TheRetroCritic

Here's the video version of my Flight Of The Navigator review.

Pee-wee Herman returned only a few years following his big screen debut Pee-wee's Big Adventure in this sequel which saw the off-beat man-child living on a farm and encounter a circus following an impromptu storm. Tim Burton sadly did not come back to direct this one though Danny Elfman stayed on as composer delivering a very circusy score. The first thing you'll notice watching Big Top Pee-wee is that gone are the toys and gadgets, Speck and the iconic bike Pee-wee worked so hard to recover the last time. There's something a little off-putting about seeing Pee-wee live on a farm in a completely normal and unexciting room after the colourful treat that was the last film. Add to that the fact he lives in a small town where everyone inexplicably hates his guts and this looks set to be a depressing watch. Luckily, Pee-wee soon reveals a secret room where he's working on silly secret experiments (hot dog trees etc.) and the circus soon appears thereby giving the film

Pee-Wee Herman finally returns with a new movie outing nearly 30 years after Big Top Pee-Wee and this welcome return comes courtesy of Netflix, director John Lee and producer Judd Apatow who helped make Paul Reubens' long gestating project a reality. Pee-Wee's Big Holiday sees everyone's favourite 60 year-old man-child having seemingly moved on with his life somewhat since he chased his beloved bicycle all over the country in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and grew hot dog trees on the farm: he's got a job working in a diner, he hasn't left small town Fairville in ages and he's in a rut with the world changing around him, much to his despair. That's until he meets and befriends actor Joe Manganiello who invites him to his birthday party in New York and urges Pee-Wee to go on a journey across America and live a little. Which he, of course, does. Pee-Wee may be in a rut and you actually see him in a more miserable state than ever before, but his wacky lif

Back when E.T. was all the rage and a few copycat movies quickly followed from *batteries not included to Mac And Me , Flight Of The Navigator came out and it was obviously seen as not much more than yet another E.T. rip-off. Luckily, the film was also all kinds of great and arguably even better than Spielberg's movie in some ways. The film opens with a montage showing dogs catching, or rather attempting to catch, frisbees in what is both a completely irrelevant and completely wonderful opening title sequence. Initially set in the 70's, the plot sees a kid, David (Joey Cramer), wander into the woods at night only to slip and fall before waking up 8 years later in the same spot. Meanwhile, NASA come face to face with a silver, very light walnut-shaped UFO and try to keep the discovery under wraps. That is, until David's mysterious disappearance turns out to be related to that UFO somehow by which point NASA promptly "invites" the boy over for a couple of d