“Big Top Pee-Wee” is a continuation of the adventures of eccentric man-child Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) as it follows on from his movie “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” and his tv show “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse”. It’s a downgrade from those two because it loses some of the insanity.

In “Big Top Pee-Wee”, Mr. Herman is now just a simple farmer, who lives near a mean little town and he conducts strange experiments in his lab. One day, a big storm causes a circus to end up on Pee-Wee’s doorstep and now he’s out to help the circus come up with an idea for a new type of show.

Pee-Wee Herman is just as likeable as always but it is the world that he occupies here and the surrounding characters that make this one lose the charm of the earlier material. Pee-Wee also becomes a little romantic in this one and many people complain about that but I actually see it as being done silly enough for it to work in the realms of Mr. Herman so that’s a real credit to the writers of this movie. The people in the circus and the townspeople aren’t as bizarre as the kind I’m used to seeing share a stage with Pee-Wee and that’s certainly a shame because they helped make the older stuff a real treat.

“Big Top Pee-Wee” is a fun movie for kids and I think older audiences will still find enough zany antics from Pee-Wee to find him enjoyable. If you’ve never seen a “Pee-Wee” film before (nor the tv series) then I suggest looking elsewhere first but for those who have seen the other stuff and like it yet have had doubts about this one, then let me assure you that this is still worthy of your viewing. “Big Top Pee-Wee” is underappreciated.