While this year's Toronto International Film Festival has seen its fair share of unorthodox, exciting, and even downright wacky films, none have veered as far "out of the box" as Piece by Piece. A film that tells the story of legendary music producer, Pharrell Williams and his rise to fame...through the medium of LEGO.
Piece by Piece was the only animated film I got to see at TIFF this year, and I was surprised at the sheer amount of people who had queued up in the rush line to see it. At first glance it seems like it'll be just another installment in The LEGO Movie franchise but in reality, the two do not feel the same at all. So far the film has received rapturous applause from audiences and critics in the brief time since its release. It currently holds an amazing score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Although I have come to appreciate The LEGO Movie in recent years, I wasn't a huge fan when it came out. And I've never been more than a casual, surface level fan of Pharrell Williams. Needless to say, I had no idea what to expect from Piece By Piece, having no real connection to the source material. But I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this colorful, unorthodox biopic made of LEGO bricks.
To start off with the good, Piece By Piece is a beautifully animated movie. Brightly colored and dynamic enough to entertain anyone who sees it, especially young children. Out of all the films I saw at TIFF, this one had the largest number of adolescent audience members. Piece By Piece is a fantastic movie for families with children because it contains the central message of working hard and never giving up. It reminds viewers that success is not always linear and that amazing things can happen when you believe in yourself.
Piece by Piece is definitely a family movie more-so than a children's movie, just because everything is made out of LEGO doesn't mean that it's exclusively for kids. Various old school pop culture icons make appearances as their very own mini figures such as Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Pusha T, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, and more. Not to mention there is plenty of lowkey adult humor for the parents to enjoy.
While the very concept of a LEGO movie about Pharrell Williams is enough to raise anyone's eyebrow, the most perplexing aspect has to do with the content itself. Piece by Piece is a film with its fair share of strengths, heart, and great animation, but it clearly struggles with knowing what it wants to be. Throughout the film, they try to dance around the possibly non-PG aspects of Pharrell's story that could come up. there are a few comical bleeps to block out any profanity, and when Snoop Dogg appears on screen, an intern fogs up the room with "PG Spray." But then the word "shit" is used uncensored twice during the third act, and Snoop's Crip affiliation is brought up as well. The world of hip-hop music has never been one to shy away from controversial topics, so it must have been difficult to navigate that for a movie made out of LEGO. While there is definitely a mix of PG and adult humor, it feels like the film doesn't know how to balance it.
Piece by Piece also has a dedicated portion to the song, "Alright," Pharrell produced for Kendrick Lamar. "Alright" is a song directly inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality. While this is a very important issue that Pharrell feels strongly about, it shifts the tone of the film quite a bit. I can imagine that parents will have to answer a lot of questions from their children upon leaving theaters. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the film didn't shy away from this issue, maybe a younger audience learning about the plight of Black people in America could bring about some positive change.
Piece By Piece is a very unorthodox film, from its content to its medium of execution. However, the high risk made for a high reward. I'd definitely recommend it to any families looking for a movie to see when it's released on October 11th!
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