Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)

In 1985, Pee-wee Herman (a.k.a. Paul Reubens) was mostly familiar to American audiences via his MTV appearances, inserted gamely as a stunt comedian between segments, or as a guest on David Letterman's show. Certainly few people believed an entire movie headlined by Pee-wee Herman would take off (indeed, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert didn't even review the movie during its theatrical run; Siskel later put it on his Worst of '85 list). Luckily for Reubens, green but imaginative short subjects filmmaker Tim Burton was assigned to direct, and the picture does indeed fly despite some fundamental problems. The plot--Herman's prized bicycle is stolen by his nemesis, sending him across several states to reclaim it--doesn't really matter because so much of the extraneous detail is effervescent enough to completely captivate an audience. However, Burton plods a bit through some episodes, and he isn't helped by the editing, which feels blunt or choppy; he also drops the ball with about 10 minutes left on the clock, finishing the film rather conventionally. Still, Pee-wee isn't tarnished by the picture's faults; in a natty gray suit and red bow-tie, his hair in a '50s-style crew cut, Herman is a grown-up child living in his own world, and not above an occasional outburst or getting into mischief. He's funny and foolish--and scarily appealing. *** from ****

Tim Burton's directorial movie debut is a film for acquired tastes. I remember seeing it on television when I was around 5 years old in the 1980s and thinking it was very funny; time hasn't been kind to it since then, however. Pee-wee Herman feels like an American version of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean, although nowhere near as funny.Indeed, Paul Reubens gives such an over-the-top performance of constant mannerisms and tics - not to mention THAT laugh - that he becomes irritating after about, oh I don't know, five minutes. The resultant film, which follows a journey narrative as he goes on a nationwide hunt for his stolen bicycle, is therefore tiresome. For most of the running time I kept thinking about the various run-ins with the law that Reubens has had since, and for some reason I found THAT funnier than the supposed humour here.PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE isn't a complete mess. Burton's direction feels assured and confident even at this early stage of his career and he certainly puts in a lot more effort here than he did in something like the CGI monstrosity that was ALICE IN WONDERLAND. There are also a handful of funny moments along the way, like the bar dance, although my favourite moment is the excellent homage to the Japanese Godzilla series. A shame the rest of the movie couldn't have followed suit.

This was a fun film I watched when I was a kid back in 85. I never liked the TV Show as much, but then I bought this movie on VHS and now own it on DVD - hope to buy the Blu-Ray in the near future... Anyway, Pee-Wee is one of those classic cheesy films that makes you want to get up and dance towards the part when Pee-Wee was in the bar doing his last dance request! Anyway, the movie is fun to watch on how he has a awesome bike and tries to save it from bad guys and founds out it ended up in WB Studios and they turned the bike adventure into a movie and made Pee-Wee a star of his own film in a film! I just wish the film they made in the end of this movie was real as a 2nd movie adoption. However, it is a fun film for kids and adults at heart who enjoys this for many years to come!

I just watched this movie again after first seeing it in the late 80's. I enjoyed it then and I enjoyed it even more last night. Reubens had the Peewee character polished to a quirky perfection in the TV series and I used to love watching for the wonderful messages it gave out. Such a pity the scandal engulfed him, and thereby the character, as I'm sure it would still be going strong even with all the years that have passed. It's a sweet plot about Peewee having his beloved bike stolen and there's some fabulous lines throughout the movie that have you just plain giggling. It's a sure sign of great comedy when it still produces laughs in this iphone addicted world. I find myself saying "This is so stupid" and it is , but it's a nice stupid and in the end you feel like a little kid yourself.