Critical response
The film received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 349 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "With Halle Bailey making a major splash in the title role, Disney's live-action Little Mermaid ranks among the studio's most enjoyable reimaginings." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an overall 91% positive score, with 76% saying they would definitely recommend it.
Brian Lowry of CNN wrote that the film "holds up nicely under the weight of those expectations, preserving the original's essence while updating undernourished aspects of it and riding a warm, hard-to-resist wave of nostalgia." Ross Bonaime of Collider wrote that it "might not match the greatness of the original, but it's the rare remake that feels worthy of being part of our world." Lex Briscuso of TheWrap called it "a fresh take on a beloved classic that isn't afraid to take a fairy tale and make it as real as it can, inviting its audience to dive into uncharted waters alongside its engaging and charming central characters." Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood wrote that "Marshall has made a movie with all the magic required to pull it off and, if not replace the original in our hearts, at least has made a movie that can stand next to that one to also become a memorable part of our cinematic world." Vanessa Armstrong of /Film called it a live-action remake "done well" that "improves on the original" and had no doubt that "it will become an indelible part of many a young person's childhood, and I can't wait to watch it with my daughter."
Zoë Rose Bryant of Next Best Picture praised its sense of nostalgia and called Bailey and Hauer-King the "stars of the show". She did, however, criticize the visual effects, but said that they were "far better than the oft-maligned trailers would lead you to believe." Molly Edwards of Total Film gave it four stars out of five and called it "A sparkling, enchanting new spin that out-swims the original, with a pitch-perfect performance from Halle Bailey." Brian Truitt of USA Today wrote that "While not everything goes swimmingly, Halle Bailey splendidly buoys this Mermaid as the naive underwater youngster with dreams of exploring the surface." Maureen Lee Lenker of Entertainment Weekly praised the performances of Bailey, Hauer-King and McCarthy, and named the "Under the Sea" sequence as the film's best musical highlight. Peter Debruge of Variety lauded the film, saying that "Halle Bailey is all the reason that any audience should need to justify Disney revisiting this classic."
Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post called it an "on-the-other-fin mixed bag of a movie that honors its source material with a big, color-saturated production, while never precisely proving that it ever needed to exist." Rachel LaBonte of Screen Rant felt mixed, saying that the film is "bolstered by deeper characterization and a grand scope, even as it grapples with flaws." Helen O'Hara of Empire called it "Another 'live-action' remake that's darker and less compelling than the animated original, but it's saved by Bailey's charming performance, McCarthy's sass and the story's own eternal magic." Moira MacDonald of The Seattle Times praised Bailey's performance, saying that "her singing voice has both sweetness and power, and her smile is the sort on which dreams dance."
On the critical side, Angelica Jade Bastién of Vulture panned the film, writing that with this film, "Disney betrays its own lack of imagination and an essential misreading of what made its original children's fare such a joy to audiences in the first place." Hillary Busis of Vanity Fair criticized the runtime and called it an "uneasy mix of carbon copy and superfluous added material, presented in "live-action" that looks and feels (and is) as artificial as Lightning McQueen." Johnny Oleksinski of New York Post wrote that "Despite real actors, CGI and brand new material, 'Mermaid' is the studio's latest flesh-and-blood cash grab that's more lifeless than far better two-dimensional painted drawings." Justin Chang of Los Angeles Times wrote that "What's on-screen too often feels like wan, second-rate imitation, and the few differences seem motivated less by a spirit of imagination than one of joyless anxiety." Kat Rosenfield, writing for UnHerd, panned the film for being "propaganda" and for paling in comparison to the original, writing that "This is perhaps the worst thing about Disney's contemporary remakes: not that they are blatant cash grabs, but that they are infantilizing. The original Little Mermaid placed infinitely more trust in its intended audience of children than the new version places in those same children, now that they're grown up." Kelly Lawler, writing for USA Today, panned the film and noted that the story does not translate well to live-action as it did in animation and was particularly critical of the uncanny valley CGI and murky lighting, writing that "Every change − to aesthetics, to story, to soundtracks, to length − that is required to make these films 'live action' chips away at the magic of the originals. This relentless pursuit of realism doesn't make a good kids' movie: It may be dark underwater in the real ocean, but we want to see Ariel dance properly lit on the screen. The new films are too long, too monotone, too bland and full of photorealistic talking animals that range from boring to horrifying."
Lindsey Bahr of Associated Press wrote that "For all its pizazz, everything about this Little Mermaid is just more muted. Miranda's new songs are odd, too, and don't seem to fit." "The Scuttlebutt" musical number was widely criticized by critics and audiences for Awkwafina's vocal performance, Lin-Manuel Miranda's lyrics (particularly the line "Remember the swamp? Remember my song in the swamp? When I was like 'Womp, chicka womp-womp, chicka womp-woooomp'") and its rap style not fitting in with the musical style of the other songs. Raven Brunner of Decider called the number "awkward" and that it felt "forced". A. Felicia Wade of DiscussingFilm wrote that "Considering the setting, it's really out of place for the film in general."
John Musker, the co-writer and co-director of the original 1989 film, disapproved of the film stating: "They didn't play up the father-daughter story, and that was the heart of the movie, in a way. And the crab — you could look at live animals in a zoo and they have more expression."
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