Piece by Piece | 2024 | PG | – 1.2.3

Why is “Piece by Piece” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language, some suggestive material and thematic elements.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a kiss, some suggestive song lyrics, flirting, bikini-clad Lego characters, police marching toward protestors, discussions of success in the music industry, discussions of being different, and some mild language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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An animated biopic constructed entirely with Lego bricks in order to share the musical journey of Pharrell Williams. Also with the voices of Morgan Neville, Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, ItzKiff, Jay-Z, N.O.R.E., Daft Punk, Busta Rhymes, Pusha T, Taaes2008 and Aaron Wickenden. Directed by Morgan Neville. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in Japanese with English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:33]

Piece by Piece SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man and a woman kiss.
► A young man and a young woman talk and flirt at a party and we hear that she broke up with her boyfriend and started spending time with the young man. Several song lyrics include suggestive references (“Get with you,” “Shake your body,” “You got the biggest one,” “It’s getting hot in here, take off all your clothes,” etc.).
► Characters wearing swimsuits dance to music in a few scenes. A few scenes show female Lego characters wearing bikinis that reveal bare abdomens, cleavage, backs and legs.

Piece by Piece VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – Police march toward protestors chanting and carrying signs that read “Black Lives Matter,” and “I can’t breathe.”
► Planes (identified as the Blue Angels) fly overhead in several scenes and people react to the sound as items in their homes rattle; a man says, “We lived in the crash zone.”
► A young man dances on a man’s desk in a few scenes and seems to be getting more aggressive about trying to get the man’s attention while others in the room become upset with his behavior. A character breaks to pieces (Lego bricks) on a sidewalk after hearing a piece of music.
► A teacher scolds a student telling him to stop daydreaming and get to work. We hear that a child repeated a grade in middle school. A man describes suffering from anxiety when he would go to school. A man says that he didn’t fit in at school. We hear that a teen boy worked at MacDonald’s and was fired for eating all the time. Two police officers visit the head of a music studio in Virginia and suggest that he should do something for the community. A man describes getting his first large paycheck and spending the money carelessly. A man talks about feeling rejected. A man wears a necklace with a medallion that says, “Death Row.” A young man collapses to his knees in the hallway of a hospital and we understand that he has been told that his grandmother died. A character says, “He was lost.” A man describes being obsessed with water. A man says, “I was always different.” People talk about there being “something in the water” in Virginia.
► A man describes being from Atlantis and we see a child swimming under the ocean with a giant fish and King Neptune arrives carrying a trident; the man then says that he grew up in a housing project called Atlantis Apartments. A young boy trips on the floor and spills items making noise but he appears unharmed. A boy listens to music and sees colors and shapes coming out of the speakers.

Piece by Piece LANGUAGE 3

 – Several song lyrics include references to sexual activity, 2 not-fully-enunciated scatological terms accompanied by a scatological emoji, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (odd child, he’s odd, babe, savant, normalsville, went a little crazy, out of bounds, weird, bruh, pimps, pigs), exclamations (shoulda coulda woulda), 7 religious exclamations (e.g. God, God blessed us all, trust God, oh my God, what God has for you, Holy moly guacamole). | profanity glossary |

Piece by Piece SUBSTANCE USE

 – None.

Piece by Piece DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Pharrell Williams, Synesthesia, discipline, hard work, talent, being different, the music industry, death of loved ones, encouragement of people’s dreams and aspirations, daydreaming, product endorsements, the music industry, imagination, Carl Sagan, “Cosmos.”

Piece by Piece MESSAGE

 – Find something you love to do and stay relevant.