From Peanuts to Pickles: How Win or Lose Brings Schulz’s Spirit to Pixar’s Real-World What-Ifs.

You must watch Pixar's new animated series WIN OR LOSE on Disney +. Ok, you don't have to, but it would make me happy if you did.

Someone said that they didn't know who WIN OR LOSE was for. I think it's for everybody, but it will especially land with anyone who was picked last for teams at School (I can relate).

The title is apt, as Pixar spent a blockbuster movie budget on an ambitious, quirky and original series that may struggle to justify its cost. Oh well, even if that were the case the studio's loss would be a win for viewers. Boy, is this series beautiful.

The show follows the fortunes of different characters connected through the pickles softball team ahead of a state championship match. There’s the coach’s daughter - literally crushed by her insecurities, an umpire who armours himself against anyone getting too close to him, or the momfluencer who experiences her daughter’s success through a screen.

Tonally the series reminds me of Charles Schulz's Peanuts. WIN OR LOSE shares a similar funny, bittersweet, and occasionally melancholy spirit. You could imagine Charlie Brown amongst its cast of characters.

The character and location design is cartoony and exaggerated, but the camerawork is cinematic and? the lighting is lush and atmospheric. The world is drenched in golden warmth like everything was shot at magic hour. This gives the series a magical realist quality, poised between the real and the magical which feels like the perfect space for stories rooted in the everyday but where the inner life of the characters is given fantastic dream like expression.

I often say that while Disney's films are 'Once Upon a Time' fairytales featuring characters with relatable emotional dilemmas, Pixar's movies are 'What If' stories rooted in the real world. WIN OR LOSE is true to Pixar's narrative DNA - grounded in the real, but switching perspectives to the fantastic.

The writing is whip smart and warm-hearted, but it’s not afraid to pull the rug from under the viewer and leave them with a down-beat ending. In a world of winners and losers, it puts an arm around the losers, but it doesn’t let them go home with a fake consolation prize to make everyone feel good. It seems to say, sometimes in life you lose, and that sucks, but it's ok.