Riley's First Date? (2015 Video) User Reviews (13)

A wonderful continuation of an idea that still has plenty of ground to cover

[StevePulaski · 8/10 · 8 March 2016]

Riley's First Date? is one of presumably several short sequels Pixar Animation Studios will make to further the world of their latest success story Inside Out. That film had the ability not only to inspire a wide-variety of ideas that could continue to develop the characters, but also managed to end by setting up the emotional banter and wit that ensued when the focused shifted into the heads of other characters. Inside Out's first short sequel plays with this by taking another look inside the heads of Riley's mother and father during nearly every parent's most feared situation.

When a young boy named Jordan (voiced by Ben Cox) comes over to Riley's (Kaitlyn Dias) house to hang out, Riley's mother and father (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) immediately assume the "worst:" she has a boyfriend. Being that Riley is now twelve, she is inching ever-so closer to being a teenager, so similarly with Inside Out gradually hinting at the loss of childhood innocence by way of natural development, Riley's First Date? continues to expand on that idea. The short, in just under five minutes, focuses on how Riley's mother and father go about reacting to Jordan, despite no comment or indication that the two are dating. Riley's mother, whose emotional headquarters is lead by a less-brazen version of "Sadness," decides to try and pander to her daughter in way of cheap slang and lingo, while Riley's father, whose emotional headquarters is lead by a more conservative form of "Anger," decides to play defensively to try and intimidate Jordan.

The short's brevity is a nice feature, as this isn't a lofty topic and, unlike Inside Out, which is almost entirely played seriously to showcase an eleven-year-old's emotions, this is played for laughs based on a recognizable situation. With that, Riley's First Date? is a sweet and sincere continuation of an idea that, despite its heavy pop culture exposure in the last few months, still has the ability and the promise it did when we first came into contact with it nearly a year ago.

Voiced by: Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, and Ben Cox. Directed by: Josh Cooley.

A great first date

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 26 December 2017]

Absolutely adore 'Inside Out'. One of my favourite Pixar films and ranks very highly by when it comes to animated films in general. Pixar have been responsible for some classic short films. 'Riley's First Date?' is not one of the classics but it's very good and at its best great all the same.

'Riley's First Date?' may lack the imagination of 'Inside Out' and it is for my tastes too short, would have given it a couple more minutes myself. Having said that, it was really fascinating seeing how a very relatable and relevant subject, that a vast majority of people go through, affects Riley's parents with the same idea with the emotions as with 'Inside Out'.

It's a great looking short, vibrant in colour, very rich in detail and with natural and expressive character designs. The music is a nice fit in how it's orchestrated and the mood it creates.

Writing is very funny (Anger in particular) and very sincere, and there is a sweet, fun and touching story. The characters are easy to engage with and the voice acting is very good from particularly Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan. Didn't think personally that Kaitlyn Dias was too old.

Overall, very good and great at its best. Would have been even better with a longer length. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I was in a band

[ronantehan · 8/10 · 13 April 2021]

I was in a band. Very amusing and funny short, I really enjoyed it and it lives up to the pixar standards.

I miss The Old Pixar

[Marwan-Bob · 9/10 · 11 February 2020]

What a Beautiful 4 Minutes, it reminded how Great Pixar's Films Were.

A good short film.

[filipemanuelneto · 9/10 · 22 September 2019]

This short animated film is a kind of mini-sequel to Pixar's Inside Out movie. Being a movie of this gigantic and creative studio, the quality is guaranteed.

This movie shows how often we pay more attention to feature films and totally ignore the pearls that may appear in the form of short films. In fact, taking the story shortly after where the feature ends, this movie gives an idea of how Riley's parents reacted to her first date.

Personally, I found the movie too short, had material for further development (at most about eight to ten minutes). The characters are already known to those who saw the movie in the cinema. Of all, the ones that get the most attention are Riley's dad and the boy she's going out with ... and what a boy! That boy really needs to get his ideas in order! It is a short story, but well made, well thought out and with very well imagined dialogues.

From a technical point of view, the film is impeccable, as expected from a Pixar movie: vibrant colors, good brightness, great attention to small details, beautifully done designs and a very realistic, smooth stroke. Although the soundtrack is not the strong dish here (as it had not been in the feature film), there is some attention here for this field.

Funny little add-on

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 11 November 2015]

"Riley's First Date?" is a 4.5-minute animated short film that takes place after the end of Pixar's very successful "Inside Out". The question mark in the title makes a lot of sense as this is not really a date. Sadly for Riley's parents (and luckily for us), her parents aren't aware of that and try to ask her and the boy in their house what is going on. I thought the first 2 minutes were really funny and the second half was merely okay. The director is Josh Cooley, who also already made the "Up" sequel short film "George & A.J." and he voiced Jangles the Clown in "Inside Out".

