Fans questioned why Pharrell Williams made his biopic a Lego animation — but critics say it’s way better than you’d think

Critics said the movie’s use of Lego animation to visualize interviews with Williams and the other stars is its greatest strength.

This works particularly well when Williams talks about living with synesthesia, a neurological condition that causes a person to experience multiple senses unrelated to the information presented, such as seeing colors when they hear music.

David Fear, a senior editor for Rolling Stone, wrote: “Williams could tell you how he came up with the building blocks of Kelis’s club-rocking playground taunt ‘Milkshake,’ or the carhorn-like symphony that characterizes Mystikal’s ‘Shake Ya Ass.’ Instead, he’ll show you what he’s working with, translated as a flashing lights and eye-searing hues.”

Radheyan Simonpillai wrote for The Guardian: “Pharrell’s rags-to-riches story is a familiar tale re-energized 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.”

Maureen Lee Lenker, a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly, wrote that the Lego animation concept was “tonally dissonant in the documentary’s more emotional moments.”

She wrote: “Perhaps the most head-scratching moment is watching the Black Lives Matter protests transformed into Lego animation. What should be an emotional turning point for Williams in his life and careers is instead, well, cartoonish.”

Some critics praised “Piece by Piece” for having a fresh take on the music biopic/documentary genre.

Peter Debruge, Variety‘s chief film critic, wrote: “The Lego approach gives the film a far more imaginative visual range than traditional documentaries, even as it robs us of the thing we most want to see: human faces.”

William Bibbiani, a critic for The Wrap, wrote: “‘Piece by Piece’ isn’t about building up Pharrell’s legend, it’s about the value of hard work and personal growth.

“‘Piece by Piece’ uses whimsy to make these experiences entertaining, whereas many biopics fall into the trap of converting reality into dramatic contrivance.”

But other critics disagreed. Lovia Gyarkye, a culture critic at The Hollywood Reporter, wrote that the film “can’t quite avoid the trappings of the celebrity-produced biopic, and is expectedly marked by typical hagiographic evasiveness.”

A common criticism of music biopics and documentaries is that they sanitize the artist or are too surface-level. Critics said “Piece by Piece” makes the same mistake by not offering much new insight into Williams’ life.

Lenker, who called the film a “by-the-numbers” documentary, wrote: “The film’s biggest disappointment is that it gives us no real insight into who Williams is and why he should be the subject of a documentary, even one as fantastical and playful as this is at times.”

According to multiple critics, the film keeps things largely child-friendly (its rated PG) even when making allusions to marijuana and bleeping out expletives.

Bibbiani wrote: “‘Piece by Piece’ is designed with children in mind. It’s a laid back storybook, with inspirational moments and surprisingly muted drama.”