10: RILEY’S FIRST DATE (2015)

DIRECTOR: JOSH COOLEY

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Disney has been making shorts since the 1920s, and when Pixar starting testing its first efforts in CGI Animation, they made shorts as well. So I think it’s only natural that they keep making a large number of shorts that focus on IP or just new stuff. Shorts are how we got Mickey Mouse, The Pixar Lamp, and the Planes spinoff for Cars (2006), so clearly these shorts are a benefit to humanity! For Part 2 of The Inside Out Collection, I wanted to look at Riley’s First Date?, a quick little short that may not have a grand statement to the world, but it’s cute to see this family dynamic in a situation that feels relatively mundane.

A boy has come to Riley’s house. That means the worst possible outcome has arrived for the parents. SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND. As in, there’s a space between boy and friend. This leads into something that I think was missing in the first movie, having different versions of the same emotions interacting with each other. The Dad’s Emotions work together as a singular unit, a one-track mind some would say, compare that to the Boy whose emotions are easily distracted and scattered. Riley’s Emotions, who already have a firm standing ground for development because there may have been a whole movie about them or something, act as a bunch of friends working together on a group project, and Mom’s emotions act as a group therapy session who always converse with each other to sus out a problem. This has always been something I wanted to see more of in Inside Out so I’m glad to see something like that here.

This short was actually really cute and funny, I didn’t know they could put copyrighted music in these shorts, and for this one it totally works. The Dad and The Boy bond over AC/DC, and that leads to them head banging and throwing a table. It’s a cute little story that focuses on the rushing to conclusions.

7.8/10

-Charlie :)