But back to this short film here. On a very positive note, they managed to get all the voice actors from the "real" movie in here as well. It is impossible to pack as much emotion and drama into such a short film as there was in "Inside Out", so they did not even try and made this 100% comedy here. And it's a job well done. Seeing the emotions inside everybody's heads just never gets old (or not yet) because it is something that looks different for every character and the moments we get to look inside Jordan's head were among the very best of this short film. I generally found the (lack of) conversation between the dad and Jordan funnier than Riley and her mother. The youth language thingey has been done many times already and it kinda stops being funny at some point, for me pretty quickly. But that's my only criticism. "Riley's First Date?" is a funny little movie and I recommend it to everybody who enjoyed "Inside Out". Thumbs up!

back with the family

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 26 March 2019]

Riley is a little older and a boy has come calling. Jordan is a slacker and Dad is concerned until they bond over AC/DC.

This is a Pixar short from the Inside Out franchise. It's going to be fun to revisit Riley and her parents as they reach various milestones. The first date is an obvious choice. I can very much see this as a starting point for the sequel. There could be a mean girl who is jealous of Riley over Jordan. There is a lot of possible material.

Fun

[chloebetts · 7/10 · 3 August 2021]

I think it was fun to have this short. Funny and simple.

It's a BLAST!

[Ddey65 · 8/10 · 16 June 2022]

**EXTREMELY RELUCTANT SPOILERS**

No matter how much time has passed, whenever somebody mentions "Inside Out," I will always think of those 15-minute educational shorts that used to run during midday on PBS since the 1970's. And when it comes to little people in your head representing moods and personality traits, the early-1990's Fox Sitcom "Herman's Head" will be my go-to reference. But with entire generations being unfamiliar with both of these, the only "Inside Out" has become the 2015 Disney/Pixar production about an 11-year-old girl struggling with being moved from the Great Lakes to San Francisco.

Unfortunately, considering that this is a less than five-minute animation short, it's kind of hard not to spoil. Riley's parents are surprised to find that a boy from her school is visiting her supposedly as part of an attempt to go skating with a group of her friends. They had to know this was coming. She has a classmate who wears eye shadow, and she's not even a teenager yet. Anyway, her mom tries to act cool about it, while dad is sitting down with him in the kitchen to find out if he's worthy of going out with his daughter. This boy named Jordan who visits Riley, seems like a slacker or a wannabe stoner, and her father is not happy with him. Riley's dad is mere seconds away from kicking this boy's sorry ass out of the house, when he realizes they have something in common. They were both in a band, both fans of AC-DC, and both nearly wreck the house as they play a dual air-guitar jam while "Back in Black" plays on the bookshelf stereo in the background!

And to think there was a time when parents thought the music of AC-DC was satanic. Had he lived past 1966 into the '80's, Walt Disney in his aging ignorance would've probably felt the same way. Equally, I can't fathom the idea that any members of the band at the time, including the late Bon Scott would consider that any of their music would've even been touched by a Disney production. And yet here they are together for all of us to enjoy. On a side note, I just have to recommend sticking around past the closing credits of this short.

As I mentioned in the warning, it's far too difficult not to spoil this movie. There's too much goodness packed into these five minutes for an audience to enjoy. Therefore a sequel to this movie whether short or long is a must. Bring it on, Pixar!

Enjoyable Short

[Dog-River · 7/10 · 1 May 2021]

It was a cute little add-on to the feature film, Inside Out. I did kind of want them to show atleast one clip of the actual date, but I get what they were going for here. It was an entertaining family situation and as always, Pixar's animation is top-notch.

Too short but quite entertaining

[Aleta_Nook · 6/10 · 4 January 2016]

Riley's First Date? is a very short film about romance in general. Riley, now going through puberty and her emotions realize that a boy is in the house who wants to date her. At first, they seem rather in disbelief but then proceed to go out on the date anyway. And then they never show anything else but that and it ends with a kiss from the parents.

This makes it underdeveloped, I do wish they showed what she could do with this boy, Jordan. But this short was quite fun. You can get a look into Jordan's mind, which looks very cool and there are some laughs to be had but no sad parts.

Kaitlyn Dias who plays Riley is okay but her voice is a little too old for the character, it sounds different, I know that she's going through puberty but it still could've worked for someone a little younger than a 16-year-old.

I love this funny teammate from "Inside Out".

[MK_Movie_Reviews · 4/10 · 23 August 2021]

Oh, I remember this girl. She is from the movie "Inside Out".

I love that movie and she behaves so well, I like her, but this short movie is too playful so I gave her 4 stars.

proof that the concept works better as a short

[CubsandCulture · 7/10 · 18 January 2021]

This is best thing connected to Inside Out and it is largely because the concept does not support drama. Instead this is entirely a comedic short. The stiffness of the concept is less apparent here than in the feature film.