"You don't wanna get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel. So long, Dott." - Pee-wee

I think it would be fair to say, when it comes to totally unique directors, Tim Burton is up there with the likes of Terry Gilliam, Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino. As soon as the film reel kicks in you enter a fantastical world that could only come from his mind.

Burton started his career at Disney where he made two exceptional shorts, the first a black and white stop motion piece called Vincent and the second a live-action called Frankenweenie, which brought him to the attention of Paul Reubens, who was about to make his own big screen debut as man child Pee-Wee Herman and needed the right director to bring his bizarre creation to the screen.

Pee-wee Herman loves his bike more than anything and is devastated to discover it has been stolen. With only the thought of finding it in his mind, he visits a rather dubious psychic who tells him that his bike is hidden in the basement of the Alamo. Eager to bring his bike home, Pee-wee hitches a ride with Mickey, a fugitive on the run after he cut off the ‘do not remove under penalty of law' tag from a mattress. After nearly killing them both, Mickey leaves Pee-wee in the middle of nowhere for his own safety.

He is then picked up by Large Marge, who he discovers when they stop at a truck station, is actually a ghost. At the truck stop Pee-wee befriends a waitress called Simone who loves everything French and whose dream is to visit Paris. Unfortunately, her burley boyfriend Andy failed French in high school and hates everything French because of this fact. Thinking that Pee-wee and Simone are getting a bit too close, Andy chases Pee-wee out of town and onto a train bound for San Antonio.

Finally arriving at the Alamo, Pee-wee discovers to his horror that the Alamo has no basement and his trip has been a waste of time. Making his way to the bus stop he bumps into a group of bikers and ends up knocking over all their bikes. Fearing they are about to kill him, Pee-wee has one final request and promptly starts dancing to The Champs song, Tequila. Having impressed the bikers, they give him a motorcycle, which he promptly crashes and ends up in hospital. While recovering he sees his bike on the television and heads off to the Warner Bros studio to get it back.

As he tries to escape with his bike a wild chase ensues through a variety of sets and past an array of characters and actors. As he escapes out of the studio he comes across a pet store, which is on fire. After saving all the animals he faints and is arrested. Brought to the head of the studio, the charges against Pee-wee are dropped in exchange for the rights to the story of his trip across America in search of his bike.

The movie turns out to be a James Bond-style action film starring James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild. Having already lived the film, Pee-wee cycles into the sunset to his very own happily ever after.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure really is one of the most bizarre films I have ever seen. As a child first watching this movie I can remember being totally swept into the story and being amused by the characters and wanting Pee-wee to find his bike. As an adult, I see it slightly differently.

Reuben's Pee-wee is a totally unique, one-of-a kind creation. Although he very clearly is a man on the outside, on the inside he is totally childlike and his thought and reason also act in this innocent way. There is a very fine line that can be crossed with this type of character and Reuben, to his credit, makes Pee-wee accessible to both children and adults without being too creepy or too completely ridiculous.

The fact that Pee-wee is so off the wall is well balanced by the surrounding cast of characters which, although are all unique in their own ways, manage to play off the insane Pee-wee perfectly and after a while start to become strangely normal.

The story itself is completely insane but works so well in the world for which it is created. As a child or an adult it is hard not to get too caught up in Pee-wee's quest. You get more than a few laughs for your troubles, with the biker dance scene a personal favourite; it is so surreal you can't help laughing.

Watching the movie back now you can't help but see Burton's style coming through - outlandish colours and set pieces are part of the norm here and the world of fantasy is plonked firmly in our reality, making a mixed hybrid world that will carry on being a theme in Burton's work. 

With the success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure Burton would move on to a movie that would firmly place him as a director to watch. Next time we will be taking a trip to the other side with one of my personal favourite movies, Beetlejuice.

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Key Info:
Released: 9th August 1985
Distributed By: Warner Bros. Pictures
Budget: $7,000,000
Box Office Gross: $40,940,000
Best DVD Edition: Pee-wee's Big Adventure (inc. commentary with Burton and Reubens)