting with the matchmaker. Grandmother Fa adds Cri-Kee to Mulan's outfit for extra luck. Following a few mishaps (Mulan had taken notes on her hand, and when the matchmaker holds her arm the ink is transferred to her palm and from there to the matchmaker's face. Then Cri-Kee gets into the Matchmakers dress, and she falls on hot coals), the matchmaker deems her a disgrace to the family. Mulan is heartbroken and know that if she is herself, she will never bring honor to her family. Fa-Zhou consoles Mulan and says that she is just a late bloomer and when her time comes, she will bring honor to the family. Mulan's father Fa Zhou is summoned by Imperial Army to serve the Emperor against the Huns. Fa Zhou is old and has a limp in his leg (but he would not even consider not going as that would mean dishonor for the family for generations), so Mulan goes instead, dressed as a man. Mulan takes Fa-Zhou's orders, his sword and armor and rides away on Khan. When her absence is discovered, Fa-Zhou refuses to go after her, as if Mulan is found impersonating a man, she will be killed. Mulan's grandmother prays to the family's ancestors (Mary Kay Bergman) for Mulan's safety. In the local temple, Mushu (Eddie Murphy), a small red dragon, is a disgraced former family guardian who is demoted to the role of awakening the spirits of the ancestors. Mushu was demoted when he was sent to protect Fa-Deng and his misguidance led to disaster, with Fa-Deng being decapitated. The ancestors argue whether Mulan's actions are right or not, and the ancestors are split in 2 camps on the issue. The Great Ancestor (George Takei) decides that the powerful stone dragon guardian should guide Mulan; and sends Mushu to wake him. After accidentally destroying the guardian's statue, Mushu travels to Mulan's aid himself (after Cri-Kee talks to Mushu and gives him this idea), desiring to redeem himself to the ancestors by making Mulan a war hero. Cri-Kee decides to travel with Mushu, just to make sure that he doesn't get Mulan in trouble. As China continues to prepare for war, Shan Yu and the Huns are riding quickly through the wilderness toward the city. Shan-Yu sets fire to all the villages in his path. He has an eagle that soars above the battlefield and informs Shan-Yu of any unseen dangers. Hun soldiers capture two imperial scouts, and Shan Yu tauntingly instructs them to tell the Emperor to send his finest troops to battle the Huns. Reasoning that it only takes one man to deliver a message, Shan Yu has one of the scouts executed. Meanwhile Mulan is practicing how to be a man, just outside the army camp where she is supposed to report. Mushu links up with Mulan (Mulan is not convinced that her ancestors send her a little lizard to help her) & devises a plan to make Mulan a war hero to restore her family's honor & secure his own place as the guardian of ancestral temple. Mushu teaches Mulan to walk and talk like a man. Mulan meets fellow soldiers Yao (Harvey Fierstein), Chien-Po (Jerry Tondo), and Ling (Gedde Watanabe). Mushu's advise of hitting men and slapping their behinds only leads to a brawl and Mulan barely manages to escape. Captain Li Shang (BD Wong) is General Shigeta's son & in charge of training. General Shigeta takes the trained soldiers to stop Shan Yu at a pass, and leaves Li Shang in charge of the camp. Shigeta argues that Li Shang was at the top of his class, is well versed in military techniques and has an impressive military lineage, and so is the right person for the post. Chi-Fu is not happy with Li Shang's appointment and promises to keep a close eye on him for any mistakes. Li Shang has a tough assignment on his hands to train the troops as they are totally undisciplined. Mulan gives her name as Ping and says that Ping is Fa-Zhou's son. Chi-Fu believes this as "Ping" is clumsy and awkward. The remaining soldiers turn against Ping as Li Shang punishes them for Ping's mistakes and make him sleep outside of their camp. Li Shang starts training the troops. Their first task is to retrieve an arrow from the top of a tall mast, by wearing 2 heavy weights in their wrists. Yao and his buddies continue to undermine "Ping" by tripping him or putting insects down his shirt. At first Mulan is clumsy & disgraceful. Mushu helps Mulan cheat and pass the tests, but she is often caught by Li Shang. Slowly Mulan learns all the skills & surpasses all fellow soldiers at the defense arts. Mulan is the first to retrieve the arrow from the top of the mast. With time, the other soldiers accept "Ping" as their friend and comrade. The guys enter the lake when Mulan was bathing there, and she is trapped. She is only able to get away when Mushu bites one of the men and they believe that there is a snake in the lake. The confusion and chaos allow Mulan to escape with Khan's help. Shan Yu attacks the village that General Shigeta is defending as he already knew from his eagle that an ambush was set up for him. Though the soldiers