Piece By Piece

Piece by Piece, much like its decorated subject, blows right past refusing to play by the rules and straight up doesn't acknowledge them, and it's all the best for it.

It’s perfect popcorn fare: the story of a creative genius against the playfulness of a Lego landscape mixed with a boppy tune.

Pharrell’s rags-to-riches story is a familiar tale re-energised not just with his unique sound but the basic decision to animate his life so that it can thrive with his imagination and hit so many visual grace notes.

There are glimmers of insight here, often in the brighter moments (for instance, the sweet story of how Pharrell devised his massive hit, "Happy," and the emotional response triggered by its success). But despite touting an inventive concept, the whole thing remains fairly surface level.

Piece By Piece’s very existence is baffling, and the Lego of it all is never entirely justified, but as an unconventional documentary of a maverick musician, it works — just about.

Rather than blazing a new trail for Lego cartoons, this may be the first one to feel like it’s adhering too closely to its instruction booklet.

What’s obvious after a few minutes of Piece by Piece is that the movie isn’t rendered the way it is because of some profound thematic ties between its subject’s life and the plastic construction set, but because the Lego is an attempt to inject something of interest into what is, even by the pre-chewed standards of authorized celeb docs, textureless pablum.

O visual com a lego ficou muito bonito, e até o terço final era o que mais se destacava, junto com a trilha e a edição rápida, passando a ideia de algo em construção mesmo. Mas já para o final,o filme ganha contornos existencialistas, com um amadurecimento do Pharrel como pessoa e artista e também um ser humano incrível, tudo embalado por músicas que se eternizaram. Apesar de não fugir ao estilo de biografias condescendentes ao tom de homenagem, o esforço em entregar algo bem produzido vale a conferida, além da já mencionada edição, que torna tudo muito divertido de ver.

A wonderful retelling of Pharrell Williams’ life. The choice to turn it into a Lego film was one of the best things you could of done with the film.

Definitely some solid directing to match Pharrell’s unique personality, has some time filler and approaches his life more doc than a dramatized film.

This is the only film about singer/producer/composer Pharrell Williams, since "Atlantis" (the biopic that was shot in Virginia last year) has been cancelled in post production. This is basically a documentary full of interviews with Williams and his friends talking about his career. Keeping with Williams' unique approach to art, everything in this film is presented in Legos. It's a cute idea, but considering this isn't a narrative, it's a bit weird to never see the actual people proclaiming their love for the artist (including Justin Timberlake, Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dog). There's nothing imaginative in the use of the plastic people, although there are a few splashy moments of trippy animation. Being that this is a retrospective, there are excerpts from his most influential songs. If you're a Williams fan and want a deeper dive into his output, this will provide plenty of info. Otherwise, it's a cute concept that never adds anything especially creative to the outcome. Interesting note: His first band, the Neptunes, was named in honor of the King Neptune statue on the Virginia Beach boardwalk in his native Virginia Beach. It was created by Richmond sculptor Paul DiPasquale. [usr =2.5]

nice colors & is slightly inspiring but lacks in depth and feels pretentious and shallow a lot of the time with a fair amount of filler.