If you’re going to make a movie about yourself, you might as well make it a LEGO movie. How else could Pharrell have his whole body explode then be able to put his head back on? An appreciative “Thank You” goes to Sound Unseen for partnering with Focus Features to show us a sneak preview of Piece by Piece, a documentary/biography about Pharrell Williams. This Universal movie is in theaters this Friday, October 11th.

Honestly, the only thing I knew about Mr. Williams before going into the movie was that he wore a big hat and that his songs had a good beat. I counted about three colors of giant hats but there’s so much more to this biopic, which does include his fashion sense but goes on to talk about the songs written and produced by him, the beats to all of his songs are extraordinary. Although I am saddened to say that The Neptunes are no more, the movie chronicles his start with Chad Hugo. It goes on to interview other stars that he’s collaborated with, including but not limited to Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes, Britney Spears, Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z (Mr Z to get his attention).

The movie starts out with him at a very young age and how he could see colors in his mind’s eye when listening to songs, a fascinating condition called synesthesia. Animation then is the perfect medium leading to only something that can exist in an imagination. You can do so much more with cartoons than when you are restricted to a physical universe. So, although this was a family movie, yes, little girl sitting to the left of me, that is just smoke from a smoke machine Snoop Dogg’s entourage is pumping into the room, nothing more, wink wink.