Goofy. Silly. Hopefully innocuous. I’ll give the film the benefit of the doubt here, even though there is some kinda suspect shit goin on it. Who has a cowskull on their headboard? Plus it is Hollywood back in the 80s. But here? We’ll just go with it being kinda tarded shenanigans targeted for a juvenile audience.
Not sure I need to revisit the actual plot here, it’s just a man-child looking for his stolen bike and his rather immature, kinda suspect, maybe gheeeeeeey reactions to it all. Tim Burton gives it some good 80s flair, and Danny Elfman provides maybe a better score than it deserves. But it does have some Mr. T cereal and a fun run-through of the Warner Brothers Hollywood lots that are almost as chaotic as that scene in Blazing Saddles, so it leaves one a bit conflicted emotionally.
It’s pretty obvious from the start that Pee-Wee is bikeosexual. While technically a kid’s character that came about from adult comedy? I dunno, he had a show back in the day. People said it was cool. Which made it uncool. So I never watched it. Paul Reubens as Pee-Wee is quite the character though, it’s basically sketch comedy here with a big budget. I read that one of the Late Night guys wouldn’t have him on for an interview because they didn’t talk to “characters” which, yeah, that’s what Pee-Wee is. It’s a kid’s comedy that sneaks in some odd adult humor here and there. But mostly it’s just silly here. I class this with UHF, but at least there Weird Al Yankovic wanted to get laid. By a girl. Here? Suspect. Poor Dottie. But to its credit, there are a few laughable moments in its surreal takes of an impossible person in maybe not quite so real-world situations. He does run into a lot of interesting different characters and situations though. And visually, it is pretty fun.
