Big Top Pee-wee (PG, 1988)

In BIG TOP PEE-WEE, Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens) has a farm, and a talking pig named Vance, too. Country life agrees with him, it seems. He serves his animals big pancake breakfasts, performs botanical experiments in his free time, and is engaged to the town's pretty schoolteacher, Winnie (Penelope Ann Miller). It's a life of contentment -- or would be if a storm hadn't blown a large circus and accompanying human oddities onto his property. Pee-wee finds himself in a quandary when he falls for beautiful trapeze artist Gina Piccolapupula (Valeria Golino). What should he do? Stay on the farm and marry Winnie, or follow his heart and find a niche for himself under the big top?

Fans of the groundbreaking children's show Pee-wee's Playhouse will find this second feature starring Paul Reubens' famous alter ego rather slow and clumsy by comparison. Those new to cult figure Pee-wee Herman are advised to acquaint themselves elsewhere, as this venture may seem little more than a painful curiosity. Tim Burton's first Pee-wee feature, Pee-wee's Big Adventure was inspired, but director Randal Kleiser doesn't bring the proper sensibility to this sequel.

The script undermines Pee-wee's peculiar man-boy appeal by casting him as romantic figure. By hopping libidinously on his fiancée and kissing beautiful Gina, he's obviously meant to be a sort of human oddity. He certainly is that, but a lot of potential humor is sacrificed for the effect. Still, kids will find Pee-Wee hard to resist. They'll also like Vance the talking pig and the circus folk, including a tiny lady, a dog-faced boy, a mermaid, and the ringmaster, played by an out-of-place Kris Kristofferson.