Rating: Summary: Under-rated Pee Wee circus adventure. Review: 'Big Top Pee Wee' is a must-see for two reasons - for Danny Elfman's typically exuberant score, its hurtling rhythms and circus melodies lending the film an appropriately carnivalesque atmosphere; and the art direction. Pee Wee's home and the town it borders is almost as stylised as the worlds of Tim Burton, with its exagerrated shapes and hyper-real colours. Pee Wee lives on his farm with a herd of animals, including Vance, the talking pig who assists him in his scientific work, the cultivation of odd, genetically modified food (e.g. plants that grow sausages). This cohabitation with beasts scandalises his mean-spirited neighbours, who virtually ostracise him as a pervert, with the single exception of his fiancee, apple-pie schoolmarm Penelope Anne Miller, who diverts his sexual urges with the 'favourite' egg sandwiches he loathes. One day, a storm hits the area; when Pee Wee emerges from his shelter, he is surrounded by the wreckage of a circus. He invites its performers to stay and put on a show in spite of the locals' opposition, and falls in love with Italian acrobat, Gina. Like his first director Burton, Pee Wee mixes cartoon social satire, in which caricatures represent wider represions, with a fantasy world in which dreams and imagination can be free. For Pee Wee, the boundaries of these worlds fail - his absent-minded indifference to the world around him is matched by a physical clumsiness that hobbles his attempts to mentally soar. 'Big Top' is a far less elaborate affair that his brilliant debut, 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure' - the plot is almost insultingly simple-minded, and there are no gadget-crammed set-pieces. As Pee Wee becomes more adult and sexual, however, his persona becomes more perverse, even grotesque, combining innocence with lechery, decency with deceit. The circus world is vividly realised and characterised, providing an enjoyably cliched putting-on-a-show-in-a-barn energy, but even here, in an unsettling 'Freak Show' segment, Pee Wee's dark, 'abnormal' side is fetished.
Rating: Summary: Funny Sometimes Clever Dumb Comedy. Review: A Simple Loving Man named Pee-Wee (Paul Reubens), who has the Unexpected Pleasure, When a Traveling Circus Team (Lead by Kris Kristifferson) but when Pee-Wee falls in love with a Circus Performer (Valeria Golino) but again, it`s gets more Complicated with his Current Girlfriend (Penelope Ann Miller). Directed by Randel Kleiser (Grease, The Blue Lagoon, Summer Lovers) made a entertaining family film for all. It`s a Sequel to Pee-Wee Big Adventure. This film feature the Longest Kiss Scene in Movie History. This Sequel becomes a Cult Classic for Pee-Wee/Paul Reubens fans. Look Close for Actor, Oscar-Winner:Bencino Del Toro as a Circus Freak. Grade:B.
Rating: Summary: GROW-UP! Pee-Wee is a comedian, not BARNEY Review: But you have to remember Ruebens had help from Phil Hartman in writing Big Adventure, and Tim Burton Directing. So yeah, its not nearly as good as the first, but good none the less. Its about time that it came out on DVD and I am eagerly awaiting the Playhouse collection later this year. On a side note, did anyone elses DVD not come with a booklet inside? Mine was empty.
Rating: Summary: Ok, so its not his best... Review: But you have to remember Ruebens had help from Phil Hartman in writing Big Adventure, and Tim Burton Directing. So yeah, its not nearly as good as the first, but good none the less. Its about time that it came out on DVD and I am eagerly awaiting the Playhouse collection later this year. On a side note, did anyone elses DVD not come with a booklet inside? Mine was empty.
Rating: Summary: Booo!!! Hisss!! Review: Fans of Pee Wee's Big Adventure or Pee Wee's Playhouse should NOT see this movie. Summed, up it's just lame. It lacks the intelligent adult humor of the others and is basically just a kid's movie. If you're planning on buying this, DON'T. Buy Pee Wee's Big Adventure or wait for the Playhouse DVD set.
Rating: Summary: Booo!!! Hisss!! Review: He goes to all the trouble of getting his bike back in the first movie, then there's zero mention of it in the follow-up. Instead he has a talking pig that doesn't even start talking until several minutes after it has been introduced. This movie annoys the crap out of me because it has what has to be the longest freakin' kiss in cinematic history. I'd rather watch Francis (from Big Adventure) eat a slab of ribs with no napkins than be bored to tears by sappy music as Pee-Wee rams his tongue down some chick's throat for what has to be at least two minutes. Regardless, this movie is fun just to think about what would happen if Mace Montana got into a fight with Whistler from the Blade movies. And how'd they find an actress who is 3 inches tall?! That is amazing.
