"The Little Mermaid" received a near-perfect Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest Disney Live-Action of Disney Princess Story since 2019's "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil."
The reviews were in not more than a day since the show was theatrically released in the United States and parts of the world.
'The Little Mermaid' Rotten Tomatoes
According to Rotten Tomatoes, "The Little Mermaid" received a 95% audience score from more than 1,000 verified audience critics. On the other hand, the movie also received a tomato rating with 67% of over 200 film critics saying that the show was great, with some praising Halle Bailey's breakthrough performance.
"Even though this live-action remake has a few missteps, Halle Bailey is magical as Ariel. Alongside Melissa McCarthy as a deliciously delectable Ursula, together they make returning "under the sea" entertaining and fun for a whole new generation," one critic said.
"Halle Bailey happens to be perfect: She has a clear, powerful voice -- able to unleash a tsunami of emotions when she sings the anthemic "Part of Your World" -- and her performance is appealingly playful and sweet, even relatable," Tom Gliatto of People Magazine wrote in a review.
"Halle Bailey proves to be the film's strongest selling point, cutting an enchanting figure as she bashes out "Part of Your World" for all she's worth," another commented.
According to Movieweb, the film debuted at 71% critics' score, which is pretty high already for its opening day, later on, the review fell to 67% with more and more critics finally seeing and critiquing the movie. As of this writing, the score is 67%, which is still on the fresher side of things, as per Rotten Tomatoes standards.
Deadline reported that "The Little Mermaid" opened its Memorial Weekend box office with $125 million. Should the trend continue, the publication noted that it could rank as the fourth-biggest opening Memorial Day movie in history.
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'The Little Mermaid' vs Other Disney Princess Live-Action Movies
To date, "The Little Mermaid" is at par with "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" with the highest audience score of 95%. "Alladin" followed suit with 94%, then "Beauty and the Beast" with 80%, "Cinderella" with 78%, and the controversial "Mulan" with 47%.
When talking about the Tomatometer, "Cinderella" received raved reviews from critics, with a Certified Fresh print and an 83% score. Mulan, despite negative reception from fans, received 72% and a Certified Fresh print. "Beauty and the Beast" got 71% while "The Little Mermaid" is at 67%. Meanwhile, "Alladin" and "Maleficent" surprisingly ranked last, receiving green splats of 57% and 39% scores from critics.
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