Review of Big Top Pee-wee (1988) by Billy E — 13 May 2012

Pee-Wee is still Pee-Wee, and at least there is that to keep this film from being too bad...but it lacks the same level of quality that was put into "The Pee-Wee Herman Show" (both the original and the new version), "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", or "Pee-Wee's Playhouse".

All the other Pee-Wee stuff is so much fun, with it's unique humor and hilarious gags and running jokes. This was made during the height of the TV series, so I'm not sure what went wrong...but seeing Pee-Wee hanging out with a talking pig and joining the circus isn't nearly as fun as it should be.

The pacing is off or something. Having a love story where Pee-Wee is after someone seems really out of character too, and it doesn't work with the whole manchild thing at all. The ending is oddly boring and abrupt.

Definitely the weakest link in the Pee-Wee canon.