42
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 60Time OutTime OutIsn't in the same class as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, but still provides plenty of prize pickings for kids, kooks and academics.
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertBig Top Pee-wee is as guileless and cheerful as Pee-wee’s first movie, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, but it’s not as magical. It has too much plot, somehow, and not enough wide-eyed discovery in which everything is new to Pee-wee every moment of his life. He seems almost from Earth in this movie.
- 50Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumWhile 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.
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineDirector Kleiser fails to bring the kind of loopy energy that Pee-Wee's Big Adventure director Burton brought to the first film.
- 50Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittEndearingly silly, but nowhere near as original or amusing as Pee-wee's Big Adventure a couple of years ago. [22 Jul 1988, p.19]
- 40Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonKleiser 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.
- 37Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonIn Big Adventure, Pee-wee's gadgety bike was stolen, and the dramatic interest rode on finding it. Big Top contains three rings' worth of people and livestock, but the interest is no-show. You'd be better off going to the circus. Or the zoo.
- 30The New York TimesCaryn JamesThe New York TimesCaryn JamesAn uninspired circus film for children.
- 30Orlando SentinelJay BoyarOrlando SentinelJay BoyarThe earlier film (and much of the television program) worked for adults by creating a youngster's fantasy world with an eerie fidelity. It got us to laugh by reminding us of the child within ourselves. Watching the new film, however, all we're reminded of is that we outgrew kiddie movies a long time ago.