Pharrell Williams, left, and Gwen Stefani depicted in Lego form in “Piece by Piece.” Credit: Focus Features via TNS
Pharrell Williams, the singer-songwriter behind hit songs like “Happy” and “Get Lucky,” as well as the producer and writer behind thousands of collaborations with other artists like Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna and more, is considered one of the most creative people on the planet.
As such, it’s fitting that his biopic, “Piece By Piece,” is told in one of the more creative mediums — Lego animation.
Feature Lego movies — inspired by the early days of Youtube when kids would stop-motion animate their lego sets in their bedrooms — have grown in popularity since 2015’s “The Lego Movie,” expanding from “Lego Batman” to now a biopic shot entirely in Lego animation.
However, “Piece By Piece” leans less into the origins of Lego animation, in which pieces were roughed up by years of play and set against a backdrop of Lego bricks. Instead, the film tells a much more polished, sleek story about Williams’ life in a medium that feels more animated and less blocky.
“Piece By Piece” is a difficult film to critique. Its interview-style structure, heavily narrated by conversations between Williams and director Morgan Neville, frames the film through Williams’ recounting of his life events, as opposed to a more impartial third-person biopic.
Although this choice builds a more personal feel, it also allows for a sense of disbelief to distract the viewer throughout its tight 94-minute runtime. This doubt isn’t helped by the disjointed sound editing in many of the interviews, in which jump cuts are evident, leaving the audience wondering what was left out or rearranged.
Most of the film is dedicated to rattling off Williams’ achievements, starting with his high school successes with his band “The Neptunes,” which he co-founded with his best friend Chad Hugo. It’s true that Williams is a massively talented, influential person, but because the film is told in a first-person point of view, it’s worth wondering how much of its perspective is biased.
To his credit, Williams openly speaks about the personal issues in his life and later career that disassembled his relationships with those close to him, including Hugo. But, due to its breakneck runtime, it does feel as though some more tricky-to-tell aspects of his life might’ve been glossed over.
The pace of the film also causes some tonal whiplash, particularly when it switches from colorful, cloyingly quirky Lego animation scenes to real-life issues and personal toils. The most notable instance of this disconnect is when Black Lives Matter protests are depicted in Lego, a bold choice to depict such a serious matter in an inherently unserious medium.
For all these criticisms, “Piece By Piece” ultimately succeeds at its biggest goal: completing an informative, entertaining and memorable story about WIlliams’ life and grand career. In an era when so many already-unnecessary biopics stick to the instruction manual, it’s nice to see a different approach, even if it’s imperfect.
If not as a Lego movie, “Piece By Piece” does its job as a biopic that tells the story of a true visionary in the music industry. If nothing else, it’s sure to increase both the streams of Williams’ songs and the purchases of Lego sets.
Rating: 3.5/5
