Piece by Piece Elevates the Celebrity Documentary with LEGO

Ten years ago, The Lego Movie shocked the world. What was once considered a cynical corporate cash grab preying on consumers’ goodwill for a recognizable brand became a revered animated feature. The film’s lightning pace, zany humor, unrelenting catchy songs, and eccentric characters cemented The Lego Movie a place in the pop culture zeitgeist. Yielding desirable returns on their financial investment, Warner Bros. expedited the inception of a franchise, with three spinoffs/sequels arriving in the following five years. However, the studio proceeded to see diminishing box office returns, resulting in the franchise going dark after the disappointment of 2019’s The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. 

In fact, Warner Bros. cut ties with the brick-built series the following year, and the rights migrated over to rival studio Universal. Fans began to speculate what the studio’s first LEGO project could be, with theories about a pre-existing Universal property, such as Jurassic Park or Fast and Furious, receiving The Lego Movie treatment, a la Batman. Despite LEGO and Universal striking their deal in 2020, no announcements for theatrical LEGO fares hitting multiplexes came for the ensuing four years. Finally, in January 2024, the next LEGO movie was announced. 

… Even the most jaded fan was dumbfounded by what came next. Instead of the expected Minions crossover or something akin to that nature, Universal promulgated the next LEGO-ified flick to be Piece by Piece, a biography on the life of acclaimed music producer and artist Pharrell Williams. This announcement reads as some sort of Mad Libs word game. Another component that bewildered moviegoers was Focus Features, a smaller independent-driven studio owned by Universal, as the key distributor behind the release.

All these contributing factors shrouded Piece by Piece in a cloud of intense pessimism among hardcore fans. The strongest devotees of the interlocking system of plastic bricks clamored for something more in line with the previous LEGO films, not a motion picture centered around an industry mostly detached from the Danish toymaker and its toyetic partners.  

Originally, it also appeared like Piece by Piece was another music biopic. While that genre has been around for decades, it’s had a particular moment in cinema over the last handful of years. Jump started by the massive success of Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018, seemingly every musical phenomenon under the sun has received the glossy biographical picture treatment, from Elton John to Bob Marley. Even so, Pharrell Williams, who is only 51 years old, was a slightly unconventional choice for the next musician featured as the headliner for one of these films.

Whereas many of the performers who anchor these biopics experienced their heyday in the previous century, Pharrell is actively involved in the music industry today, with his recent ditty “Double Life” from Despicable Me 4 climbing up his Spotify charts. But when you examine Williams’ discography closer, you’ll discover a multitude of mega-hits you might not have even realized Pharrell had his hand in, featuring in tracks such as “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg and “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani. 

Pharrell Williams was more than a worthy choice to be the subject of a music biopic, but Piece by Piece is not that either. The latest LEGO movie is effectively a documentary for all intents and purposes, just made out of LEGO bricks. It contains all the hallmarks a good documentary is known for. A deep, inside look into a compelling subject matter, exclusive interviews with major players in the industry, and an expertly edited narrative. But like the aforementioned music biopics, music documentaries are nothing new, and the genre has run a bit stale in recent years with a tidal wave of options that are mostly produced by the artists themselves on streaming. 

Popular music docs have likewise followed a familiar formula in recent times. Usually they’re stitched together by a combination of concert clips, behind the scenes footage, and interviews with the artists and their collaborators. The stars are also specifically followed with the intent of making a feature, as seen in Netflix’s 2020 film Miss Americana, which featured pop superstar Taylor Swift. Sometimes these films try to capture the tragedy of a virtuoso lost too soon, such as Amy Winehouse in the movie Amy (2015), or Michael Jackson in This Is It (2009).

Another form of music documentary that’s received critical acclaim in recent years is old archive footage remastered for modern audiences. This can be seen in the 2024’s The Beach Boys about the band of the same name. Finally, concerts in their entirety have increasingly been turned into films. Once again, Taylor Swift’s reign over the industry is on full display, with the extreme success of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour last fall. Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (2023), and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011) headline other major concert films. 

Many music documentaries combine a number of these factors, and if you’ve seen one, it feels like you’ve seen them all. Piece by Piece is no exception to this rule. The film tells the story of Pharrell’s life and career. It contains interviews with his family, friends, and cohorts within the industry. There are prolonged scenes of live concerts performed by Williams as well.

… This is what makes the decision to chronicle Pharrell’s life story in LEGO pieces an innovative masterstroke. If Piece by Piece were a conventional documentary highlighted by live-action interviews, it might’ve faded into obscurity sooner rather than later. But the bold determination to portray this narrative with LEGO bricks accentuated the film in a blissful and colorful manner that can only be achieved with the iconic building blocks. This is spotlighted in a scene where Pharrell explains his obsession with water and specifically the Roman god of the sea, Neptune, the namesake of his original production duo with Chad Hugo.

A more prosaic film wouldn’t be able to fully visualize this, but with LEGO-themed animation, Williams’ fully imaginative vision is able to run rampant all across the silver screen. 

The R&B legend articulates how he has synesthesia in the film, a perceptual phenomenon where one experiences their senses differently, often linked to specific colors. Synesthesia is unreceptive to an individual who does not have it, but with the creativity of LEGO bricks and the wide variety of fabulous colors the toy brand has to offer, Williams’ internal vision was masterfully brought to life. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville’s willingness to work with animation on Piece by Piece while still maintaining the sensibilities he’s brought to other documentaries, such as 20 Feet from Stardom (2013) and Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018), cemented the latest LEGO flick as the freshest documentary the industry has witnessed in quite some time. 

Piece by Piece defied the odds. The film debuted to extremely positive reviews out of the Telluride Film Festival in August. While the picture might seem out of tune when compared to the previous Lego movies, the unconventional approach paid major dividends for the franchise, providing viewers with a truly one of a kind experience. Sometimes, if you stay up all night to the sun—or creatively diverge from a well-worn genre’s instructions manual—you might get lucky. 

Piece by Piece is in theaters now.