Filmmaker Morgan Neville has profiled some of the world’s most beloved entertainers: Mister Rogers, Anthony Bourdain, and Steve Martin, to name a few. With Piece by Piece, he can add Pharrell Williams to that list. While Neville’s ambitious animated documentary is a visual and sonic delight that lives up to the creativity of its subjects, audiences may walk away feeling unfulfilled by how little they learn beyond what they already know.
Piece by Piece Review
In Piece by Piece, Morgan Neville tells the story of Pharrell Williams, the multihyphenate record producer, singer, songwriter, and fashion designer who has become one of the most impactful musical artists of the 21st century. We follow Williams from his modest childhood in Virginia Beach, Virginia, throughout his entire music career.
What makes Piece by Piece stand out from the many other biographies that have been made about musicians (especially musicians who are still alive) is that it is animated using LEGO animation. It’s a very novel approach — you can’t deny that — and the latest in filmmaker Morgan Neville’s pseudo-experimental takes on a genre that is often on the conventional side. And credit where credit is due, Neville, Pharrell, and their collaborators make the most of what this decision allows them to do.
The LEGO medium allows the movie to explore the concept of imagination in ways that a more traditional format would not be conducive to. For example, the film contains much talk of synesthesia — the name for Pharrell’s uncanny ability to see colors while listening to music. Animation lets the movie express this experience in a more understandable, visual way as opposed to simply talking about this concept that many viewers would find foreign and perhaps even weird.
However, when you remove the unique element of the animation, Piece by Piece is an incredibly standard biographical documentary. The narration is pulled from interviews that, in live-action, would take the form of talking heads. That being said, conducting the interviews remotely allowed the filmmakers to score interviews with several famous artists that might have been difficult to track down for an in-person recording: Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, and plenty more musicians whose work Pharrell has touched in the past.
Still, in keeping the movie a family-friendly PG (along with being completely flattering to its subject), Neville doesn’t dive into anything that one couldn’t find out by reading its subject’s Wikipedia page. Because of this, you could argue that the animation style is used as a crutch, as there is nothing else interesting about the film apart from that.
Nevertheless, Piece by Piece is very charming in the same way as any other rags-to-riches story, and with a runtime of just over 90 minutes, it’s light and breezy enough not to overstay its welcome. Viewers who are nostalgic for the era of pop music in which Pharrell was in his prime will find themselves on a fun blast from the past.
The soundtrack does a lot of heavy lifting to keep viewers invested in the story. Of course, there are plenty of needle drops throughout as we trace Pharrell’s career through the decades he has been working and the numerous hit records he has produced or sung. There are also some original songs created for the movie, including a title track that is a bonafide banger.
Is Piece by Piece worth watching?
Piece by Piece is a solid, entertaining biographical documentary with an innovative approach to telling its story. However, if you remove that formal experimentation from the equation, it’s pretty straightforward and not particularly revealing. Still, it’s hard to deny how incredibly charming the documentary is, and that will make it a crowd-pleaser.
Piece by Piece is playing at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, which runs September 5-14.
Piece by Piece TIFF Review — LEGO Pharrell Biopic Is Creative but Shallow
The LEGO Pharrell Williams biopic is creatively animated and a joy to look at. However, if you remove the creative presentation, it’s a pretty bland biography that doesn’t reveal much about its subject.
