Reviews

Piece by Piece presents a music documentary like you’ve never seen before – it’s told through the medium of LEGO.

This LEGO animated movie, directed by documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville, tells the story of Pharrell Williams’ life and career, from his upbringing in Virginia Beach to his rise to fame with the Neptunes, his work as a music producer and his extraordinary success with the 2013 song Happy.

Like a regular documentary, Williams appears as himself (but in LEGO form) and his interviews with Neville narrate the story. There are also plenty of talking heads from his collaborators such as Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, JAY-Z and Snoop Dogg, who all voice their LEGO replicas.

Piece by Piece is original, visually creative and so much fun. It is impossible to take the film seriously when you’re watching LEGO instead of real people. But the filmmakers are aware of this and they lean into the absurdity and throw in fantastical elements, making a documentary that’s more entertaining than your typical live-action one.

However, if this was a regular documentary without the LEGO distractions, everyone would notice that it is a shallow puff piece. It only gives time to the positives and skims or outright skips over the negatives.

For example, Williams only admits to becoming arrogant and big-headed over his success. That’s the only negative he discusses, even though he could have addressed the Blurred Lines controversy and copyright battle or the reason behind the Neptunes splitting.

But, looking at it solely from an entertainment perspective, Piece by Piece is light-hearted animated fun with a spot-on sense of humour and banging soundtrack.

You’ll enjoy this more if you’re aware of Williams’s work as a producer as you’ll hear some classics like Drop It Like It’s Hot, Hot in Herre and Hollaback Girl and witness some brilliant LEGO recreations of the music videos.

This unique and refreshing music documentary is very lightweight and hollow and doesn’t show us a side to Williams that we don’t already know. However, the animation is extraordinary, there are some cleverly inventive moments and you’ll be laughing out loud from start to finish.

In cinemas from Friday 8th November.

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