Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

What I love most about Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, The Pee-Wee Herman Show, and Pee-Wee's Playhouse is the fact that the world he lives in is really unrealistic. His hyper, eccentric attitude is matched with how unrealistically realistic the world around him is. Because, as much as I love the character of Pee-Wee, the thought of having him as a neighbor or as a friend sounds annoying and tiring. He's a literal manchild, spoiled brat who makes a scene if things don't go his way. What makes Pee-Wee so funny is how the other characters react to his antics in exaggerated ways. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure has scenes such as the normal acting "Satan's Helpers Biker Gang", but has a weird after reaction to him dancing to Tequila. It also has scenes of Mickey, the escaped convict, react to Pee-Wee's weird antics by going along with a disguise plan in the middle of a highway checkpoint. These are things that would never happen in real life and it works because Pee-Wee is never annoying to these characters. He makes up for it in the most unrealistic ways he can, and we end up loving him for it.The reason why I bring up all of what makes Pee-Wee enjoyable in other movies is because it never worked here. Pee-Wee lives on a farm, away from suburban townsfolk, and has a fiancee that loves him. There is a scene in the movie where Pee-Wee literally harasses and causes a scene because he wants a pickle from a busy storekeeper. He literally cheats on his fiancee with another woman and sees no wrong in what he did. Even the circus people he meets are nowhere close to being as weird or interesting as Pee-Wee, and end up being more normal than he is, which makes the movie set in a realistic world where Pee-Wee is not an enjoyable person to be around.The romance subplot just feels so out of place for a Pee-Wee story. It was funny for Dottie to be in love with Pee-Wee in Big Adventure because he has no interest in girls because he's a literal child. Two women love Pee-Wee and he returns those feelings at the same time, and it's so weird and out of place.People openly show their annoyance with Pee-Wee, which does not help the audience view Pee-Wee any better. There is a rule in storytelling. If there is an annoying character, make them annoying to everyone else, but never the viewer. What makes Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck so endearing is how unrealistic the rest of their universe is whenever they do annoying things. When there is too much to compare to Pee-Wee's manchild behavior in a real world where I know I would want to avoid him, I can't help but want to stop watching. Almost no one likes him in this movie.Pee-Wee Herman is supposed to be a static character who never changes in the end of his stories. Of course, he'll learn some moral, but overall, he stays the exact same in the very end. This is shown in Big Advnture, his two Broadway shows, and every episode of Playhouse. Here, it feels way too out of place for him to learn any lesson about his character. Overall, the film reminds me about how annoying and not entertaining he would be in real life. I don't want to be reminded of that. I want to enjoy his character, not hate it.The guy literally cheats on his future wife and starts a tantrum over a pickle.

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.

I love Pee Wee's Big Adventure, the one in which Pee Wee Herman travels to Texas and California in search of his stolen bike and I bought the DVD for that adorable and funny movie! I saw this sequel and it's just horrible and I think the only scene that was funny was the scene with Pee Wee feeding the worm to the baby bird even though it was so obvious it was candy, one of those gummy worms. Anyway this movie is not funny and is a major snore fest and I can see why the professional movie critics who I don't always agree with hated this movie. I very strongly agree with them on this one and I have read that even Paul Ruebens (Pee Wee Herman) has admitted he wasn't to pleased with this movie!