Search - Big Top Pee-Wee on DVD

Pee wee's first major dissapointment

Stalwart Kreinblaster | Xanadu | 05/30/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"paul reubens character was one of the greatest comedic events of our time.. From the early variety show, to the playhouse, to the big adventure - pee wee could not lose.. I remember seeing big top pee wee in the theatre - and feeling very dissapointed with a movie that was just not very fun or interesting.. Whereas 'pee wee's big adventure' explored more of pee wees quirkiness (remember the scene with the tape in the bathroom) 'big top pee wee' tried to take the character move him to a different setting and make a sort of romantic comedy.. This is probably where it all falls apart.. pee wee should not be a romantic figure - he is the opposite.. he is best when he remains a sort of neuter or man child.. the second romance enters the picture.. pee wee loses all of his charm and comedy.. there are a few funny moments in big top pee wee but on the whole it falls flat."

Lighten Up!

Ham Sammich | Columbus, OH United States | 01/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Granted, Big Top Pee Wee does not promise the type of guffaw humor we enjoyed in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, but it is a really good movie. The humor is a bit more mature. This might be considered a weakness of the film on the surface. It is the immaturity of the humor that we loved so much in Big Adventure. However, having been of the target age when Big Adventure and subsequently Big Top came out, as I grew up, so did Pee-Wee.My favorite is still the opening dream-sequence in which Pee-Wee is incognito, dressed as Abraham Lincoln to avoid his inexplicably large group of post-adolescent female fans who are waiting for him outside of the venue in which he performed his trapeze act. One fan, unaffected by the fact that a man who had been dead for almost a hundred years at that point, breathlessly asks for "Lincoln's" autograph, professing "I'm such a big fan!" Pee-Wee's phony Lincoln beard is then ripped off and the girls shriek with delight and chase after him.This opening sequence, though not the only highlight of this campy delight, truly captures the essence of Pee-Wee humor. It is above all bizarre. But the uniqueness of Pee-Wee's world is its ability to transcend time, dimension, and most of all, logic. This was true in Pee-Wee's Playhouse and Big Adventure, but I think Big Top captures this most. The common dream sequence as an opening scene to each movie sets the tone for each movie. When comparing the two, the dream sequence that opens Big Adventure pales in comparison. Big Top maintains the surrealistic tone of the Lincoln scene throughout the film. The circus owner's wife, Midge Montana is just a few inches tall. Innuendoes between her and her husband set the imagination free. Pee-Wee's compulsively keeps lunch date records in his personal organizer, despite the fact that he has lunch at the same time with the neurotic girlfriend. Pee-Wee's inexplicable agricultural genius made for one of the most enduring images of my childhood-the hotdog tree. This is really funny stuff.The movie is not without its faults, of course. Most of them are found in the somewhat schlocky romance between Pee-Wee and the female acrobat. I also didn't care for the ending, where Pee-Wee solves the circus' financial crisis by turning all of the grumpy towns people into children. It sort of gives off a creepy Cocoon-like feeling, which I didn't particularly appreciate as an end-note. But otherwise, I hold this movie dear. Almost as dear as his first movie, but in movies we rarely see a sequel (of sorts) outshine the original."

Big Flop Pee Wee

Douglas Smith | 02/20/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I don't like to say it as a major Pee Wee fan, but this movie can get as low as the ground Pee Wee walks on. It has too much kissing, and even though it starts out all right, it starts to get weird and boring. The tricks are not at all mysterious, and I have come to expect a lot more from Pee Wee. It has a couple tiny laughs, but they don't last long. I don't think this movie was one fifth as good as the other, 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure'."

Pee-wee's Worst, if not Weirdest Movie

Douglas Smith | 04/28/1999

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Incredibly bad follow-up to the classic Pee-wee's Big Adventure is unfunny and bizarre. Randal Kleiser, the director of such films of Grease and The Blue Lagoon, flubs up Pee-wee's second and ultimately last feature. The movie starts off OK, with Pee-wee hamming it up as a Frank Sinatraesque crooner but then goes down hill from there. Movie somewhat redeems itself with the longest screen kiss in movie history but then finally hits rock bottom. The ending is horrible, and leaves a feeling of insecurity and confusion. When I first got this movie, I was expecting a funny movie, what I got was an overly bland mess of a movie. It still is interesting to watch but doesn't leave a feeling of satisfaction. When Pee-wee's room isn't even a little bit unique, you know there's something wrong."