Williams Makes Best of Divorce in ‘Doubtfire’ : <i> In “Mrs. Doubtfire,” a jobless voice actor (Robin Williams) is distraught after losing custody of his three children to his ex-wife (Sally Fields) and poses as a super-nanny to spend more time with them. (Rated PG-13) : </i>

Give a kid a talented comic trying to disguise himself as bosomy Englishwoman and you can’t miss by much. Especially if his mask falls into the street and is run over by a truck. His teeth fall into his drink. His bosom catches on fire over the stove.

“I think it was really, really good. I think it was the best movie I’ve seen in a long time,” said Dustin Hatfield, 10, as he finished seeing the movie for the second time. “Robin Williams is really funny.”

Give a kid of divorce a movie with a fantasy father and the stated message, “You have a family in your heart forever,” and you’re also liable to hit a nerve. Especially if the father brings farm animals into the house for his son’s birthday and dances with his friends on the furniture. And reads to them. And says that being without his children is the same as being without air.

“It had so many different things. It was sad. It was funny. That’s what makes a movie good,” said Dustin’s cousin, Lindsay Torrison, 11.

Lindsay, whose parents are divorced, particularly appreciated the more serious scenes about the custody battles.

“I cried,” she said. “He cared so much about his kids. He wanted to see them really bad. When my dad went to court, he felt the same way that Robin Williams did.

“He really wanted to see us, and that’s the way it is. We see him a lot.

“I think some kids who have divorced parents feel the same way the kids in that movie do. Like wanting to see their parents real bad.”

Surely most of them could relate to 5-year-old Natalie’s desire to find a way her father could make up with her mother: “Say you’re sorry and call her a princess.”

But grown-ups who have been there might be annoyed by some niggling little questions.

Such as:

* How can a childlike man who hates rules transform himself instantly into a chore-and-homework taskmaster? (“When I’m in charge, you will follow a schedule,” Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire tells them.)

* What justifies this childlike man’s nasty diatribes against his ex-wife, whose worst fault seems to be hyperorganization? Doesn’t this sound a lot like fathers’ rights propaganda? * How could three siblings possibly remain so cute, understanding and well-behaved under circumstances such as these? Doesn’t it bother them to go on dates with their mother and her boyfriend and their father in drag?

But then, adults can be so demanding.

Basically, the only real faults kids found with this movie was that it was “kind of boring,” (from Julie Harding, 13) or that, at 2 1/4 hours, it was “kind of long” (from Amanda Smith, 12).

Or that some of Williams’ jokes were hard for children to understand (from Dustin and Lindsay).

In the end, perhaps we can all agree with Dustin.

“Moms and dads should not go to court; they should solve their problems by themselves.”

But as long as they do, it’s as good an excuse as any for Williams to do his shtick.