A few months ago, we learned that a new LEGO movie by and about multi-hyphenate musical Pharrell Williams was on the way. Even after watching the trailer for Piece by Piece, I was not quite sure who the target audience for this film would be: is it really for kids, is it aimed at an older audience which grew up alongside the rise of hip-hop, or perhaps even a wider audience? Even though I’m a huge LEGO fan, I don’t think they had me in mind when writing this film, but I was excited to see it anyways!

When I discovered that AMC Theatres and Dolby were selling early-access tickets to Piece by Piece, I decided that it was worth nearly $25 after fees to see the film early — the cost of journalism, I guess? I hope you find this early review valuable – that makes it worth it to me!

Before seeing the film, I decided to focus on answering three questions: Is this a sincere effort or an attempt for The LEGO Group to reach new audiences, is it really appropriate for kids, and lastly – is it any good? I honestly think that it will come across as a genuine film and not a blatant cash grab, so I hope that the focus of the review will be on the latter two questions. I will also be looking for clever use of the LEGO brand and brick.

A note about spoilers: This movie is a documentary, so it’s hard to spoil the plot per-se. Nonetheless, many readers may not know Pharrell’s life story, so I am only citing specific moments from the film which are required to address the main questions from this review.

Is it sincere?

This one is easy to answer. Yes, this feels like a sincere effort to tell a personal story using LEGO bricks as an artistic medium, capitalizing on how the toy is known for fostering creativity. As the constant pursuit of creativity is a key theme of the film, the shoe brick fits.

As was explained when the film was announced, the idea came from Pharrell and his team, so this really doesn’t feel like a strategic initiative by The LEGO Group to expand the appeal of their products. That’s not to say that this did not play a role in their decision to green-light the project, and I hope that they find ways to build on this moment to increase their appeal with new audiences.

While the film maintains a largely positive tone, you can clearly see some of his challenges growing up in a housing project.

In reflecting on the film’s sincerity, I thought of the real challenges Pharrell faced growing up in low-income housing, and the honest portrayal of the struggles he faced confronting fame. On closer consideration, what really keeps this film sincere is that it sticks to the script and only rarely does the fact that the movie is based on LEGO bricks mentioned. It’s a movie that uses LEGO bricks, but is definitely not a movie about LEGO bricks.

Is it for kids?

The film is rated PG, and I was especially curious to see how they make this appropriate for kids. In practical terms, this means that it is going to be seen by a LOT of young kids, since many of the recent Disney animated films are rated PG (ex: Frozen, Inside Out, Wish, Brave). Perhaps more importantly – I suspect that parents are going to simply assume that any new LEGO movie will be appropriate for young kids.

The MPAA Website says that Piece by Piece is “Rated PG for language, some suggestive material and thematic elements.”

The challenge is that kid-friendly themes are not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about songs by Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, or Jay-Z. I was very curious to see how they thread the needle here, since many of their songs are about sex, drugs, and violence – all of which are decidedly not PG themes. To be clear, this is not unique to Pop and Hip-hop — musicians are an expressive bunch and you will find similar themes across almost any genre.

My concerns were not eliminated by seeing the film. As parents consider taking their kids to see the film, I want to touch on a couple potential issues: Mature Language, Drug Use, and Adult Themes.

There are a couple situations where more mature language appears in this film. One of the quotes I captured was “too damn late to apologize”, and there were a couple other examples of gentle profanity in the interviews. The bigger challenge are the songs themselves. For example, the first song where we see Pharrell getting a paycheck for contributing to someone else’s work is for 1992’s Rump Shaker by Wreckx-N-Effect. The song is playing in the background as we see Pharrell spending that first ten grand in short work.

All I wanna do is zoom a zoom zoom zoom
And a poom poom, just shake ya rump

Wreckx-N-Effect

While there may be additional coded references to drug use in the film, the most obvious example is when they collaborate with Snoop Dogg. Immediately upon waking into the studio, we see a “clever plot device” fill the room with smoke, which settles into a thick white cloud near the floor. This cuts to Pharrell and Chad Hugo laying on the floor while staring at their hands and making clicking sounds — obviously stoned out of their minds. As an adult, I thought this was funny, but parents may find themselves having to explain why they are acting weird in a smoky room and why the adults were laughing about it.

Pharrell and Hugo find themselves up in smoke.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge that the film explores adult themes. I didn’t see a lot of sexual themes in the story itself, although they do appear in some of the song lyrics as already discussed. The bigger concern is that this is fundamentally a documentary film about adults doing their job. There’s a pretty long section in the middle of the film that features a ton of interviews with his collaborators on many projects. While it maintains a pretty frenetic pace jumping from track to track, the overall story arc slows down here so we can follow his rise to superstardom.

