When I saw the early movie trailers for Piece by Piece, I had a mixed reaction. I instantly thought that yet another movie was going to cash in on the Lego craze. Admittedly, it’s cute, it’s colorful and it’s fun, but it has been done before. I’m referring to The Lego Movies (2014 and 2019)) as well as The Lego Batman Movie(2017), just to name a few.
What did look interesting was the application of the Lego digital animation technique to what seemed to be a serious biographical film. It raised the question of whether the movie was being outlandish for the sake of being outlandish and unconventional or whether this was a creative choice that was the result of some inspired, out-of-the-box thinking.
As it turns out, the Lego approach to Pharrell Williams’s biography is, hands down, the perfect way to tell the story of this superstar, multi-hyphened, creative genius. That is evident in the opening scenes when Pharrell, in the form of a Lego character walks onto a movie set for an on-camera interview and begins to tell the director about his crazy, Lego-driven idea.
It’s a brilliant moment in which you feel that you’re listening to an actual, taped interview that has been visually transformed into Lego World. The joke is that Pharrell and his writer/director Morgan Neville are already Lego characters in this scene as they discuss whether or not then Lego creative approach will work. It’s funny.
It is clear from the beginning that there could not be a better way to tell this story, which is about Pharrell’s unlikely rise to pop stardom, from humble beginnings in Virginia Beach to the top of the top of the recording industry.
It’s a journey that not only charts every step of his professional growth and success, but goes beyond that, delving into the mysteries and intangibleness of the creative song-writing process. It’s there that Piece by Piece demonstrates that no other documentary filmmaking approach could possibly capture the inner landscape of Pharrell’s creative mind.
Animation can do what other forms of filmmaking can’t. It can visualize concepts and pure imagination. The Inside Out movies (2015 and 2024) did that very successfully, artistically and commercially. Animation geniuses can create delightfully entertaining images of things going on inside our heads, as we might imagine them.
You could argue that movie animation has been doing that for quite some time. Think of Disney’s Fantasia back in 1940 that entertained audiences with its visual interpretation of classical symphonic music. In some ways, it was the world’s first music video. It was also the first feature film recorded in stereophonic sound.
Historically, animation has offered filmmakers unbridled creativity and limitless freedom. In Piece by Piece “beats,” the precious audio gems of percussion and rhythm are shown as glowing, colorful physical objects that are stored, shared and played. They play a major part in Pharrell’s musical career, which at times is a trippy explosion of sights and sounds.
The movie is careful to trace the important people and events that shaped Pharrell’s life.
It’s a Music Industry “Who’s Who” list of talent including Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, Timberland, Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dog who shares that Pharrell was a major force in crafting Snoop’s only Number One hit.
Piece by Piece is a joyous movie, overall. What else would you expect from the guy who wrote and produced “Happy?” It’s a movie that guides you through the highs and lows of a truly remarkable life, piece by Lego block piece.
Comments