have successfully completed training, but army supervisor Chi Fu (James Fong) is skeptical of the progress Captain Li has made and declares that in his report he will mark the troops as unfit for battle. Mushu also finds that Mulan is attracted to Li Shang. Mushu, afraid of losing the plot fakes a letter to Chi Fu from General Shigeta requesting all available troops at the front line. The ruse works, and Shang marches the troops out of camp the following day. On their march, the guys dream of becoming a hero and marrying a beautiful girl. But nobody wants a girl with a brain and one who speaks her own mind. Li Shang's troops arrive at the village to find the army destroyed & Shigeta dead. Li decides to pursue Shan Yu before he gets to the Imperial city. While pursuing, Mushu accidentally sets off a cannon giving away Li's position in the mountain pass. Li Shang's men use their cannons to attack the archers atop the mountain, but Li Shang asks them to save the last cannon. When the cannons are exhausted, Shan Yu attacks with his huge army. As the soldiers march up a mountain pass, they are ambushed by the Huns. Mulan cleverly uses the last Huolongchushui cannon to cause an avalanche, which buries the entire Hun army. Shan Yu is himself buried in the resultant avalanche. Mulan and Khan risk their own lives to save Li Shang from being swept away in the avalanche. Li Shang's soldiers survive by hiding behind a rock and the avalanche tides over it. Angered, Shan Yu wounds Mulan during the battle, and her deception is revealed to Li Shang when the wound is bandaged. Instead of executing Mulan as the law requires, Li Shang spares her life (he says that his debt to her repaid by sparing her life, in exchanging for saving his) and expels her from the army. Mulan is left behind as the other soldiers depart for the Imperial City to report the Huns' defeat. Mulan miserably tells Mushu that entering the army was a mistake, and that she was fated to dishonor her family. Mushu finally admits that he was not sent by the ancestors, and that his mission was a selfish one to get his job back. Even Cri-Kee confesses that he is not a truly lucky cricket. Mushu consoles Mulan and says that things will work out. He counsels her to return him and face her father. However, Shan Yu and several of his warriors have survived, and Mulan sees them heading towards the city. In the city, Captain Shang and his troops are being hailed as heroes for defeating the Huns. Though surrounded by cheering citizens, Shang, Yao, Ling, and Chein-Po are noticeably dejected. Mulan enters the city and warns Li Shang, but he ignores her. Mulan begs the other citizens to take notice of the danger, but they all ignore Mulan as she is a girl. The Huns then secretly enter the city (being part of the victory parade), capture the Emperor and seize the palace. Knowing of Mulan's knack for creative problem-solving, Shang, Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po turn to her for a rescue plan. With all except Shang disguising themselves as concubines, they infiltrate the palace and attack the Huns guarding the chamber into which the Emperor was taken. Shan Yu threatens to kill the Emperor if he refuses to bow to him and accept him as the new leader of China. The Emperor stoically refuses and Shan Yu prepares to strike, but Shang leaps into action just in time. As Shang and Shan Yu battle, Chien-Po carries the Emperor to safety. Mulan then attracts Shan Yu's attention by proving herself to be the soldier who started the avalanche, luring him to the roof of the palace for a final fight. Mushu, armed with an enormous firework rocket, launches himself at Shan Yu. As the Hun leader is blasted to smithereens in a colorful display, Mulan and Mushu drop to safety on the palace steps. As the chaos subsides, Chi Fu berates Mulan for her actions. Shang angrily defends her until the Emperor appears. He explains to Mulan that, despite her fraud, she has saved the entire nation of China. In the ultimate display of respect, the Emperor bows to Mulan, as do the countless people in the attending crowd. He then offers Mulan a place in his council (to the shock of Chi Fu), but Mulan respectfully declines and expresses her wish to return home. The Emperor gives her his medallion and Shan Yu's sword as gifts to honor the Fa family. Back at the Fa estate, Fa Zhou is overjoyed at the return of his daughter. Though Mulan presents him with the Emperor's crest and the sword of Shan Yu, he casts the priceless gifts aside and embraces her, assuring her that she herself is the greatest honor to their family. Captain Shang arrives soon afterward, returning the helmet that Mulan left behind, and awkwardly but happily accepts Mulan's invitation to stay for dinner. Mushu, at last, is restored to guardian status in the family temple. Mulan thanks him for his help in her adventurous plan, and the ancestors celebrate that the Fa family is complete again.

