The eccentric and childish Pee-wee Herman embarks on a big adventure when his beloved bicycle is stolen. Armed with information from a fortune-teller and a relentless obsession with his prized possession, Pee-wee encounters a host of odd characters and bizarre situations as he treks across the country to recover his bike.
Fed by comic tributaries perhaps, but Pee-Wee Herman comes over as a delightful original.
– ,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
rotten:
Fair warning: this movie could induce terminal boredom in adults and rot the minds of the young.
– ,
TIME Magazine,
9 Feb 2010
rotten:
You have been warned.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
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.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
9 Feb 2010
rotten:
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.