An early disappointment for me was Big Top Pee-Wee. Big Top Pee-Wee came out in 1988 and starred Pee-Wee Herman a.k.a Paul Reubens and Susan Tyrrell, Kris Kristofferson, Penelope Ann Miller, and Valeria Golino. I was very, very excited about Big Top Pee-Wee.
I was excited because I absolutely loved Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure came out in 1985 and knocked my socks off. I loved every minute, and I've probably seen it 50 times. There's Large Marge, no basement at The Alamo, Dottie, Francis, cycling and paging Mr. Herman. It's all so great. Tequila!
With Pee-Wee's Big Adventure being so great, Big Top Pee-Wee was sure to be a winner. I mean, it had Pee-Wee in it!
Alas, Big Top Pee-Wee was completely underwhelming, and to this day I can only remember one scene, and that's when Pee-Wee regurtated food to feed newly-hatched birds. Don't ask me anything else about this movie because I don't remember anything else.
In retrospect, we'd have been so much better served with a sequel directed by Tim Burton. Instead, we got a flat flick directed by Randal Kleiser. Kleiser also directed Grease, a film I've never seen, and The Blue Lagoon, a movie I watched several times on CityTV's Late Great Movies. Oh yeah, and he also directed Flight of the Navigator. Shout out to Dr. Johnny Fever.
We'll always have Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, but it's best we forget Big Top Pee-Wee.
