The Little Mermaid review embargo finally lifted this Monday ahead of the much-anticipated remake’s arrival in theaters on Friday, so we’re starting to get an idea of how the Halle Bailey vehicle fits into the overall pattern of Disney’s never-ending procession of live-action reboots. As it happens, while its aforementioned leading lady is earning praise across the board, much of what the rest of the film offers is apparently fathoms below Bailey’s performance.
The 2023 movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score is now live, for instance, which gives us a clear metric of its quality to work with. At the time of writing, The Little Mermaid is currently sitting at an aggressively OK 70 percent off the back of 61 reviews. Thanks to RT’s handy list of all Disney’s remakes released to date, that means we can say that — as things stand — it’s worse than a total of seven of the studio’s other live-action reimaginings of the modern era.
The unmatched best remains 2016’s The Jungle Book (94 percent), followed by the same year’s Pete’s Dragon (88 percent) and 2015’s Cinderella (83 percent). Entering the 70s bracket, we come to 2021’s Cruella (75 percent), 2020’s Mulan (72 percent), 2018’s Christopher Robin (72 percent), and — finally — 2017’s Beauty and the Beast (71 percent). Assuming it remains at either 70 or 71 percent, The Little Mermaid is likely to stick in this slot, as it has a ways to go before it slips to the level of 2019’s Lady and the Tramp (66 percent).
While this isn’t exactly the flourishing rating fans might’ve been hoping for, at least it’s not — ahem — floundering with critics. At least Disney die-hards can rest assured that The Little Mermaid isn’t down there with the worst of them — here’s looking at you, 2022’s Pinocchio (22 percent) — even if it unfortunately doesn’t match up with the best. To quote Ursula, it’s sad, but true.