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Pee-wee's Big Adventure
Warner Bros.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 47 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.0 out of 10
based on 13 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for mild violence and adult situations

Starring Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton, Diane Salinger, Phil Hartman, Cassandra Peterson, James Brolin, and Morgan Fairchild

When Pee Wee's beloved bike is stolen, he goes on a cross-country trip to the Alamo because a "physic" tells him it's there. On the way, he finds himself in one oddball encounter after another, from posing as an escaped convict's alibi girlfriend to dancing his way out of a biker brawl in a bar to riding in a big-rig with cackling Large Marge (one year after her death). With so much going on, Pee Wee's adventure could be a Hollywood movie.


GENRE(S): Adventure  |  Comedy  |  Family/Kids  
WRITTEN BY: Paul Reubens
Phil Hartman
Michael Varhol
 
DIRECTED BY: Tim Burton  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: May 2, 2000 
Theatrical: August 9, 1985 
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Everything about Pee-wee's Big Adventure, from its toy-box colors to its superb, hyperanimated Danny Elfman score to the butch-waxed hairdo and wooden-puppet walk of its star and mastermind, Pee-wee Herman, is pure pleasure.
Read Full Review
88
TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)
Inspired lunacy, Pee-wee's big adventure is one of the most inventive films in recent memory. This clever and wholly original work incorporates a wide variety of cinematic tools with a fresh and unique sense of style.
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80
Empire Staff (Not Credited)
Burton's first feature revels in the weird, the unpredictable, the infantile and the absurd. A dazzling debut.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
I'm completely unsure what else Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is about. I can tell you that 70 percent of moviegoers in their 20s and 30s will likely find this crazy production to be a barrel of fun, and frequently a barrel of laughs. A certain intelligence peeks through it all. [9 Aug 1985, p.68]
75
Boston Globe Jay Carr
Pee- wee's Big Adventure is a shrewdly observed, deftly executed looney tune. [9 Aug 1985, p.42]
75
Chicago Sun-Times Llyod Sachs
Pee-wee's Big Adventure goes up and down the hills of Pee-wee shtick, without much concern for things like cohesiveness and consistency. What makes it wear so well is the balance achieved between Pee-wee's nitwit nervousness and his pathetic optimism. [12 Aug 1985, p.35]
70
Chicago Reader Dave Kehr
With all these safety features built in, this 1985 film is too well padded to qualify as genuinely radical wit, but in an even-toned, TV sort of way it's mildly amusing and inventive throughout.
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63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
If Pee-Wee wasn't the most engaging physical comedian since Dick Van Dyke, it would be disastrous. As it is, the opening works well enough to have viewers completely hooked by the time he sets out on the road, like Huck Finn, with his clothes wrapped up in a handerchief on a stick. [10 Aug 1985, p.E9]
60
Variety Staff (Not Credited)
Children should love the film and adults will be dismayed by the light brushstrokes with which Paul Reubens (one of three credited screenwriters, but star-billed under his stage name, Pee-wee Herman) suggests touches of Buster Keaton and Eddie Cantor.
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10
The New York Times Vincent Canby
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is the most barren comedy I've seen in years, maybe ever.
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10
Wall Street Journal Julie Salamon
The movie has the cartoonish realism of a Muppet movie. However, Mr. Herman is no Kermit the Frog, although he made me feel like Oscar the Grouch. [13 Aug 1985, p.1]
10
Time Staff (Not Credited)
This movie could induce terminal boredom in adults and rot the minds of the young. [26 August 1985, p.64]
0
Chicago Tribune Gene Siskel
Nothing, absolutely nothing, at either location is the slightest bit funny. [13 Sep 1985, p.C]

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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