Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (4K UHD Review)
Director
Tim BurtonRelease Date(s)
1985 (December 16, 2025)Studio(s)
Warner Bros. Pictures (The Criterion Collection – Spine #1293)- Film/Program Grade: A+
- Video Grade: A+
- Audio Grade: A+
- Extras Grade: A-
Review
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure was, among many things, a culmination of the L.A. comedy scene in the 1980s, specifically the work of The Groundlings sketch comedy group. Paul Reubens and Cassandra Peterson had been leading the show business pack with The Pee-wee Herman Show and Elvira’s Movie Macabre, respectively, and while both became cultural touchstones in different arenas, it’s fair to say that Pee-wee Herman had perhaps the largest impact, especially when Pee-wee’s Big Adventure was released. It was also the debut film from director Tim Burton, and his first collaboration with composer Danny Elfman, as well as one of the most enduring adventure comedies ever made.
The affable and childlike Pee-wee Herman lives a happy life surrounded by toys and silly contraptions with his dog Speck. His most prized possession is his treasured red bicycle, one that his wealthy and inquiring rival Francis (Mark Holton) wants to purchase from him, which he repeatedly refuses. One morning after visiting the local bike shop for a new horn where Dottie (E.G. Daily) works and crushes on him, he returns to find that his bike has been stolen. It sets off a chain of events that lead him on a whirlwind trip across the country to find his beloved bicycle, meeting and befriending an array of colorful characters along the way. The rest of the cast includes Monte Landis, Lou Cutell, Professor Toru Tanaka, Ed Herlihy, Judd Omen, Diane Salinger, Jon Harris, Erica Yohn, Alice Nunn, and Carmen Filpi; as well as fellow Groundlings Jan Hooks, Cassandra Peterson, John Paragon, Lynne Marie Stewart, John Moody, and Phil Hartman. With special appearances by James Brolin, Morgan Fairchild, Tony Bill, Milton Berle, and Twisted Sister.
Pee-wee Herman is one of pop culture’s most enduring icons. He’s endlessly imitated and parodied, all thanks to a landmark performance by Paul Reubens. The original Pee-wee Herman Show contained far more innuendo, but in the subsequent films and smash hit TV show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, much of that was toned down for younger viewers. Paul Reubens also had total control over the Pee-wee Herman persona, including the content he participated in and the way it was used, especially after the film’s success when he began making other TV and film appearances. Unbeknownst to the public at the time, Reubens himself was hiding behind his persona and keeping his name out of the public eye as much as possible, trying to maintain his anonymity as a closeted gay actor while furthering his career as Pee-wee Herman. This would eventually come undone, but throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he was Pee-wee Herman.
Executives from Warner Bros. had seen The Pee-wee Herman Show with sold-out and receptive audiences, and they were subsequently eager to hire Paul Reubens to make a Pee-wee Herman movie, bringing along fellow Groundling Phil Hartman and screenwriter Michael Varhol to develop a vehicle for the character. The initial idea had much of the same structure as Pollyanna, wherein Pee-wee would visit a small town and make everybody’s lives better. During the writing sessions, Reubens noticed that many people working on the Warner Bros. lot rode bicycles to and fro, and after mentioning this to his producers, he received a bicycle of his own a week later, one that very much became Pee-wee’s bicycle. He quickly realized that they were “writing the wrong movie,” regrouping to conceive of the story that wound up in the film. Reubens would re-use some of his leftover ideas for the sequel, Big Top Pee-wee, though to much less success.
Reubens, along with his producing partners William E. McEuen and Richard Gilbert Abramson, were also dismayed by the studio’s choice of director, being told that they had a week to find a replacement. After speaking to friend and actress Shelley Duvall and producer Lisa Henson, Reubens and producer/manager Richard Abramson screened the short film Frankenweenie, and immediately sought to hire Tim Burton, feeling that he was the perfect choice. It was a match made in Heaven. The production commenced in January of 1985 and ended in April, with the crew mostly shooting on various California locales, and one very important exterior in San Antonio, Texas.
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure was released in the summer of 1985 and did quite well, pulling in over $40 million dollars on a minor $7 million dollar budget. Today, the film is considered an all-time classic comedy, one that kickstarted the Hollywood careers of Paul Reubens, Tim Burton, and Danny Elfman.
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure was shot by cinematographer Victor J. Kemper on 35mm film with Panavision Panaflex and Arriflex cameras and spherical lenses, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The Criterion Collection debuts the film on Ultra HD from a new 4K restoration of the original camera negative, which was supervised by Tim Burton, graded for High Dynamic Range in HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and encoded by NexSpec to a triple-layered BD-100 disc. It’s a gorgeous presentation with tight grain and an enormous boost in clarity and detail, with bitrates often sitting in the 80 and 100Mbps range, even excelling beyond that. Textures in and around Pee-wee’s home, Mario’s Magic Shop, Chuck’s Bike-o-Rama, Francis’ mansion, the Wheel Inn Diner, the Cabazon Dinosaurs, the Apache Bar, the Alamo, the stages at Warner Bros. Studios, the pet shop, and the Drive In Theatre are absolutely filmic. Beautiful saturation with natural flesh tones are on display, aided dutifully by the HDR passes which give the film’s vivid color palette extra muscle. Blacks are deep with perfect contrast and the whole of the presentation is clean and stable, complete with the 80s era Warner Bros. shield at the top.