July 2nd. On Earth's Moon we hear the address that Neil Armstrong gave at the landing site of Apollo 11. The footprints left behind begin to vibrate and dissolve and a shadow falls across the surface of the moon. A giant ship moves over the moon and heads toward Earth orbit. The military reports that the Mothership has a diameter of over 550 Kilometers and a mass roughly 1/4th of the moon. It releases several smaller but immense ships that each measure 24 Kilometers in diameter. Observers at the SETI site in New Mexico have discovered a signal coming from the Mothership. David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) works in the TV media as a technical systems engineer. He discovers a countdown being relayed across Earth's satellites. Realizing he must report the findings to the highest government authorities, he has his father Julius (Judd Hirsch) drive him to Washington DC. He hopes to have a White House connection he has get him a meeting with U.S. President Tom Whitmore (Bill Pullman). The military response is led by General William Grey (Robert Loggia), the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. Albert Nimzicki (James Rebhorn) is the Secretary of Defense. Nimzicki advises President Whitmore to attack the alien ships, but Whitmore recommends going to DefCon 3 status instead until he knows more. As the saucers appear all over the world, they cause widespread panic, forcing Whitmore to evacuate his Vice President and his Cabinet to a secure location, but he stays in Washington to assure the nation. U.S. Marine Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) and his unit, the Black Knights F-18 fighter squadron out of MCAS El Toro, are called back from their July 4th leave to defend Los Angeles; his girlfriend, Jasmine Dubrow (Vivica A. Fox), decides to flee the city with her son, Dylan (Ross Bagley). Hiller reports back to his unit to find that his application to NASA has been rejected. Retired combat pilot Russell Casse (Randy Quaid), now an alcoholic single father and crop duster in Southern California, sees this as vindication of the alien abduction he has been claiming for 10 years. Constance Spano (Margaret Colin), the White House press secretary and David's former wife, gets David a private meeting with President Thomas J. Whitmore of the countdown. David explains how the alien visitors have commandeered Earth's satellite systems and are coordinating the immense saucers for what David thinks will be an initial attack. David and Julius accompany the President, Constance, and Whitmore's closest staff on Air Force One. The saucers attack the respective cities simultaneously by discharging their primary weapon, a blue-beamed cannon affixed to the bottom of each ship that sends a larger more destructive blast into it's target. The weapon unleashes a cascading wall of fire that travels through the city, destroying everything in its path. The White House in DC, Empire State Building in Manhattan and the First Interstate Bank Tower are all struck first, turning each into columns of flame. In DC, Air Force One narrowly escapes the inferno. Thomas's wife, First Lady Marilyn (Mary McDonnell) is in LA at the time of the attack and was injured in the blasts when her helicopter crashed. Marilyn is found and rescued by Jasmine, who is also trapped in the city with Dylan. They survive by hiding in the maintenance room of a tunnel. July 3. Hiller's squadron is called up to join dozens of others to launch a counterattack against the saucer over LA. They quickly find out that the invader's vehicles are protected by an advanced shielding technology, making their missiles useless. The saucers launch smaller fighters of their own -- with the same shield technology -- that instantly outnumber and rapidly destroy most of the human fleet. Hiller's wing-man, Jimmy Wilder (Harry Connick Jr.) is pursued and destroyed by one of the alien attackers. Hiller leads his attacker into a system of canyons and brings the ship down when he launches his F-18's parachute at its windshield and forces his plane to crash into a canyon wall. The attacker crashes into the same cliff and skids to a stop on the ground. Undaunted, Hiller marches to the alien craft as it opens its hatch. Hiller sees the craft's pilot, a bizarre bipedal being, and punches it, knocking it out. As Hiller is dragging the alien across the desert, he is picked up by Russell Casse and a fleet of mobile home owners who take Hiller and the unconscious alien to Area 51, commanded by Major Mitchell (Adam Baldwin). A few hours before the President and his entourage arrived, news comes in that NORAD was hit in retaliatory strikes by the aliens. Nimzicki advocates for a nuclear strike on the alien ships. Nimzicki knew about the existence of Area 51 and admits that the information was hidden from the President. Area 51 conceals a top-secret facility housing a repaired alien ship and three dead