Peter Suderman wrote a comparative review of The Little Mermaid and Across the Spider-Verse:

“[The Little Mermaid’s] inclusion efforts feel more like mandatory H.R. training than any meaningful program of cultural expansion. . . .

“Spider-Verse, in contrast, uses its self-conscious displays of diversity as a portal into a wild and exuberant exploration of human individuality. It's a movie that finds joy and wonder in its portrayal of a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-attitudinal world of Spider-Men and Spider-Women and Spider-Somethingelses, whereas The Little Mermaid treats its diversity updates as a cautious exercise in obligatory box-checking.”