Ah, the ignorance of being a kid. "Big Top Pee-Wee" had some decent play value back when I was too small to know better. But watching this through adult eyes was a huge letdown. The story's paper thin, the charm is nonexistent and . . . well it's all off. Most of the jokes are dead in the water, and there are long stretches where you hope for something funny, but the laughs just don't come. I kept asking myself if I'm just missing some brilliantly subversive art - but no, I'm pretty sure this is just driftwood. Kristofferson's seemingly wandered into the wrong production, and Reubens is just doing through the motions. Vance the Pig was funny, and the hot dog tree was cute.But that's about it.4/10

I'm amazed by the negative reviews, this movie was outstanding! I think you have to appreciate Pee Wee humor, but if you do, then I think you'll agree this movie is brilliant, just like all of Paul Reubens' humor.One thing to note, I had not watched Pee Wee's Big Adventure when I first saw Big Top, so maybe my expectations were different. And I had to watch Big Top (and Big Adventure) a number of times in order to catch and appreciate all of the subtleties.Here is a perspective that might help: Pee Wee's movies basically show things from the standpoint of a little kid describing his world once he grows up. For example, a child might imagine that he will have a bicycle that can fly and do all sorts of "cool" things that in reality are impossible, but he doesn't have the cognitive skills to think about whether things like this are possible. He just makes up his story the way he wants it to be. Pee Wee's movies bring those types of childhood dreams to "reality" on the screen, with a bunch of unique grown-up humor and some often strange but appropriate music mixed in. Taken from that perspective, these movies are absolutely brilliant.

We somehow went from a rousing cross country adventure that was the first Pee Wee movie with lots of colorful characters and some really strange situations, but overall funny to a one town movie that is strange and not in a good way. We don't get the scenery and we do not get a very good or funny movie this time. Maybe it is because Phil Hartman did not help with the script or maybe because Tim Burton did not direct, but this movie is absolutely nothing like the first film and as I said before that is not a good thing. This time we have Pee Wee on a rather boring farm, where he has a talking pig and the towns folk are a bunch of bores. Then the circus gets blown into town and that shakes things up. That is about it, besides the odd love triangle involving Pee Wee...who for some reason goes from a loner and a rebel to kind of a perv. There are a couple of chuckles to be found near the beginning of the movie, but once the circus hits it is rather tedious to watch. Like I said you go from all the wacky stuff in big adventure to one setting and one setting only. You have a few stars in this one, but they don't add to the movie, only to the misery. The ending is so stupid I could not watch it again. All in all I would say skip this movie unless you are a die hard Pee Wee fan which I am not. He was amusing in the bizarre adventure world, but he comes across as rather embarrassing and even creepy in the Big Top.

After enjoying the surprisingly-fun "Pee Wee's Big Adventure," I was happy to give this this a look. Well, one out of two ain't bad, I guess. That first movie was good; this was not. However, the first 10-15 minutes was prime-time Pee Wee Herman weirdness with some very funny dialog and scenes. I thought I got lucky two times in a row but, alas, the story then concentrates on romance between Pee Wee and a circus lady (Valerie Golino). The romance with Golino takes up some much of the rest of the film that the humor goes by the wayside. Hey, the romance is sweet in a way and Golina is pretty woman but I watch this weirdo (Herman) for his outrageous humor not for his romantic stories. Puh-leeeeeze! Speaking of beauty, Penelope Ann Miller also is in here. She and Golina both have beautiful faces, but what's with the teeth? Can't these actresses afford an orthodontist?