Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Child Star’ on Hulu, Demi Lovato’s Documentary About the Perils Kids Face in the Entertainment Biz

Child Star (now streaming on Hulu) is a less myopic take on the recent celebrity-ego documentary. The film is half-Demi Lovato biography, half-expose of the dangers young people face when they become famous. Lovato produces and co-directs (with Nicola Marsh) the film, sharing her personal story of a rollercoaster Hollywood life, and sitting down with fellow former child stars including Drew Barrymore, Christina Ricci, Kenan Thompson and Jojo Siwa – as well as former co-workers Raven-Symone and Alyson Stoner, both of whom, in scenes that might raise an eyebrow, confront Lovato about some of her not-so-great past actions. Let it be known, however, that said moments are done with love rather than bitterness, so put your dishy takes back in your pocket, you.

CHILD STAR: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Lovato opens on a string of talking heads: Children defining fame, and talking about what it would be like to be famous. They answer predictably – it would be great, you’d make lots of money, and millions of people would like you! But after a minute, they also exhibit a little surprising wisdom: fame might not be all that it’s cracked up to be. For the rest of the film, Lovato will elaborate on that point, and share how fame significantly affected her mental health – she dealt with eating disorders and addiction, and was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She begins with how she used to watch Shirley Temple on TV with her great-grandparents, and idolized the iconic kid superstar. Temple’s showbiz success would result in a child-labor law being named after her, and the doc subsequently opens up a historical thread where the doc explores ideas about child exploitation in the entertainment business, discussing how young actors often work long, hard hours like adults, and end up being the family breadwinners.

Lovato commiserates with Ricci, Barrymore and Raven-Symone about their experiences as child stars. She compares her experience as a “Disney kid” with Thompson’s as a “Nickelodeon kid.” (In a nutshell: Nick was more edgy, Disney more wholesome. Relatively speaking.) Lovato weaves key points from her bio – her family’s relocation to Los Angeles from Texas, her big break with Disney Channel’s Camp Rock and Sonny with a Chance, how she was bullied at school – into discussions about being commodified by corporate interests and equating career success with self-worth. Lovato also shares how she lost her sense of artistic expression when producers shrugged at her compositions, and started dictating what and how she would sing and perform. And why – to make money. Capitalism. Cue audio from Disney shareholder meetings, and stats about how Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus was a billion-dollar industry by herself. Meanwhile, some industry experts and journalists provide context and analysis.

Lovato also meets with the next generation, represented by social media superstar Siwa, who shows off the roomful of merchandise bearing her likeness, and shares how she posts hundreds of videos a day on Snapchat. (If that sounds exhausting, well, the implication here is that it very much is.) Raven-Symone reveals that Lovato forgot that they once co-starred on Sonny with a Chance, which Lovato chalks up to stress-related dissociation (Raven-Symone is forgiving: “I could tell something was going on.”) Stoner gently says Lovato didn’t always treat her kindly on the set of Camp Rock – “my heart is pounding,” Stoner says – and Lovato apologizes. There’s a discussion of the difficulties Raven-Symone and Siwa faced when they came out as LGBTQ. Lovato shares stories of exhausted live tours that crammed 70 shows into 90 days, with off days spent rehearsing for movies. She talks to Chris McCarty, a college student who lobbied Congress to pass safeguards for child social media stars. Film director Chris Columbus shares his observations of child stardom, having directed Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone and Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter. Yes, this documentary covers a lot of ground.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Alex Winter’s 2020 doc Showbiz Kids covers a lot of the same ground – and more thoroughly – but Child Star takes the next step, and advocates for the young social media stars who aren’t privy to the same legal protections as TV and film actors. 

Performance Worth Watching: Big shout out to McCarty, who lobbied Washington state representative Kristine Reeves to sponsor a bill for labor regulations and protections for kid influencers.

Memorable Dialogue: A young girl nails the theme of the film when she’s asked how she feels, sitting in front of a camera like she is right now: “I’m a little bit nervous and a little bit happy.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Child Star is a little messy and unfocused, and comes off as a collection of loose points stapled to the ups and downs in Lovato’s biography. But those points are all valid, and informative. Remember the bit where she said she had no agency when it came to her music? Well, it’s nice to see, late in the film, how she’s now collaborating with songwriters and engineers in the studio, leading the way, hammering out the phrasing on a song. She doesn’t say it outright, but the scene tells us, hey, she’s feeling good about this. Creativity is the balm that soothes the stress of being an entertainer in a harsh spotlight. She didn’t always have that, and it seems as if she’s regaining her sense of self.

Such moments are about 40 percent indulgent, 60 percent inspiring. Key point being, if she can do it, you can too – and that seems to be the thesis and conclusion of this documentary. It makes sense for Lovato to funnel the core ideas of the film through her own experiences, since she went through so much of it firsthand. But she never gets too maudlin or emotional, or self-deprecating. She keeps the tone measured but meaningful, and never manipulative. It feels honest and forthright, and that trumps its occasional lack of cogency. 

Our Call: STREAM IT. Others have addressed the topic better, but with not as much personal investment as Lovato. Her legion of fans will appreciate the effort she puts into Child Star, and some of the rest of us might, too.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.