PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE
A film review by Chad Polenz
Copyright 1997 Chad Polenz
*** (out of 4 = good) 1985, PG, 90 minutes [1 hour, 30 minutes] [comedy] starring: Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman), Elizabeth Daily (Dottie), Mark Holton (Francis), Diane Salinger (Simone), written by Paul Reubens, Phil Hartman, Michael Varhol, produced by Robert Shapiro, Richard Gilbert Abramson, directed by Tim Burton.
"Pee Wee's Big Adventure" is a live action cartoon farce that epitomizes stupidity... and I liked it. It's the story of an immature, idiot manchild, and because he is so ridiculously silly, it makes for brilliant comedy.
Paul Reubens stars as Pee Wee Herman, an adult with a 4-year-old boy's face and personality. Pee Wee does not live in the real world; his house is a cross between an amusement park, a funhouse, and a huge toy store. He has an "Absent-Minded Professor"-type device that makes his breakfast for him while he wraps Scotch tape around his head in the bathroom. This opening scene is only the first of countless sight gags, and what's amazing is they actually work!
The zaniness continues throughout the film with one of the best scenes occurring when Pee Wee opens his secret storage facility for his bicycle (which looks like the kind of bike the guys from "Mission: Impossible" would have used as kids). The music becomes overly dramatic and spotlights and dramatic camera angles are used to highlight the bike's gizmos and gadgets and its importance to Pee Wee.
But where there is good there must be evil, and we get the typical rich, snobby "kid" Francis (Holton), who wants Pee Wee's bike more than anything. As Pee Wee goes shopping for x-ray glasses and boomerang bow ties (to match the tight grey suit he always wears), he is shocked to find his bike missing from the robotic clown he chained it to.
And so we get the typical road trip comedy as our small hero tries to hitchhike 2,000 miles to San Antonio, Texas because a phony psychic told him his bike is in the basement of the Alamo. First he is picked up by an escape convict, who kicks him out after he drives the car over a cliff, then he is picked up by an eccentric old truck driver who turns out to be a ghost. And if that wasn't enough, he must escape the 300-pound boyfriend of a friendly waitress, and is almost killed again when he accidentally messes with a biker gang.
Although most of the jokes stem from Pee Wee's wild antics and zany sight gags, there is a good amount of witty satire here. In fact, the film uses its childish attitude to make for some of the funniest satire I've ever seen. There are many "goofs" throughout this film where crew and/or equipment is visible, but since there is such a "don't care" attitude to everything, it's funny and quite original.
"Pee Wee's Big Adventure" isn't anything genius, but it is very funny. There is a laugh-out-loud joke a few times a minute and most of them work (unlike most commercial comedies). Maybe it's likable because it speaks to the child inside of us, or maybe we just like to see stupidity once in a while.
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