Showbiz Kids

Showbiz Kids-360P

Showbiz Kids-360P

Showbiz Kids-720P

Showbiz Kids-480P

Showbiz Kids-720P

Showbiz Kids-480P

Showbiz Kids_720p(480P)

source: Showbiz Kids

Reality is that some children live in the Hollywood experience and emerge as capable, accomplished, and happy adults. Others do not. However, the same can be said about youngsters pushed toward high-level sports. Or music. Or dance. Or academics. Reaching maturity successfully depends on numerous factors but thoughtful, unselfish, and caring adult influences might be the most important. Alex Winter spent his life in the entertainment business, so it was reasonable for him to focus on experiences of people who worked as child actors. Winter understands the risks and rewards of the entertainment business but his documentary would have been more complete had he taken a wider view. Another documentary could examine the processes of very young people chasing "success" in other fields. I would bet the adults that emerge are a similar mix of happy and troubled people.

Showbiz Kids is my latest review. It's a documentary without an arc. It has no beginning, no middle, and no clear-cut end. Still, I must say that every child actor and their parents needs to give it a look-see. It might prevent Hollyweird from taking another one down. So OK, "Showbiz" is a docu that doesn't need flash or overindulgence to get its point across. It's just a self-effacing portrait of troupers recalling what it was like to work in the film industry via a fairly young age. Evan Rachel Wood, Milla Jovovich, and Wil Wheaton put their two cents in. Oh and Todd Bridges gets thrown into the mix cause well, you just knew he'd be included. Showbiz Kids gives us the usual interviews and the usual archive footage. But by hook or crook, it still hits you pretty hard. At 95 minutes "Showbiz" with its "call backs" as subsequent metaphor, just gets darker and darker (and darker). The rabbit hole here is uh, a real pisser. The director of Showbiz Kids is none other than Alex Winter (Bill from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure). Winter skimps on the usual documentary style as he goes for talk show moments from stars a la "where are they now?" Alex doesn't want these laddies or lassies to recall the good times of being on screen. He rather wants them to warn and heed the dangers of being a child star cooked by the cold stodgy-s of sunny LA. I'm a film buff, I love movies, and I when I write reviews, I tell it like it is. But I have sympathy for what these people have gone through with fame, haggled money, and such. Yeah I've seen some of their flicks and I've disliked some of their stuff but I've only viewed it from the outside. For that I am sorry. These "kids are alright" in my book.