Rated: PG | Runtime 90 | AKA: Pee Wee's Big Adventure
Jixby Phillips
Video Jerks Employee
01.08.2009
SUMMARY: A Manchild that everyone likes gets his bike stolen and goes on an adventure trying to get it back.
REVIEW: Hey, remember the 80s?? Back when everyone was a surreal parody of every-town USA, and it was completely normal for people's childrenhoods to spill over into their adult lives? You don't? Oh, thanks for reminding me why I want to smash everyone in the face who refers to this a quintessential 80s movie. It's fucking not, you horses ass. It’s a movie, and it’s from the 80s, but it’s not a fucking 80’s movie.
Before I review this movie, I should say that it's one of the few movies in my life that I can't actually remember the first time I saw it. As I was re-watching it this weekend, I was trying to figure out my own initial figuring-out of this movie. I've seen it too many times to do that. This movie is hard-wired into my brain as a thing that just makes sense. Watching it with objectivity is hard!
That said, even watching Pee Wee's Big Adventure now I could still find new things to appreciate and enjoy heartily! Sure, there are the obvious things... I enjoy any movie that has stuff in it that is awesome. Like, for example, a crazy machine made out of toys that makes breakfasts, a fireman pole that goes from your bedroom to your kitchen, a secret bike, or a night spent watching sunsets from the inside of a dinosaur's mouth with a pretty diner waitress. Those are all awesome things! But dear god, this time around all I could focus on was how awesome every actor in this movie is. I never took the time to appreciate, say, a Francis's dad for example. Or Chuck, the owner of the Bike Shop. Everyone in this movie is a hoot to watch. It’s like every other time I watched this I forgot take off my rose-colored childhood glasses that transport me back to the time when movies are just real, and the people in them are real and not actors making interesting choices.
And this movie is so good-natured that thinking about other comedies makes me want to puke. You know what I miss? Scripted stuff. Imagine if Judd Apatow made this movie today. I, for one, would not like to see Pee Wee encounter some Freaks and Geeks cast member so he can get raped by an imrpovy conversation about blowjobs or weed. Look, I'm a big Judd Apatow fan, but he seems downright evil while you watch a movie like this, because it's that good! If I'm being forced to draw a line in the sand, I'm on the Pee-Wee side of things.
Anyway, this is one of the best movies ever made and it is one of the best things around to watch when you are depressed and/or hating life. Give it a shot! Chances are, if you read this website, you are at least one of those things.
IS THIS MOVIE GOOD FOR IRONY REASONS? Only if you're an asshole
VHS NOTE: The VHS edition is in full-frame, which is how it was shot, but it was never intended to be shown in full-frame. So if you rent the VHS, you'll get to see a few great mistakes, like the chain coming from the bottom of the bike basket, or the tracks on the road signs before Pee Wee crashes the car.
Commentaries and Deleted Scenes are the main attraction here. A good DVD, but nobody on it could bring themselves to mention that Phil Hartman is dead, so I have to take points away. The thing about this DVD is that I’m never ready for the movie to be over, so I always wind up watching the special features. Even the fucking music only/Danny Elfman commentary track. It’s a sickness.
COMMENTARY VS. IMDB TRIVIA PAGE: Imdb Trivia Page wins.
Pee Wee’s Bigtop Adventure remains to be the highest grossing movie in Mexico. When then president Miguel de la Madrid was asked why he said, in Spanish, “It is because of the womanly man that is in the movie. He is from America and we are all proud Mexicans.”
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