Rating: Summary: Watch Pee Wee's Big Adventure instead Review: I remember watching this when it first came out and I was around 12 or 13. It was crummy then and it's crummy now. I've read some of Paul Reuben's interviews and even HE said he wasn't too happy with it. Pee Wee's Big Adventure is leaps and bounds better than Big Top
Rating: Summary: Le gasp Review: I rented this movie thinking it would be as good as Big Adventure. I was sadly mistaken. The energy of this movie was WAY off. The material...eh, it could have been worked with. And I don't mean that Tim Burton is the only one who could've saved it, I just think it was undeveloped. The pace was too slow, and some parts of it just were NOT relevant to the plot (WHAT PLOT???) I've spent the last week crtiqueing this movie in my head in my spare time. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some kind of a weirdo, I just think it has major potential, but it was taken in the wrong direction.
Now the whole...PW romance issue. No joke, my first reaction-I got sick to my stomach. I REALLY thought I might lose my dinner. However, I think if it had been reworked into a more...mischieviously childlike romance, it could have been really charming. I did enjoy the "I lo...lo...LOVE YOU!" scene, and just, the satisfied embarrassed look on his face as he walked away...yeah. That's how the whole thing should've been. Like when two 2nd graders decide they should "get married" and all the boy once to do is see what it's like to kiss a girl. Instead it came off as...well gross. And WAY to serious. No way was this family oriented. I almost wish i could direct this, I have so many ideas. But yeah, it's not really worth the view, unfortunately unless you want to see how well Pee-wee can kiss. I mean, he's not bad actually...
Rating: Summary: Something you may not know about Pee-Wee's movies Review: Let's put it in context. Paul Reubens' original grand scheme was to create a series of five movies, with Pee-Wee Herman growing up a bit more in each film.
"Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" (1985) portrayed Pee-Wee as an innocent kid, more interested in bikes than girls. His "romance" with Dotti was akin to an elementary school crush.
"Pee-Wee's Playhouse" (1986) was a TV adaptation of the Pee-Wee from the first movie.
"Big Top Pee-Wee" (1988) was the second installment of the big-screen series. This Pee-Wee was like a teenager, still filled with youthful hope and wonder, but keenly interested in girls. He'd given up bikes and toys for more sophisticated interests, like botany. And did you know that this movie contains the longest on-screen kiss in cinema history? It's true!
Now--- we can only wonder at the next three stages of Pee-Wee's cinematic development. Believe me, I've stayed up nights pondering this stuff--- Pee-Wee in college? Pee-Wee in the workplace??? Pee-Wee as a swinging bachelor?! The possibilities are endlessly hilarious and I wish Paul Reubens had been able to complete his progressive installments of Pee-Wee's life.
Paul Reubens does have a script prepared for "The Pee-Wee Herman Story," all about the rise and fall of Pee-Wee as an entertainer. I hope some studio somewhere has the innovative foresight to produce this feature. I'm sure it would be absolutely brilliant.
Paul Reubens is one of the greatest comic actors living today. He's an absolute genius of humorous character study. If I were King of the World, or the snotty heir of some wealthy family, I would gladly give him endless funding to complete his projects. I love everything he's done, including "Big Top Pee-Wee", and I've seen "Big Adventure" so many times that I've memorized most of the dialogue.
So please, have an open mind when you see "Big Top Pee-Wee". He's not Peter Pan, you know--- like all of us, Pee-Wee eventually grows up. This film is great fun!
Rating: Summary: GROW-UP! Pee-Wee is a comedian, not BARNEY Review: This isn't a 5-star movie but since everybody else is giving it 1 star I feel I need to balance out the overall rating. This movie is pretty funny. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure wasn't funny at all, it was just amusing. Okay the escaped prisoner guy was funny but that's about it. Besides, Tim Burton is WAY overrated. Just look what that fool did to BATMAN and PLANET OF THE APES. When I was growing up, BATMAN and PLANET OF THE APES were the coolest things ever. Tim Burton ruined them with his silly movies. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was supposed to be silly so I guess it's okay, but it still wasn't funny. All the jokes were recycled from Pee-Wee's stand-up routine of the previous 5 years. Maybe they were new to little kids but I'd heard them all before I saw the movie. BigTop at least has new jokes. COME ON, don't tell me you didn't laugh at the HOT DOG TREE. Sure, if you're 8 (or have the mentality of an 8 year old) you won't get the more subtle humor of Big Top, preferring the over-the-top gags like Large Marge. Go watch that lousy Beetlejuice movie if that's your idea of humor.
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