When Pee-wee Herman’s idyllic world is destroyed by the theft of his fire-engine red bicycle, the pre-pubescent adult sets out on a manic cross-country odyssey to recover his most valued possession.

AroView: One of most exuberant comedies of the 1980s, this G-rated feature debut of director Tim Burton is a work of brilliant mischief. He meets his match in the equally subversive Paul Reubens, who co-wrote the script and had by then fully inhabited his alter-ego as the eccentric man-child, Pee-Wee Herman, a character developed on a popular TV show.

Setting off to recover his beloved stolen red bicycle, it’s a road movie that has nary a dull moment between its opening dream sequence and its Hollywood Dream ending, and stands as a nerd-culture masterpiece that celebrates the art and imagination of the outsider.