X
- 1988
- PG
- Paramount Pictures
- 1 h 26 m
- 1988
- PG
- Paramount Pictures
- 1 h 26 m
Summary Pee-wee Herman is now a small-town farmer with a fiancée, but when a traveling circus comes to town, he finds himself falling for the trapeze artist.
Directed By: Randal Kleiser
Written By: Paul Reubens, George McGrath
- 1988
- PG
- Paramount Pictures
- 1 h 26 m
- 1988
- PG
- Paramount Pictures
- 1 h 26 m
Big Top Pee-wee
42
4.3
Where to Watch
Summary Pee-wee Herman is now a small-town farmer with a fiancée, but when a traveling circus comes to town, he finds himself falling for the trapeze artist.
Directed By: Randal Kleiser
Written By: Paul Reubens, George McGrath
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
42
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
83% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
17% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
42
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
83% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
17% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
When flights of fancy like this work, and they do for about half of this newest Pee-wee Herman adventure, you have a world seductive enough to snare adults right alongside their kids. With his co-writer George McGrath and director Randal Kleiser, Paul Reubens (Pee-wee's alter ego) has kept the magic going far longer than you might have believed possible. [22 Jul 1988, p.1]
Isn't in the same class as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, but still provides plenty of prize pickings for kids, kooks and academics.
Even with sex, Big Top Pee-wee seems dry and juiceless. [22 Jul 1988, p.C7]
While the level of imagination here is scaled to the bite-size dimensions of TV, the sense of an alternate universe felt in Herman's TV show is woefully lacking. But fans and undemanding kids may still be amused.
Though sprinkled with comic gems, Big Top Pee-wee runs out of gas in the home stretch. Kleiser, of Blue Lagoon fame, is too bland for the job -- the tame Big Top finale makes you yearn for the cartoonish pizzazz of Big Adventure director Tim Burton. [01 Aug 1988, p.54]
Kleiser has no feel for comedy, and there's no affinity between him and his star. He shoots the material as if he didn't quite get it, and the gags dribble out weakly, without any emphasis or piquancy, as if the camera itself were perplexed by the scene unfolding in front of it.
An uninspired circus film for children.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 4 User Ratings
4.3
25% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
25% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 4 User Ratings
4.3
25% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
25% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
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