Arrested Development, Wet Hot American Summer, Fuller House, the ladies Gilmore…Netflix has become an entertainment necromancer, reviving old favorites from the dead for the flocks of fans who just can’t seem to let go. Despite the mixed feelings circulating this peanut gallery called the Internet and the varying results produced by these revivals, I’m mostly OK with a majority of ’em. It’s fun to be nostalgic and revisit old favorites – as long as the original creative forces are behind them. In most of these cases, we rested assured knowing that Camp Firewood’s counselors, for example, were all back to watch over things….(or maybe that’s not the best example).

Which brings us to Pee-wee Herman, the latest of Netflix’s resurrections, whose new outing is a fun romp that is nostalgic, but not too nostalgic. In Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, Herman (expertly performed, once again, by Paul Reubens), meets and befriends actor Joe Manganiello (playing himself) and agrees to leave the creature comforts of Fairville to head to The Big Apple – the location of Joe’s upcoming birthday party.

Similar to his Big Adventure (1985), Pee-wee meets lots of colorful characters along the way including a trio of pretty, young bank robbing ladies (including Alia Shawkat and Stephanie Beatriz), a farmer with nine daughters he’s looking to marry off, and a wacky, flying car-owning aviator lady who could easily be a loony bin escapee, but since it’s a Pee-wee movie, she’s just another wack-a-doodle that makes his journey that much more colorful.

Thanks to a script by Reubens and Paul Rust, Holiday is well-paced, and brings laughs and nostalgia without being too over the top or repeating belabored jokes from Playhouse days’ past. Had they resurrected Pee-wee’s dance or any over-cooked catchphrases (“I know you are, but what am I?”), it would’ve felt cheap and made us question whether the character had any life left to give after all. Despite whatever flaws may remain, it helped pave new territory for Pee-wee which was definitely welcomed.

While I’m not the biggest fan of the hunk of man-meat that is Manganiello, he steps outside of his normal shtick to blend in well with Pee-wee’s silliness. They bond over milkshakes, Pee-wee’s love for Fairville, and Manganiello’s (the character) love for adventure and ability to look studly on a motorcycle. He proved to be a worthy new friend who urges Pee-wee to go on the holiday in the first place, and well, that nicely sets up the whole spiel. Watching Manganiello sulk and refuse to go to his party because Pee-wee hadn’t arrived yet is actually pretty hilarious considering the dude’s manliness and size. This real-life friend of Reubens’ was an odd casting choice that led to a surprisingly entertaining addition to Pee-wee’s world.

For anyone who’s ever liked any incarnation of Pee-wee Herman–one of the greatest comedic characters of our time–Big Holiday is certainly worth 90 minutes of your time. While there could’ve been a couple more laugh-out-loud moments along the way to make it slightly more memorable, it was still fun seeing Reubens don that slick gray suit once again…even if he needed all the world’s make-up to make it happen.

Grade: B