Audio is included in English 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles in English SDH. The film was released in 4-track Dolby Stereo, and being that Criterion instructs viewers to enable Dolby Pro Logic decoding on their receivers, the 2.0 appears to be the original soundtrack. It offers much more natural spread than the 5.1, which basically spaces out Danny Elfman’s score into the surrounding speakers and not much else. The original theatrical audio is mixed for an immersive experience, with dialogue right up front, and score and sound effects moving all around the sound space. Most viewers have now spent the better part of three decades hearing the film in 5.1, but I’d urge them to switch over to the 4-track stereo.
The 2-Disc 4K Ultra HD release of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure sits in a clear Amaray case alongside a 1080p Blu-ray; a double-sided, fold-out insert with cast and crew information, the essay Why Don’t You Take a Picture? by Jesse Thorn, restoration information, special thanks, acknowledgments, and production credits; and new cover art by Luigi Olivadoti. A fun little addition is a surprise character appearance in the main menu if you wait too long to make a selection. The following extras are included on each disc:
DISC ONE (UHD)
- Commentaries:
- Audio Commentary by Tim Burton and Paul Reubens
- Isolated Score and Audio Commentary by Danny Elfman in 5.1 Dolby Digital
DISC TWO (BD)
- Commentaries:
- Audio Commentary by Tim Burton and Paul Reubens
- Isolated Score and Audio Commentary by Danny Elfman in 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Pee-wee’s Big Archive:
- Pee-wee’s Big Adventure: Tim Burton and Richard Ayoade (HD – 28:09)
- I Meant to Do That: A Conversation with the Creators (HD – 37:38)
- Deleted Scenes (SD – 4 in all – 11:06)
- Hollywood’s Master Storyteller Presents Paul Reubens in Conversation, 2005 (SD – 36:10)
- Nostalgic Nebula Presents Pee-wee’s Big Adventure: Fortieth-Anniversary Reunion (SD – 24:25)
- Trailer (SD – 1:25)
Carried over from previous releases are two audio commentaries, one with Tim Burton and Paul Reubens, and the other with Danny Elfman. The first is a sort of patchwork between Burton and Reubens mostly reacting to things on screen and leaving a lot of empty spaces, which are occasionally punched up by solo comments from Reubens. The second isolates the film score with Danny Eflman providing commentary in between most of the musical passages, though some of the minor moments are spoken over. Both are equally pleasurable and informative listens.
The new interview with Tim Burton conducted by actor and filmmaker Richard Ayoade is a wonderful and humorous free-for-all discussion about the creation of the film more than just a straight interview. I Meant to Do That contains new audio interviews via Skype with production designer David L. Snyder, producer Richard Abramson, co-writer Michael Varhol, and editor Billy Weber, conducted by critic Mark Olsen. They discuss the film’s earliest beginnings at Universal Pictures, collaborating with Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman, the first Pollyanna version of the story, the script having nothing to do with Bicycle Thieves, working with Tim Burton, editing approaches that were similar to Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop, being influenced for the look of the film during the tour for The Pee-wee Herman Show, the many shooting locations and more complex scenes, hiring Danny Elfman because of Forbidden Zone, the success of the film’s premiere on MTV, and its legacy. Four Deleted Scenes follow. In Amazing Larry, Pee-wee meets the titular magician in Mario’s Magic Shop and sees his latest trick. In Boone the Bear, Pee-wee encounters a large bear after the rodeo and has another nightmare. In Hospital Visitors, the bikers visit Pee-wee in the hospital after his accident. And in the Extended Studio Chase, we see more of the studio, as well as a payoff for Pee-wee’s boomerang bow tie.
Next is an interview with Paul Reubens conducted by Gordon Meyer as part of the Hollywood’s Master Storytellers series from 2005 in which they look back at the film for its 20th anniversary. Following that is a series of excerpts from a Q&A held after a 40th anniversary screening of the film on June 14, 2025 by Nostalgic Nebula, featuring E.G. Daily, Diane Salinger, Michael Varhol, Richard Abramson, Billy Weber, David L. Snyder, the Chiodo Brothers, and Mark Holton, hosted by comedian Dana Gould. Last is the film’s trailer.
Not carried over from the 2011 Warner Home Video Blu-ray is a Production Sketches & Storyboards slideshow gallery with narration by production designer David L. Snyder, as well as various production notes and text-based cast, crew, and writer notes from the original Warner Home Video DVD release in 2000.
Most people today point to Pee-wee’s Big Adventure as one of their favorite Tim Burton films, and rightly so. It’s one of my personal favorites and it only gets betters with age. Criterion’s 4K Ultra HD release is, without a doubt, the definitive presentation of the film going forward and it’s difficult to imagine it being topped. Highly recommended, and tell ‘em Large Marge sent ya!
- Tim Salmons
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