3.5/5
Bases Are Loaded
8 Episodes. Starring: Will Forte, Izaac Wang, Ian Chen, Jo Firestone, Winston Vengapally, Milan Ray, Josh Thomson, Erin Keif, Rosie Foss, Rosa Salazar, Chanel Stewart, Dorien Watson, Lil Rel Howery, Melissa Villaseñor, Flula Borg, Kyliegh Curran & Rhea Seehorn. Showrunners: Carrie Hobson & Michael Yates. On: Disney +.
PLAY BALL! If Disney Plus doesn't have enough 'Daredevils', 'And/or' 'Star Wars' shows for you to stream through their shared universe, then wait until Pixar productions come back under the lamplight. Right after Mickey Mouse's house gave us an animated multiverse of 'Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man', and then Hulu's 'Paradise' showed you a whole new world under a Stephen King like dome came 'Win Or Lose'. Yet, unlike the 'Monsters Inc' ('Monsters At Work') and 'Inside Out ('Dream Productions') offshoots, this sports dramedy from showrunners Carrie Hobson and Michael Yates serves as Pixar studio's first original scripted series. And what a great one at that. Especially when it comes to the cute sweat soaked character (if you can believe it) and the applied dating (I also like pizza), two-episode premiere like most Plus shows, for this eight episode wonder of a series whose episodes come at you like animals in the ark.
Will Forte and Lil Rel Howery (just wait until you hear him sing K-Ci and JoJo's 'All My Life') highlight a crack cast of voices, including Izaac Wang, Ian Chen, Jo Firestone, Winston Vengapally, Milan Ray, Josh Thomson, Erin Keif, Rosie Foss, Rosa Salazar, Chanel Stewart, Dorien Watson, Melissa Villaseñor, Flula Borg, Kyliegh Curran and Rhea Seehorn. Yet for all those from the dugout at bat, it's the co-ed narrative of this final championship game, from the perspective of all the Pickles players, coaches, family and fans, that really rounds for home and the good time feeling that only Disney could provide in a time when we really need it. Even Tarantino would have to tip his cap to the nuanced narrative of the most beautiful baseball pitch since a Costner 'Field Of Dreams'. It's right on the 'Moneyball' with a Jonah Hill clenched fist. All the epic events are pitched at you with as many different unique visual styles as Shoehi Ohtani has curveballs to his already better than Babe, homer of a G.O.A.T. game.
Sweating the big stuff. Treating dating apps like a video game (I mean, they're not wrong). The influence of emojis. Shopping your skills online. The power of our imagination. An animated love. That sinking feeling. And even some little lips. They're all on display to act as a metaphor for our anxieties, yearning, passion, drive to survive, wonder, insecurities, fear and all the other things we're hiding behind the reflection of a black mirror. Although some have criticized Disney for pulling a storyline involving a transgender character. Perhaps they are just responding to all the backlash they have received by trying to tell stories with every colour from the rainbow under their umbrella. Maybe they don't want to appear like they're loading the bases, like they're box ticking. But it's like the great Jane Fonda said for her lifetime achievement speech at the SAG Awards, "being woke just means you give a damn about other people." Despite that loss, this cool concept conceived by Hobson and Yates over experiencing the same event over 'Toy Story 4' differently, still wins. You're out of here! TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Filming: 'Dream Productions', 'Monsters At Work', 'Meet The Pickles: The Making Of 'Win Or Lose'.
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