Ten years ago, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller introduced the world to the concept of a narrative LEGO movie. Now, Morgan Neville has come along to show he can make a documentary with the animated blocks, too.
“Piece by Piece” uses the same animation style that was seen in previous LEGO films, to tell the story of musician Pharrell Williams. The picture tells his story with the format of a biographical documentary, taking the viewer through his life with recreations of concerts and talking head interviews.
Through this, the audience gets to see how he grew up in Virginia, fell in love with music, started making his own songs and became a sensation.
As far as biographical documentaries go, “Piece by Piece” is about as straightforward as you can get in terms of structure. For example, it’s told in linear fashion, covering the expected ground of Pharrell’s youth, education, breaking through, success and challenges.
As expected, the movie takes the audience right through to the present day. While the recap of Pharrell’s career is showcased in a typical fashion, though, it earns a lot of points for its creative visual storytelling. It offers a fun take on the traditional talking head interviews and a look inside Pharrell’s musical mind.
Using the LEGO format enhances this, too. Similar to other LEGO films released in the last decade, this movie gets creative in how it incorporates familiar LEGO pieces, from vehicles to water, which adds a nice levity to the overall picture.
Those who are fans of Pharrell’s music and hip hop of the late 90s and 2000s should be able to get a lot out of “Piece by Piece” as well. I know, because I’m one of those people. There was a lot of familiar music included in the film, and seeing its influence was satisfying.
It was especially true for the creation of “Drop it Like It’s Hot,” a song that was huge in my teen years. Because of the music, there ends up being quite a bit of nostalgia packed in here. So, for Millennials, it does kick up the enjoyability.
That, though, also highlights a bit of an issue with the movie. It’s true that “Piece by Piece” is a breezy, fun film with some good visual entertainment thanks to its animated presentation. However, it’s also true that the movie is very surface level and doesn’t dig particularly deep into Pharrell’s background.
Because he’s so involved, it’s clear that he also made sure that this was a very glossy portrait of his career. Just about the only adversity or controversy included here is when the artist started getting too into selling products and not focusing on making better music. Considering how wealthy and successful he was at the time, though, this section rings hollow as a second act setback.
It’s not like his life was over at this point, but the movie presents it as if it’s this dramatic sequence. It also doesn’t help that all of these issues, according to the movie, were really caused by three shady businessmen characters who’re never actually named. Again, it’s a glossy portrait.
Even so, “Piece by Piece” offers enough of a good time and it’s accessible for whole families. As a result, it’s an entirely fine film to check out with some visual treats and familiar songs that many audiences can vibe with. 3.5 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 
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