Manege frei für Pee Wee

In this sequel to the classic Big Adventure film Pee Wee (for some reason) decides to move to a dusty old town that looks like a 1947 time-capsule and is inhabited by hateful, old farts. After a violent storm one night the circus (for some reason) washes up on his farm and from there the film just kind of shifts into idle and coasts blandly until the end, in a series of generic circus hi-jinks and weird romantic encounters. Frankly the films' problems exist at the script level. The whole concept was poorly thought out and executed. In Big Adventure Pee Wee's motivation was simple but effective; to get back his bike. The straight-forward premise then allowed the character to be taken from one place to another in fairly rapid succession, all the while letting each unique situation show a different side of him. The road story was also perfect for quickly establishing what Pee Wee is all about; a grown man who cherishes a bicycle more than anything else in his life. It's sweet, it's something we can relate to in one way or another, but it's also very bizarre. Pee Wee is all of those things. Big Top doesn't take him anywhere, it only thrusts him awkwardly into a love story that is completely unwarranted given his emphatic rejections of Dottie in the first movie. "I like you, Dottie, LIKE!... I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel." So whoever decided it would be a brilliant idea to build an entire narrative around Pee Wee Herman having a love-life was totally missing the point of the character.

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 thought Pee-Wee's first movie, Big Adventure, was brilliant. But this one had none of its magic and spunk. Pee-Wee didn't even seem to be himself. The only remotely funny part was when he dredged up the "I know you are but what am I" routine. But even when he did that, he didn't seem that interested. The only thing I remember about this flick was him lying under a tree with his girlfriend. Yawn.

I think Paul Reubens is a genius. But not in this movie.

This sequel has nothing to do with Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

Therefore, I wouldn't actually even say it's a sequel. First of all Pee-wee's back but not with his super cool bike or his super cool house with all the gadgets. Not even with the same people. Where were Dottie, Francis, Mario, Speck(his dog), the biker gang, or even Simone?? Noone but Pee-wee himself was in the second movie. That was a major let down. Pee-wee goes from living in California to living in a small farm in the middle of the suburbs. His pet is a talking pig and the rest of the movie is just blah. If they knew Pee-wee was for kids, I don't see why they had to put so much kissing in this movie. Even the woman Pee-wee falls in love with is boring and has the world's most annoying accent. I completely disliked it and I even ended up not liking Pee-wee anymore. Stick to the first one and that's it!! Unless you'd rather be let down, then watch the second one!! What a waste of time, film, money, etc.

I've tried watching this movie three times, and can never get all the way through it. Big Top Pee Wee is as bad as Pee Wee's Big Adventure was good. Other than some imaginative effects, Pee Wee looks like he fell out of the sky and landed in this movie. I think Bill Murray would have been better cast in a movie with this plotline, especially in the scenes where Pee Wee is acting like a dog in heat. Murray would make a convicing "hayseed" and slob on a farm. Reubens seems to strain in his attempt to make something of the unfunny material he's given...the characters around him are generally unfunny as well. How anyone came up with this farm, then circus plotline is beyond me. The film is generally devoid of laughs. An overall waste of the Pee Wee Herman character and one of the worst "comedies" I've ever seen.