Piece by Piece (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – Follow this autobiography where Pharrell Williams shows his imaginative and creative process using Lego, as he constructs Lego models representing his artistic development. Each build reflects a different creative milestone.

My Take – Now that Universal have picked up the rights to produce LEGO features, their first course of action (though they have at least four films underdevelopment) is indeed a unique entity.

Something that works as an innovative approach to the music-documentary genre as it tells the life story of endlessly inventive musician Pharell Williams, known worldwide for his smash hit songs “Blurred Lines” and “Happy,” and as the man who changed the music industry when it came to beats that meshed various styles together and united genres, with the use of colorful LEGO bricks.

Backed up with interesting interviews with artists such as Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, Gwen Stefani, and Justin Timberlake to name a few, and a vibrant musical score, the film carries a sweet and feel-good vibe as we listen to Williams describe his childhood and his passion, and by using the LEGO animation style to present its settings, colorful background, and environment, it certainly distinguishes this upbeat portrait from the over-saturated category of music docs.

Sure, its structure and presentation is standard, but director Morgan Neville, whose previous documentary subjects have included Fred Rogers in Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018) and Anthony Bourdain in Road Runner (2021), ensures that he has another crowd-pleaser on his hands, one that gets away with a degree of superficiality because of its playfulness.

Simply told, if you are a fan of Pharrell Williams, you will enjoy this charming documentary that is silly, quirky, fun and imaginative enough to be entertaining for all ages.

The story follows the traditional documentary formula as it starts off examining Pharrell‘s beginnings. How he discovered music at a very young age and instantly felt a strong connection with music beyond just listening to it. He started a band with his friend Chad Hugo who was just as passionate about music; they called themselves the Neptunes.

When a record label moved in across the street from them, Pharrell insisted on being heard, and eventually he was. From there his career skyrocketed. He eventually lost himself and his touch as he became obsessed with creating music for people rather than making music for himself. When he reconnected with his sense of self, his career, of course, once again went above and beyond.

It was actually Pharrell‘s idea to utilize LEGOs to tell his story, and the most winning element is that it’s free to interpret in any way, and the animators were free to create any world imaginable.

Yes, we’re not learning anything particularly new or revelatory about the artist at its center. As Pharrell’s rags-to-riches story is a familiar tale re-energized not just with his unique sound but the basic decision to animate his life so that it can thrive with his imagination and hit so many visual grace notes.

For instance, instead of capturing the Virginia Beach project housing, where Pharrell grew up, as it is, director Neville conjures how he feels it: a sunny celebratory cook-out where everyone’s enjoying the good vibes. Pharrell’s school’s cafeteria, also populated by a young Timbaland and Missy Elliott, becomes a petri dish where musical talent is coursing between the tables, complete with club lights and a marching band.

And whenever Pharrell produces beats they’re visualized as magical glowing orbs barely containing some new, bumping sound.

One of the more fascinating aspects of the documentary is how it depicts the way Pharrell listens to music. Being diagnosed with synesthesia, he can actually see colors in his head while listening to music. And with LEGO in charge of the animation it is able to portray his condition.

While previous LEGO films captured group shots and crafted like family features, this one is crafted the way a live-action documentary would be, following the toy versions of its subjects at close proximity in both sit-down interviews as well as guerilla handheld moments, making them feel larger than life.

This is especially true when the nonfiction narrative delves into unexpected political territory, like the Black Lives Matter movement, in its final act, a risky move that pays dividends.

Indeed, the cast is incredible and they all voice themselves. And of course, one of the most important aspects of the film is the score that takes us back in time with some of Pharrell‘s greatest hits. On the whole, ‘Piece by Piece’ is an eye-popping and outside-the-box look into Pharrell Williams‘s life in the form of a completely mesmerizing cinematic experience.