For many Americans, director Michael Gracey’s kaleidoscopic portrait of the Brit-pop sensation’s career will double as an overdue introduction.

I came out of the womb with jazz hands,” pop star Robbie Williams recounts in “Better Man,” his new biopic. Williams became the hugest of stars in his native Britain, making 14 No. 1 singles and performing to screaming crowds (though he never gained traction in the United States.

The British pop superstar is portrayed as a monkey in the biographical musical film. Doug Hyde contributed to this story by David Daniel.

There are moments in "Better Man," the often thrilling biopic of unabashedly cheeky U.K. pop star Robbie Williams, where you forget you're watching a CGI monkey in the lead role. But you are watching a CGI monkey,