1985 - PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, well I thought it was funny

Re-watched this at a revival theater the other night, the temperature outside the theater was  -4 below with a wind chill of -14.  The theater was packed.  An almost 40 year old comedy is still bringing people in although I think it would be safe to say it's kind of an older crowd.  They probably grew up on Paul Reuben's man/child character.  Such is the staying power of this film.

To say that critics were divided about the film would kind of be an understatement.  Some embraced it as a supremly funny dadaist experience. Other critics thought it was one of the biggest pieces of crap that was released that year. I guess you go with this kind of humor or you don't.  The film certainly exists in a world clearly created from Paul Reuben's imagination.  Apparently Reubens had been developing this comic character with Phil Hartman for a number of years at a comedy club in Los Angeles called "The Groundlings."  The character proved to be popular and Warner Brothers hired first time director Tim Burton  who had a comic book sensibility himself to direct.

 

Pee Wee's Big Adventure actually turned out to be a financial success.  In many ways it was a high point for both of them and it was kind of downhill after that.  Reubens was stuck with the Pee Wee character for most of career.  Burton while financially successful with his earlier films has definitely hit an artistic slump in his career with crap like the live action remake of Dumbo, the remake of Dark Shadows and most depressingly the remake of Planet of the Apes.

 

Anyway Paul Reuben's loaded the film up with lots of his comedian friends in strange character parts, once seen who can ever forget "Large Marge."  The production design is amusing and the score by Danny Elfman really got into the spirit of the film.

The film was written by Paul Reubens, Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol.  The running time is a lean and funny 91 minutes.