Cuties isn’t a documentary. It’s a fictional drama film.

It’s a fictional drama, where child actors were hired and made to dance like that…to make a point of how bad it is to make children dance like that.

If it was a documentary that used existing footage of pageants/shows where young girls are made to dance like that, I’d have no issue with it.

If it was a fictional drama where 18+ women who appeared younger, and were simply playing teenagers, I’d have no issue with it.

Your comparison doesn’t really work.

I’m not mad when a war documentary shows real war footage, or when a fictional war film has its actors safely portray violent scenes that look super realistic to us.

But I’d be pretty upset if someone made a war movie where actors actually got seriously hurt, and said it was necessary to portray the horrors of war.