Piece by Piece (2024)

 Hi fellow animation fans, welcome to my look at Piece by Piece.

Synopsis: Piece by Piece is a documentary about the life of Hip-Hop artist and producer Pharrell Williams but told via Lego animation.

The Good:

* As someone who also experiences synesthesia, depending on the sound or music (mostly the Beatles), I really enjoyed the way they described and went on to show this phenomenon.

* I also enjoyed the insights into the music industry, I thought the part where the producer set up a High School talent show just to spot talented kids was really creepy. 

* I also found the animation to be really well done, and I really liked the way they portrayed different concepts such as the room where beats were stored as all different shapes and colors. This led to one of the more poignant moments, where he showed a beat that was colorless with no flashes of light and said it was written for Prince.

The Bad:

* To me this felt more like a vanity project than a story that needed telling, his childhood was happy, he had natural talent, he had the support of family and friends with the only drama coming because of his own ego.

* I believe fans of Hip-Hop fused with pop music would probably find all the music in this movie to be quite enjoyable but I myself couldn't really get into it, but this could be attributed to my age as I grew up listening to the likes of Ice T, Biggie Smalls and Busta Rhymes whose focus was more on the lyrics, not the beats.

* My biggest problem with this movie though is I can't figure out who the intended audience is, Lego animation doesn't exactly scream hardcore rapper hip-hop so I think many music fans will avoid it, but on the other hand the story isn't exciting enough to hold children's attention for long even though it is rated PG. 

            IMDB 6.9/10             Rotten Tomatoes 83%                Me 5/10

Pharrell and supporters dancing in front of his childhood inspiration.