The movie Pee-wee’s Big Adventure is an adventure comedy film and relies on humor a lot, while still following the pattern of a hero’s journey. Some of the way the movie is formatted compares it to The Odyssey in particular. In the beginning, Pee-wee receives the call to adventure after his bike is stolen. He holds out on a physical journey to find it until he receives supernatural aid from a psychic. While the audience can tell that she is a fake, Pee-wee believes her, which is what starts him on his journey. His journey is extremely similar to Odysseus’ in format: they are both in an episodic format and they face obstacle after obstacle while on their journey. While Odysseus faces various monsters and gods that try to kill him, Pee-wee faces getting a fugitive past the police, a jealous boyfriend named Andy, and a biker gang. Like Odysseus, Pee-wee uses his wits to escape from these situations: he pretends to be a woman, rides a bull, and dances his way into the bikers’ good graces. Another similarity between the two is the fact that they were helped through their journeys by various allies. Odysseus had Circe, Athena and Telemachus while Pee-wee had Simone, Dottie, and the bikers. Even though Odysseus’ supreme ordeal was killing a bunch of people and Pee-wee’s was running from security guards through movie sets, both have the final reward of returning home with friends and family (in Pee-wee’s case his friend is his bike). While Odysseus may have had brute strength and fighting abilities, Pee-wee had comedy, which was just as good.