alien bodies from the 1940s when the ship crash-landed on Earth. Attempts have been underway since the late 1960s to repair the ship. Upon arrival of the alien Mother Ship, the systems on-board the alien ship have activated. Dr Okun (Brent Spiner) is the chief scientist of the facility. Okun shows the group the bodies of 3 of the alien species that had arrived along with the attack ship. Okun explains that the aliens are similar to humans in terms of physical tolerances and weaknesses. However, they plainly are more technologically advanced. Whitmore asks David to work with Okun to try and figure out a way to defeat the alien technology. The alien captured by Steven is brought to a lab where Okun and his team begin to examine it, cutting away an exoskeletal armored suit. It suddenly awakens, telepathically invades Okun's mind, and launches a psychic attack against Whitmore before being killed by Secret Service agents and military personnel. Whitmore reveals what he learned when they linked: the invaders' plan to annihilate Earth's inhabitants and harvest its natural resources, as they have already done to other planetary civilizations. The military calculates that the rate at which the saucers are moving will destroy every major city on Earth in the next 36 hours. The President decides to launch a nuclear attack using B2 stealth bombers but the nuclear warheads also fail against the alien force field over Houston, destroying much of the city. Jasmine and Dylan commandeer a highway maintenance truck and rescue a handful of survivors, including the critically injured First Lady. Though Hiller rescues them in a helicopter that he borrows from the base, and takes them to Area 51, Marilyn's injuries are too severe, and she dies after reuniting with her family. David, distraught over the use of the nuclear missile and its failure, plans to use the operable attacker ship to enter the interior of the alien mothership in space and dock with it, gaining access to its operating system. Working all night with the facility's tech team, he produces a computer virus that he will upload to disable the protective shields around the destroyers and attackers. David says that by infiltrating the mother ship, he will disorient the saucers, and buy a window of a few minutes during which a counterattack can be launched against the aliens. Nimzicki is staunchly opposed to the idea, and Whitmore fires him from his position. Hiller volunteers to be pilot the ship, with Levinson accompanying him to upload the virus. With satellite communications knocked out, the Americans use Morse code to coordinate an attack with the remaining forces around the world, timed to occur when the invaders' shields are set to fail. Casse volunteers to pilot an F-18 in the counterattack, despite his shaky nature. Whitmore, a former combat fighter pilot leads a squadron over Grey's mild objections. Whitmore gives the small squadron of pilots they've scraped together a rousing speech, citing that it's July 4th and that the Earth is again fighting for its survival. Hiller and Levinson successfully reach the mothership and implant the virus. On the way they see preparations being made for a ground invasion. President Whitmore leads the American jet fighters against the alien destroyer that is approaching Area 51. David uploads the virus as planned and sees results when the screens on the Mother Ship begin to flicker. However, the two are soon discovered by a dispatcher alien in the immense ship, and the two humans are forced to hide. Although the aliens now lack shields, the F-18 fighters' supply of missiles is quickly exhausted against the colossal craft and its large complement of assault ships. The underside of the alien craft opens up as its directed energy weapon prepares to fire on the Area 51 base. After the President's last missile launch fails to destroy the saucer's cannon, Casse rejoins the remains of the President's squadron, possessing the last remaining missile, but his firing mechanism jams when he tries to launch. Casse decides to pilot his aircraft into the alien weapon in a kamikaze attack. He tells the officials on the ground to relay his goodbyes to his children and jovially flies his ship straight into the cannon's beam, colliding with the cannon. The explosion causes a chain reaction that annihilates the ship, forcing it to the ground nearby. Human resistance forces around the world use the same weak point to destroy the remainder of the alien saucers, while the nuclear device planted by Hiller and Levinson destroys the alien mothership soon after the duo escape. Hiller and Levinson are caught up in the aftereffects of the mothership's explosion but are able to return to Earth unharmed, crash-landing the alien fighter in the desert close to Area 51. As they all watch the remnants of the Mother Ship burn up in the atmosphere, Hiller tells Dylan that he promised him fireworks for the holiday.

Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is a talented, unemployed actor and a devoted father loved by his three children Chris (Matthew Lawrence), Lydia (Lisa Jakub) and Natalie (Mara Wilson). However his marriage to his workaholic wife, Miranda (Sally Field), is increasingly strained as the uptight Miranda has grown to dislike her husband's immature and spontaneous behavior. Daniel hires a mobile petting zoo and throws a large birthday party for his son Chris, despite knowing his wife would not allow it. After receiving a complaint at her business from a neighbor, Miranda decides this is the last straw, and demands a divorce. Since Daniel has no steady source of income or home, Miranda gets primary custody of their children. Daniel has visitation rights limited to Saturday evenings, devastating him as he adores his children. The judge acknowledges this and agrees to consider a joint custody arrangement if Daniel can hold down a job and create a suitable home within three months. When Daniel learns that Miranda intends to hire a housekeeper, and is unwilling to let Daniel take care of the kids, he contacts Miranda by phone pretending to be an old lady. Asked his name, he looks at the newspaper and sees a headline containing the words "doubt fire", and says, "Doubtfire." Daniel uses his acting talents and enlists the help of his brother Frank (Harvey Fierstein), a makeup artist, and his partner Jack (Scott Capurro) to transform him into Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire, a 60 year old British nanny so he himself can apply for the position. Miranda is delighted with "Mrs. Doubtfire" and hires her on the spot. The two quickly begin to form a friendship, despite the children struggling to adjust to their new caretaker. Daniel, as Mrs. Doubtfire, is now able to see his kids every day, and uses this opportunity to be the firm father figure he wasn't before. Eventually the children begin to respond favorably to Mrs. Doubtfire's methods, and Miranda is able to heal her rocky relationship with them and with Daniel as well, who begins to improve himself through his alter ego by learning gourmet cooking and refurnishing his new apartment. For a while, Daniel is able to keep up the charade, despite nearly being discovered by his caseworker Mrs. Sellner (Anne Haney), and attempting to break up his ex-wife's relationship with Stuart Denmeyer (Pierce Brosnan), her new boyfriend, who dislikes Daniel. He also realizes he has trapped himself with the Mrs Doubtfire facade, as when he once again asks Miranda to take care of the children, she responds that she could never get rid of Mrs Doubtfire, as she has made their lives so much better. Daniel is discovered when Chris accidentally walks in on him using the bathroom standing up. He then explains to Lydia and Chris that he dresses as Mrs. Doubtfire only to see them every day. He also warns them not to tell their mother, as he would likely end up in jail and might never see the kids again, or Natalie, as she is too young to understand and might reveal the truth. Both children are happy to have their father back in their lives, and agree to keep the secret. Meanwhile, at the TV station where Daniel works as a shipping clerk, the station's CEO Jonathan Lundy (Robert Prosky) sees him clowning with toy dinosaurs on the set of a children's program and is impressed enough to schedule a dinner meeting to hear his ideas. Stuart plans to celebrate Miranda's birthday by taking the family out to the same restaurant at the same time, and Mrs. Doubtfire is also invited. Daniel tries to postpone his dinner with Lundy, but Lundy is fully booked, and Daniel realizes he cannot cancel the appointment. At the restaurant, Daniel attempts to rotate back and forth between Lundy and his family, using the restroom to change back and forth from himself to Mrs. Doubtfire. Daniel dumps cayenne pepper on Stuart's order of jambalaya, an ingredient that he is allergic to. He also becomes increasingly intoxicated throughout the evening and forgets to remove his costume before returning to Lundy's table. He covers for the mistake by explaining to Lundy that his alter ego is merely his idea for a new TV persona. Lundy is once again impressed, and agrees to develop the character into a possible television program. At that moment, Daniel notices that Stuart is choking on the pepper and, out of regret, administers the Heimlich maneuver. However, his mask tears off, revealing his true identity. Horrified and outraged at who her housekeeper really is, Miranda storms out with her children. At the later court hearing, Daniel makes an impassioned plea to the judge saying he created the disguise merely to spend time with his beloved children, but the judge gives Miranda full custody of the children while limiting Daniel to supervised visitation rights once a week, as he finds his behavior disturbing. Without Mrs. Doubtfire, the children again are withdrawn and depressed, and Miranda admits that their lives were so much better with her. However they are surprised and delighted to see Mrs. Doubtfire is the star of Lundy's new television program, "Euphegenia's House". It quickly becomes the highest-rated program in its time-slot, creating the possibility that the show will be aired nationwide. Upon realizing how unhappy the children are - and she herself is - without Mrs. Doubtfire, Miranda pays Daniel a visit on the set and tells him that she doesn't want to keep hurting the children over the custody issues, and that she knows the children were so much happier with Mrs. Doubtfire and therefore their father in their lives. She forgives him for his deceit, sorts things out with the courts, allowing Daniel unlimited access to the children, and the two make up. Daniel picks the kids up to spend an afternoon with them, while Miranda watches an episode of Daniel's show in which Mrs. Doubtfire answers a letter from another child of divorce asking for advice. She explains that no matter what type of living arrangement such children may have, love will maintain the bond of the family.