First Take: Piece by Piece - the most ‘out there’ documentary released for a while

SYNOPSIS: A vibrant journey through the life of Pharrell Williams, told through the lens of LEGO animation.

I never thought Lego breaking away from Warner would lead to a film like this - a few years ago everybody’s favourite Minion enabler had the idea to make a biopic of his life, but with a typical Pharrell twist: it’s told through Lego animation. Such is the mastermind behind most of pop’s most inventive production. They duly obliged and, well, this isn’t one for the family market for sure.

Seasoned documentary veteran Morgan Neville is in charge of what is, naturally, his first animated effort - he’s best known for 20 Feet From Stardom amongst other live action efforts, and all things considered, he packs a lot into the 93 minutes… but he is restrained quite considerably by the PG certificate. What he and writers (and the film’s editors) Jason Zeldes, Aaron Wickenden and Oscar Vazquez have done is try to tell as much of the Pharrell Williams story as they could within some very restrictive requirements, and that’s before I mention the current situation with him and Neptunes co-founder Chad Hugo. It is animated incredibly well though, and as you would expect, alongside a score from Michael Andrews and 5 new songs from Pharrell himself, the key music choices you’d expect from a greatest hits album as a producer and solo artist are there, with a completely new light being shone on one particular song’s inadvertent creation.

As for the voice cast, well, this is ultimately an animated documentary so it’s all pretty authentic- a lot of Pharrell’s collaborators and his family pop up, with appearances from Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, and many of the artists who he has worked with since the late 1990s - but ultimately this feels like one big flex to create a documentary that has never been done before, using an unconventional method to tell a life story… kinda similar to everything Pharrell’s done in the music world then. Considering that there’s a more live action take of his early life slated for next year with Michel Gondry effort Atlantis, this feels more of a ‘second chapter’ to a film we’re yet to see.

THE VERDICT

Piece by Piece is a really well thought out documentary that struggles to find where or what it wants to be, especially with such a limiting BBFC rating as a PG. Had it been a 12, it could’ve expanded on some elements way more, and ultimately been a better film for it - but understandably Paddington did need some competition when it opened in the UK last week.

RATING: 2.5/5