I found out about this Lego-Pharrell Williams fusion film on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, while scrolling on Instagram. I must admit that a movie such as this — combining a well-known musical artist with one of the most famous toy brands in the world — seemed at first like a total marketing gimmick. But after looking a little further and seeing a cast list that includes Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Pusha T and Timbaland, among many others, I knew it had to be much more than just that. So, I bought a ticket for the 12:35 p.m. matinée showing of “Piece by Piece” and drove hastily to the Cinemark Buckland Hills theater.
The film tells Williams’s journey as a musical artist in the style of a documentary through the animation medium of Lego bricks. It catalogues his journey from a child living in the Atlantis Apartments in Virginia Beach, to his well-deserved yet serendipitous rise to fame. Additionally, the film reveals his struggles with the alures of renown and his return to caring about what matters most in his life. The movie has a consistent setting of a brick-built production room, where the movie’s director, Morgan Neville, interviews Williams and his collaborators, friends and family, all in minifigure form. Each interview springboards the movie into a vivid Lego world filled with color, imagination and hip-hop music.
The creative capabilities of Lego are fully exploited; Williams’ beats are represented by colorful combinations of transparent Lego bricks that flash, bounce and dance; vibrant, inventive representations of Williams’ imagination give a window into how his mindset changed throughout his life and the whimsical medium of Lego allows for light humor to be effortlessly included throughout the film.
But the question remains: why Lego? Why did Williams, someone who, until now, has had no public association with the toy, decide to tell his story entirely in the brick-built animation medium? It has to do mainly with his audience and his message. The creative story-telling capabilities of Lego animation are clear and put to good use in the film. Beyond that, Lego has an incredibly broad appeal, especially to younger audiences.
While his messages of unity and of prioritizing friends and family over fame are more sophisticated and nuanced than the “Everything is Awesome” message of the first Lego movie, there are still aspects that young children can understand. And even if not, the stunning Lego visuals should be enough to inspire many children to come back to the movie as they grow up, understanding more and more, piece by piece if you will, with each watch. Additionally, the appeal of Lego, hip-hop music, creative expression and Williams, paired with the movie’s more complex themes makes the movie a great watch for adults, too.
A legitimate argument could be made that “Piece by Piece” tries too hard to be too many things and appeal to too broad an audience. There is validity to this argument; the movie never gives a thorough look at Williams’ complete creative or production process, nor does it give thorough coverage of the struggles and successes of his music career. Yet the focus never strays from his story and message. In fact, the eclectic nature of a movie about a hip-hop-pop star told through Lego serves to reinforce his message. Williams’ music style spans and blurs the lines between genres as diverse as hip-hop and pop, and his central message on unity involves blurring the lines between different people and cultures to form a better, diverse whole. The appearance of appealing to too wide an audience comes naturally from the movie’s multifaceted nature; it doesn’t feel forced.
When I told my friends how great this movie was, many appeared to think I was joking, likely mistaking the choice of Lego for a commercialization gimmick rather than as an intentional artistic choice. Having seen the film in full, I can say confidently that it is far from being a marketing gimmick, as that would be in complete disagreement with one of the film’s main messages: One should always follow what matters most in life, rather than money, fame or power.
The Lego aspect of the movie is unique and unusual for a documentary-biopic-style movie, but it’s executed incredibly well such that no piece felt disjoint or out of place. It’s all perfectly in character with Williams and his unique musical style and perspective. So, give “Piece by Piece” a try. You’ll be “Happy” you did.
Rating: 4.5/5