Cinema: The Prince of Prepuberty Grows Up BIG TOP PEE-WEE

Directed by Randal Kleiser Screenplay by Paul Reubens and George McGrath

Children are born anarchists. Babies reign in the solitary kingdom of ego, unable to distinguish the "I wanna" of whim from the "I gotta" of need. In an age of instant gratification and infant attention span, the popular arts have played to this childish impulse. Heavy-metal rock beats out its primal demands like a child pulling a high-chair tantrum. TV is the baby-sitter of a spoiled kid's dreams: it promises everything, never says no and lets you change the channel if you don't get what you want. And many movies these days are less adolescent than infantile, spinning fables in which...

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