The film features an existential crescendo which may make some kids uncomfortable.

We also see Pharrell grappling with some emotionally rich themes of loss of a family member, and an emotionally charged existential crisis. It is a little different to see strong emotions like fear and despair in a present-day documentary than in a fictional world. It is also important for parents to be prepared for a really thoughtful presentation of the Black Lives Matter movement. The language of protest is strong and clear, but the overall tone felt hopeful.

To be clear, nothing in the film felt wildly inappropriate for older kids, but it feels like it is a full notch above a movie like Frozen (also PG) and two notches more mature than a gentler Disney film like Moana.

“I thought all black kids just stared into the speaker and said, woah.” —Pharrell Williams

To end on a more positive note, I do think that slightly older kids, especially those who are familiar with the history of hip-hop and are mature enough to handle somewhat crude language in the interviews and song lyrics may be delighted by the film. I think his story will be relatable for many kids, especially the first 20 minutes or so that focus on finding his way through childhood and adolescence.

Is it a good movie?

As an adult LEGO fan, a child of the 80’s, and a casual fan of hip-hop music and culture, I enjoyed the film. At it’s core, it is a first-person autobiography that cuts to short documentary segments interviewing key figures that intersect with his life journey. I believe that this story work have worked fine as a documentary film featuring live-action interviews and archival video, but I don’t think that I would have gone out of my way to see it.

By casting the entire film using larger-than-life interpretations of celebrities as rally expressive LEGO Minifigures, it subtly breaks the rules for documentary filmmaking by adding a layer of abstraction, as well as allowing for playful environmental effects since the entire world is built using LEGO bricks.

We see a physical metaphor for building beats using a few brightly-colored LEGO bricks.

The most consistent brick-based metaphor used throughout the film are the tiny sculptures using brightly-colored transparent LEGO bricks which are created to represent different ‘beats’ that Pharrell creates for a ton of popular songs across multiple genres. These little sculptures usually comprised of just three or four bricks, and the bricks glowed and danced as if they were being subtly re-attached and loosened to the beat. We find them rearranged to refine a track, and even set aside on a shelf until the right collaborator presented itself.

The main story of overcoming adversity is powerful but predictable. In particular, the adversity he faces later in the film after achieving a lot of success comes across as genuine, but not all that relatable to everyday people who are neither obscenely rich or famous. It does not break the film in any way, but I think it is important to have grounded expectations going in to the film.

While I worry that we over-rely on a bootstraps narrative in this country, the messages around perseverance and hard work are inspiring. I also appreciate that they include the Black Lives Matter story because it is important, and the filmmakers did a good job distilling it in a way that is succinct and poignant.

But is it a good LEGO movie?

This is challenging to answer, since many people are going to go in expecting a movie that is at some level about LEGO bricks, but they aren’t going to find that film at all. This really is a Hip-hop biopic that just happens to use LEGO Bricks and Minifigures instead of live action.

The skyscrapers in this travel montage look identical to how the buildings appeared in the LEGO Skyline series.

That said, this film is more faithful to LEGO bricks than something like The LEGO Ninjago Movie which included non-LEGO environments throughout the film. This movie really does take place in a 100% brick-built universe. I even recognized landmarks from the LEGO Skyline series in a travel montage. The only non-LEGO visual elements that I noticed were lighting and environmental effects like the smoke which I mentioned earlier.

I do think that serious LEGO enthusiasts will enjoy watching the film, even if they do not have a lot of interest in the main story. That’s because it really is an immersive experience within a world built out of LEGO bricks. While the LEGO models featured in the movie do not feature a ton of advanced building techniques, it is still fun to find NPU hidden inside the brick-built world.

Conclusion

As a complete work, the film works as an artistically expressive twist on an autobiographical music documentary. It is genuinely lifted up by the creative use of the LEGO brick which punctuates key moments in the film — live action would have struggled to convey these more abstract emotional concepts because it is too literal. The movie loses some steam as it shifts away from a story about creativity to a story about fame, but manages to tie it together in the end.

While I have real reservations around how this film will land with younger audiences (and their parents), my own rating of the film is based on my impressions alone… and I enjoyed it. I am happy to recommend that adult LEGO fans with a passing interest in the subject see the film, which earns it a Recommended (4/5 star) Rating for my core audience of AFOLs.

While the movie is all about community and family, be thoughtful about bringing the little ones.

As for younger audiences, I think parental discretion will be very important with this film — do not blindly take your 6-year old to this film since it has the LEGO logo on it. In particular, I have reservations about some of the language in interviews and song lyrics, but also feel like the overt drug references were not needed. Furthermore, I worry that there’s a lengthy section in the middle of the film where we plow through the ins-and-outs of the music business with a revolving cast of musician interviews, and this won’t hold the attention of younger LEGO fans.