Last Updated on October 11, 2024 by
Piece by Piece is a 2024 Animated and biography movie directed by Morgan Neville. The film stars Pharrell Williams, Morgan Neville, and Kendrick Lamar, with a runtime of 1h 33M, and will be released on October 11, 2024.
The Lego Movie (2014) became the hit of the year and a huge unexpected grossing at the box office, apart from the positive reviews from the critics. Due to the movie’s success, there were follow-up movies in the same animation style and Lego-related productions. However, the excitement of the owner of the burning house did not last for a long time. When the sequel The Lego Movie 2 came out in 2019, people wanted something fresh and the Lego hype had dissipated. This is not very usual for a movie to be released five years apart from the previous Lego movie and this is where Piece by Piece comes into the picture.
However, Piece by Piece is not just a simple Lego movie. Contrary to being an exciting journey in the land of cartoon characters and sci-fi transports, Piece by Piece is a documentary of the life and music of Pharrell Williams. Merging documentary with Lego animation style, this film was directed by Morgan Neville and narrates the story of Pharrell. Well, that is rather peculiar because Pharrell was pretty much a wild child and the story that the doc narrates might be fit for prime time, but the format that accompanies it is excessively clean and family friendly.
In the movie, Pharrell uses Lego and its capabilities to explain life, which forms the basis of this documentary. He persuades Neville to transform the documentary into an animated Lego universe as an embodiment of one’s “essence” using bright and creative details. The movie thus transforms into a vision of the world from the perspective of Pharrell and his creative mindset. Of course, it is a novel concept and one might need time to get used to it – watching real people’s stories told in Lego seems rather peculiar at first. After some time, the movie shifts to some interesting and quite artistic scenes, though it takes some time to get into it.
Pharrell’s Early Life
The movie starts with Pharrell’s early life in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Since his childhood, Pharrell has been interested in music production. He was synesthetic, meaning he could “perceive” sound in terms of colour and, thus, relate to music more profoundly. His grandmother bought him his first drum which started his journey in playing a musical instrument and he met another member of the Neptunes, Hugo in junior high. They proceeded to become best friends and later partnered in producing music, creating the Neptunes group.
Piece by Piece may refer to some part of Pharrell’s childhood but it doesn’t go in-depth about it. There is some occasional information about his school years (for example, the movie tells us that he had to repeat a grade but doesn’t say whether he finished high school or not). His parents appear once in a way, but when it comes to his mother, she is somewhat highlighted, and his father is also given a few minutes for an interview but no rationale can be given. Rather than focusing on conflicts at home or difficulties at school, the audience is immediately shown Pharrell’s passion for music and how he initially began to understand the managerial aspect, too. Teddy Riley, a well-known producer at the time, took Pharrell under his wing and showed him the ropes of the business, and little by little Pharrell dipped his foot in songwriting and music production.
Pharrell’s Rise to Fame
Pharrell and Hugo, The Neptunes, were initially both unknown and were jobless for some time but they didn’t give up. It made them gigantic in hip-hop, with collaborations with Jay Z and Snoop Dogg among others. The humorous renaming of Snoop Dogg, the famous personality in this show who has a known passion for marijuana to ‘PG smoke’ for the program’s younger audience is evoked in this scene of the show. It is essential to note that Pharrell’s involvement was not restricted to the hip-hop genre alone. He also has collaborated with rock bands like ‘No Doubt’, in which he helped the bands in composing new songs and integrating two different genres of music.
It is informative as it showcases Pharrell’s rich portfolio and colorful career. He not only restricted himself merely to being a producer, but he also ventured to be alone as an artist and even ventured into fashion design. Although the movie depicts how Pharrell conquered the music industry, it reveals only limited aspects of his accomplishments. Hence, the emphasis is placed on Pharrell’s skill and passion, which gives it a somewhat airy and upbeat tone as opposed to a substantive examination of his life’s difficulties.
Another famous and important part of Pharrell’s career is the song titled “Happy,” which gained much popularity. This song helped to positively influence the community and many people across the globe could happily sing along to the tune. However, as Piece by Piece stands out, this is one moment in his life that Pharrell acknowledges as the time he started to embrace joy and spread it to the world. They also briefly mention his activism for social justice and his family but do not delve into depth on these issues.
Final Thoughts on Piece by Piece
In Conclusion, Piece by Piece does not give the audience a lot of new information about Pharrell Williams that one could not know watching TV, but visually it is an interesting picture. The Lego animation is engaging and lively and given that the movie is musical, there is a lot of entertainment to be had here although at times it might have felt that the characters were a bit one-dimensional. Thus, it can be stated that the documentary is focused on the audience of young people, which can be explained by the fact that many aspects of Pharrell’s life and career are explained relatively simplistically, and personal observations are rarely given by the subject of the film or the creators of the program.
In the end, Piece by Piece is more focused on showcasing Pharrell as an innovative and upbeat musician than a comprehensive biography. It is entertaining, particularly for lovers of Lego and musical artists such as Pharrell, but it is not a depiction of the subject’s entire life. Nevertheless, it is a creative approach to how a life story can be depicted as a flat text with no dramatization, and it can make young audiences consider life as the Lego set they can build gradually.
Highly Recommended:
Piece by Piece 2024 Parents Guide Age Rating
Piece by Piece is rated PG by the Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for language, some suggestive material and thematic elements.
Piece by Piece MOVIE PLOT FULL SUMMARY and parents’ guide will be updated closer to the release date (October 11, 2024.), so check back
