Riff is a dwarfed husky and the secondary antagonist of the 2016 animated comedy film Rock Dog.
He was voiced by Kenan Thompson.
Official Bio[]
- Riff is the smallest henchman with the biggest ego in the wolf pack. He tries to take on jobs bigger than himself just to impress his boss Linnux, but they almost always result in epic failure due to the lack of unity between him and his absentminded partner, Skozz.
Personality[]
Riff has a big ego in contrast to his small stature. Riff employs himself to take on big jobs regardless how much he can handle as long as he can to impress Linnux.
Also, like his boss and co-workers, he's into eating meat as they go to cook goats on a barbecue.
History[]
Rock Dog[]
Riff and his partner Skozz are Linnux's henchmen. They are sent observe Snow Mountainand and see what is appeared to be an army of mastiffs led by their leader Khampa. They discover nothing, but Bodi (the film's main protagonist) leaving the village for bequeath his father's legacy of defending the village from the wolves. Both Riff and Skozz contact Linnux, who instructs them to follow Bodi and skulk on him.
When the arrive in the town, Riff attempts to abduct Bodi. Their very first attempt to capture him involved a grappling hook device, which fails when Linnux prematurely lets go of the grip, causing the hook to miss and yank Riff off his feet. Their second kidnapping attempt, later that same night, they contact their boss with an update. While Riff explains that Bodi slipped away from Skozz's fingers, Skozz plays with the coin return on the phone booth and receives a few coins. But he uses them to purchase an ice cream for himself, without getting one for Riff, leaving Riff in dejection.
The next day, Riff and Skozz arrive in Rock 'n' Roll Park, where they notice Bodi playing his banjo to earn money for a cab fare for his idol Angus Scattergood. Riff and Scozz construct a virtue vacuum device that can suck anything big up. They suck up Bodi instead just drive back to Linnux's Fight Palace. Unfortunatley, they realize that they had sucked up Angus instead. And upon realising they kidnapped the wrong person, Linnux angrily orders Riff and Skozz return Angus back home, and threatens them for worse repurcussions if they fail to capture Bodi again. After returning Angus outside his home, Riff berates Skozz for humiliating him, only to discover that Skozz is distracted by a quirky video game, which results in Riff wrecking their car angrily.
However, Riff and Skozz locate Bodi again in the park, later that night. They attempt to subdue Bodi with the rest of the Wolf pack organization with tranquilizer darts, only to accidentally hit each other. But Riff, however, succeeds in darting Bodi and contacts Linnux of his success, but is hit by a dart himself, which was accidentally shot by Skozz who was didn't pay any heed to where he had fired his dart at.
After they learn that the mastiff army at Snow Mountain is really sheep in disguise, and that Khampa is the sole threat to them, Riff and Skozz leave the town with the rest of the pack for the village. They successfull capture Khampa, while Riff and Skozz lead the remainder of the pack in capturing the sheep. Before they can roast the captives, Bodi arrives with Angus, Darma and Germur. As the wolf pack chases Bodi throughout the whole village, Riff and Skozz corner him at a cliff edge, balancing on a broken wooden banner post. Linnux orders Riff to cut Bodi down, but Riff is mortified by the pack after admitting that he left his switchblade in the car, leading an irate Linnux to prompt another pack member to bring him a knife. Before he can send Bodi to his death, the young mastiff begins playing music with the "fire" of his passion for music, unleashing a powerful blue energy wave that sends Riff and Skozz, and the entire wolf pack, excluding Linnux into a serene state of mind, their infinite urge to devour all the sheep is expunged for good.
After Bodi's victory, they all celebrate with a concert hall for him and his mates, playing the song "Glorious". Riff and Skozz join the audience and dances with the crowd, and accidentally bump into Khampa, who initially appears pugnacious and defensive towards them. But Khampa instead shakes Riff's hand in friendship, while Skozz looks on, both smiling and the three guys dance along.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- His name means "a short repeated phrase".
- Riff was Kenan Thompson's first villain role.