Big Top Pee-wee (1988)

That was an excellent one.

Thanks for the memories!

Excellent but underrated film

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I have mixed feelings about this movie. I did not like any parts that were sexual or disgusting especially the part where he fed some birds. (In this case, I do not feel too comfortable in having the movie viewed by children.) I am not one of those people who is impressed with the portrayal of Pee Wee Herman. The elderly townspeople could have been shown more. Of course, the part where Pee Wee gave them what they really needed (see the beginning of part 9 on YouTube) was excellent and things like that would be great for fun entertainment. This movie basically, involves Pee Wee Herman living as a farmer (the farm has some similarities to his playhouse) who is also working on a faster way to produce organic produce (already successful) and even inventing a wiener tree. Eventually, a circus accidentally arrive due to a bad storm and the plans are made for a performance (maybe later ones too) in the area. However, the older townspeople (who are often grumpy) object to the circus and want it to leave their town. Pee Wee tries to join the circus, but gets into trouble when he has relationships with two women who show some problems themselves with on of them later having four boyfriends and they other giving some excessive kissing at the end that does look a little dirty. The elderly townspeople are obviously not the majority of the population. They are just shown as the only ones around town at times since they are quite controllable. Many of the other townspeople are probably working or doing things elsewhere, but this is not a realistic movie. Anyway, I really like how Pee Wee Herman eventually deals with these older people by giving them something we all kind of need at times.

I just saw this for the first time tonight, having wanted to see it since it was released in theaters back in the 80's. Talk about a long wait! I spent the entire movie flip-flopping between being shocked and awed. I was awed at the scenario Pee Wee is simply dumped into, having woken up from an over-the-top dream, into an even bigger and more unbelievable circumstance. Then I was summarily shocked by him jumping on Penelope Ann Miller! His talking pig, a circus literally blowing into town and the ringmaster's minuscule mate all provide a zany background to further contrast Pee Wee's oddly adult, "normal" behavior.The movie plays upon all we know/knew about the character and goes out of its way to misdirect and surprise with virtually every scene. Pee Wee instantly matures into a tender lover (when meeting his true love and 'following his heart'), and ultimately Pee Wee gets engaged to be married. In the previous movie, the Pee Wee we all knew spurns Dottie's advances much as a twelve-year-old would. Pee Wee's late-bloom puberty is creepy but mostly benign, manifested by a hair fetish, the allegorical "hot dog tree" he's cultivating, and of course numerous obligatory references to intercourse (both verbal and visual).After spending an hour and a half watching him chase his bike, I was ready for this change in pace. This sequel deserves credit at the very LEAST for breaking the sequel syndrome and refusing to poop out another silly romp. And at BEST it can be described as whirlwind hour-and-a-half search for Pee Wee Herman's masculine identity.That's not to say that it was masterfully done. One must forgive the long cuts, boring "walking" scenes and unnecessary scenes which make this seem almost like an extended second unit director's cut of what could have been a nice hour-long movie. Still it was good fun, and some of the long cuts really worked...such as in the kissing scene by the waterfall. Pee Wee and Gina's snog stretches the premise past the point of shock, into humor, then into disbelief, and again back into humor at the sheer audacity of the cut length. But with other scenes, such as the cheese sandwich scene - the humor just never seems to gel.It seemed Paul Reubens knew with this script that it would be his last shot at working a different angle of his definitive character. Paul had outgrown Pee Wee as an actor, and even if this movie was somehow destined to be a runaway success and more were commissioned, I'm sure he'd pass. What else is there to tell about Pee Wee after the man-child matures? I'm sure it was something of a metamorphosis for Paul, personally.I was happy with this movie, and saw it with the same adult eyes as I had seen tapes of the old stage show: long AFTER having seen Playhouse and Big Adventure in my childhood. Even though the roots for the character were more bawdy back in Paul's improv days, my introduction to the character was at its most innocent on Saturday morning TV. This movie served to really complete and close a story to me, in a satisfying and FUNNY way.Plus, Dustin Diamond. WTF? :)

This Film finely documents Paul Reubens' downward spiral into the perverse. This "family film" contains more sexual innuendo than Pippy Longstocking fan fiction. It's not the original masterpiece, but hilarious none the less. It's the commitment that counts. Never is there a moment of doubt that they might be creating something that is false or contrived. It's odd and quirky and they stick by it all the way. It brings back memories of Pee Wee's classic "kids show", based on the live performance tape that is sick and awesome. Long live Paul Reubens, despite his short lived game show "You Don't Know Jack". And look for Kristofferson's line flub about an hour in. He's addressing the Circus folk and specifically 'Snowball'. Watch it!

This is a terrible film and that's really a shame, as I actually liked the first movie, PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE. I think the biggest problem about this film is that instead of the episodic style of the original that placed Pee Wee in so many different situations and meeting so many different types of people, this film is too static. With a more well-defined plot, you are left with the film resting purely on the character of Pee Wee--something I really can't stand for very long. It reminded me an awful lot of PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE, in that the going seemed very slow and I just needed a break from the character after a while. This was made worse by a lousy and unfunny script--so it forced Paul Rubens just to mug for the camera again and again! Uggh! Plus, without the wonderful direction of Tim Burton, the film just seems lost and aimless in its pacing and plot.