Piece By Piece

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.

Take the plastic away and we’d also miss some insightful flights of invention: hot new beats glow from shelves like alien lifeforms. And celebrities in Lego form is a durable running joke.

What at first seems like a quirky gimmick actually works rather well. It’s a fun watch, and the technique allows film-maker Morgan Neville to visually represent Williams’s form of synaesthesia.

This is a film that is boisterously childlike, surreal and eager to please, but also (I couldn’t help thinking) a strangely wrongheaded attempt to use Lego graphics to tell the remarkable, complex story of a brilliant musician and producer.

A colourful journey lit up with great tunes and a deep love of music -- an ingenious, infectious new spin on the music doc. Now let’s have Diplo in Duplo.

Earnest and inventive, Piece by Piece in an undeniable sensory delight and a singular approach to biographical/documentary filmmaking.

While it may feel odd to tell someone's life story in this way, the blast of energy, colour, humour and music is infectious. And Pharrell's life is fascinating.

A Pharrell LEGO documentary is as cool as it sounds.

That said, this biopic of music trailblazer Pharrell Williams has something for all the family - sweet, inspiring, and with a block-rocking soundtrack to boot.

So the suspicion remains that the novelty of the approach is its own justification, used to distinguish what is owtherwise a fairly rote expoloration of Pharell's careeer.