Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)

All Critics (39) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (3) | DVD (16)

Reubens always lets us feel superior to his creation, and when his character slips, as it does more than once in this first feature outing, his own condescension shows through.

February 9, 2010 Full Review | Comments (19)

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Fair warning: this movie could induce terminal boredom in adults and rot the minds of the young.

February 9, 2010 Full Review | Comments (2)

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

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.

February 9, 2010 Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

Fed by comic tributaries perhaps, but Pee-Wee Herman comes over as a delightful original.

February 9, 2006 Full Review

Time Out

Top Critic

You have been warned.

May 20, 2003 Full Review | Comments (5)

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

The film's inventiveness is on display from the get-go.

October 4, 2012 Full Review

Matt Brunson

Creative Loafing

Chiefly successful because of its commitment to an artistic ideal: make something that looks, talks, feels, and moves like a cartoon.

August 27, 2012 Full Review

Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

A purely creative movie that one must admit has no equal in cinema history (for better or worse). [Blu-ray]

October 14, 2011 Full Review

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews

Just as charming and curious as it was in 1985.

January 2, 2011 Full Review

Scott G. Mignola

Common Sense Media

It's surreal, funny, clever and disarming in equal measures.

February 9, 2010 Full Review

Film4

Two stars were born with the release of this film -- one in front of the camera and one behind it.

February 9, 2010 Full Review

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Burton's first feature revels in the weird, the unpredictable, the infantile and the absurd. A dazzling debut.

February 9, 2010 Full Review

Empire Magazine

The filmmakers create a zany and surreal world for Pee-wee yet it all seems perfectly natural and credible. Plus, it's all infused with a subdued yet rampant silliness that's enchanting.

July 8, 2008 Full Review

Beth Accomando

KPBS.org

Tim Burton's visual imagination proves a perfect match for Pee-wee's fanciful exploits.

September 29, 2006

Carol Cling

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Goofy, silly, and just plain funny.

May 21, 2006

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Arguably Tim Burton's strangest film.

June 25, 2005 Full Review

Christopher Null

Filmcritic.com

Já exibindo seu senso de humor bizarro, Burton impressiona em sua estréia como diretor, criando uma aventura ingênua, mas inventiva (e Reubens é um comediante de mão cheia).

March 28, 2005

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

• 1. Pee-Wee Herman: I meant to do that.
  – Submitted by Michael W (20 days ago)
• 1. Pee-Wee Herman: It's like you're trying to unravel a giant cable-knit sweater and someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting.
  – Submitted by Michael W (20 days ago)
• 1. Francis: C'mon Pee-Wee listen to reason...
  2. Pee-Wee Herman: [holds hand to ear] Shhhh... I'm listening to reason.
  – Submitted by Jessica W (4 months ago)
• 1. Pee-Wee Herman: I want to see Francis!
  2. Butler: Francis is busy!
  3. Pee-Wee Herman: Busy doing what?
  4. Butler: He is having his bath.
  5. Pee-Wee Herman: Well then where are they hosing him down!?
  – Submitted by David P (5 months ago)
• 1. Chuck: When will that be? We've been sitting here for three hours, and we don't know what this is all suppose to mean!
  2. Pee-Wee Herman: Supposed to mean? Supposed to mean!?
  – Submitted by David P (5 months ago)
• 1. Fireman: This boy's a hero!
  – Submitted by David P (5 months ago)

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