“It’s happening,” goes a lyric sung over the opening titles of Piece By Piece. “Yes... It’s real.” Just to be sure, here is confirmation, early doors: yep, this is a real film. We’ve had Lego Movies about Batman, Ninjas, Scooby-Doo. But a music documentary Lego Movie? Made with the full participation of self-described “hybrid thinker” Pharrell Williams, Piece By Piece is a surprisingly sincere and serious film about a sincere and serious artist, some distance from the irony-led Lord & Miller LEGO entries. It’s quite a handbrake turn for Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom), but it largely follows the standard talking-heads doc template very faithfully. Just in Lego.
The first act serves almost as a potted history of the vibrant ’90s hip-hop and R&B scene in Virginia: obsessed with music, Williams surrounded himself with other Virginian up-and-comers like Timbaland and Missy Elliott. Hilariously, they and other contributors — including megastars Jay-Z, Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg — make appearances here entirely in Lego minifigure form.
The soundtrack is impeccable, of course.
When Neville embraces the limitlessness of animation, it feels alive and full of possibility: Williams’ childhood synesthesia, experiencing music as colour, is gorgeously realised. But the limitations of the minifigures, with their jerky movement and basic expressions, feels at odds with the human story. Elsewhere, the corporate toy tie-in just feels grossly inappropriate: there is a Lego Black Lives Matter march, for example, and a Lego Martin Luther King.
The story could use more insight, too. Sometimes it feels like we’re simply watching ‘The Rise And Rise of Pharrell Williams’; his only problem seems to be being too successful. Given the project was pitched by Williams himself, it’s possible the perspective of the film is slightly limited. Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’, for example, is only briefly heard on the soundtrack, with no mention of the backlash that followed it; nor is there reference to the ongoing legal dispute between Williams and his Neptunes producing partner Chad Hugo.
Still, Williams is an engaging and earnest subject, with an undeniable gift for playful, funky, futuristic beats, and the soundtrack is impeccable, of course. From ‘Hella Good’ to ‘Frontin’’ to ‘Get Lucky’ to ‘Happy’, Williams is responsible for an astonishing number of exceptional bangers. Lego Busta Rhymes notes that at one point during the 2000s he had a “hot hand”, a statement you cannot disagree with. When the beat kicks in for ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’: guaranteed goosebumps.
The question remains, though: why Lego? The answer seems to be — well, Pharrell Williams just really likes Lego. Fair enough, really.
