by James Coulter
I will be honest: I don’t normally watch musical biopics. The last one I watched was Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and I watched it because 1) it was about Weird Al, and 2) it was made in the most Weird Al way possible.
Thing is, as much as I love music, I’m not that wild about the actual musicians who make them. So while I like the songs made by Pharrell Williams (especially “Happy”, which is a real bop), I don’t really care much about the guy himself.
But you know what I do like? LEGOs! I love LEGOs. I used to play with them all the time as a little boy. And you bet your bricks I loved The LEGO Movie. It was one of the best animated movies of the last decade.
So, when I learned that Pharrell Williams was having his biopic directed as an animated LEGO movie, my interest was immediately piqued. But was the hype worth it? Does this movie take creative liberties with its creative premise? Or does it lack the creative spark worthy of making it a Lego movie?
Piece by Piece tells the life story of musician Pharrell Williams, from his childhood growing up in Virginia Beach, to him winning a school talent show that landed him his first gig at a local record studio, to him creating beats for other popular musicians before eventually becoming a popular musician himself and releasing his signature song, “Happy.”
And that’s pretty much the movie in a nutshell, or rather, in a brick container. It’s essentially your run-of-the-mill documentary about an influential musician, with interviews from him and other figures in his life including family, friends, and fellow musicians.
However, undeniably the movie’s biggest selling point is the choice to film it all as an animated LEGO feature. Piece by Piece was produced by Pure Imagination Studios, which manages to animate the movie with the same charm as Illumination animated the original LEGO movies.
Filming the biopic in LEGOs was certainly a bold and creative choice, especially for a movie about a creative individual like Pharrell. The animation style evidently highlights the artist’s unmistakable creative vision in quite a creative style.
For example, one of the earliest scenes in the film is young Pharrell daydreaming while staring into a fishbowl. Later, he daydreams while listening to music, claiming he can see the color of the music playing from the speaker. The entire sequence captures the young artist’s chromesthesia quite vividly.
I’ll mention a few of my favorite scenes and moments from the movie. The first involves the young artist growing up and attending school. Pharrell explains his school experience wasn’t the best. He often struggled to pay attention in class, socialize with other students, and do well in his studies. As someone who grew up Autistic, I empathize with his experience.
Another touch I enjoyed was how the movie touched upon his religious experience. Pharrell was inspired by his church and pastor to pursue his career in music. Later in the film, he returns to his pastor to explain the trouble he’s been experiencing in his career, and his pastor offers him words of encouragement.
Perhaps even more interesting was how Pharrell received equal motivation from both his church and from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, emphasizing how much the sacred and the secular played an important role in shaping and influencing him.
Admittedly, if the movie has a flaw, it’s with its marketing. Currently, the movie has not performed well in the box office. Perhaps this is due to the film being unable to decide who, exactly, it is for. On the one hand, the movie is created using LEGO, giving it a kid-friendly vibe. But on the other hand, the film cover the life and career of an artist who, while not unsuitable for children, is certainly more geared towards adults. The result is a film that is to “kiddish” for adults and too “adult” for children.
Overall, if you’re a fan of Pharrell Williams or LEGOs or both, you’ll most likely gain some enjoyment from Piece by Piece. And even if you’re not a fan of either, well, it’s a relatively enjoyable film to watch nonetheless. However, you’re probably better off watching this movie on streaming or as a rental.
