"they didn't have an absurd overlying point such as Pee-Wee trying to get his bike back, it just didn't work as well"

For me, you nailed it with this sentence.

The quest for the bike was essential because it established Peewee as an icon for boys who like adventure, the kind of kids who like Goonies but younger, with more wacky comedy.

And the first movie had Tim Burton to propel that adventure from scene to scene with driving action and color.

This movie is a failure from the start, because the pre-pubescent boys, who are the core audience for this, simply don't give a damn about the Peewee loves a girl plot. The core audience response is basically "ick."

For adults, it's even dumber, since we know full well it isn't GIRLS Peewee is in to!

And the plot is even more unfocused than the romance I just painted it as, as Peewee doesn't even meet the girl in question until late in the show, spending his time farming (another turn-off for kids), instead of a being a mechanical toy nut, and he can't even make up his mind whether he even likes the circus when it shows up in his yard mid-plot, giving a sense of meandering unfocused ambivalence to the whole plot.

There is no sense of drama in the movie, as the generic angry townsfolk villains pale compared to the diabolical Francis from the first movie, and all obstacles in this movie are too easily removed and resolved.

An ill-thought out, badly branded, unfocused, undramatic, waste of the iconic Peewee character from the first movie. :(