While critical response to the film was mostly positive, including some award nominations, it became a subject of controversy, starting from Netflix's initial promotional poster that was widely considered inappropriate.

Following its release on Netflix, the film polarized audiences, in part due to sexually suggestive scenes involving the child actors.

Amy, an 11-year-old girl from Senegal, lives with her mother Mariam and two younger brothers, one of them named Ishmael, in an apartment in one of Paris' poorest neighbourhoods.

Amy is fascinated by her disobedient neighbour Angelica's pre-teen twerking clique, the Cuties, which is in stark contrast to Mariam's Muslim customs.

After getting pantsed for fighting with Sweety Swags, she steals her cousin’s phone and sends a photo of her vulva online to a social network in an attempt to look mature, backfiring heavily with her being ostracised, also causing a rift between her and the Cuties who kick her out, replaced with former member Yasmine.

While her father's wedding day corresponds to the finale at the Parc de la Villette, she is determined to dance with them, and sneaks out of the house.

In the end, Amy abandons both the traditional wedding dress and her provocative dancer's outfit, living a normal youth lifestyle.

[8] Doucouré spent nearly 18 months researching studies on how young and pre-teen children are being exposed to adult content and sexualised images on social media in order to showcase the accurate reality in the film.

[42][43] In September 2020, Pakistani actor Hamza Ali Abbasi signed one of the petitions and demanded Netflix cancel their planned release of the film.

[45] In an interview with Deadline Hollywood, Maïmouna Doucouré stated that she received numerous death threats and personal attacks following the backlash on social media.

[46] She claimed that things happened fairly quickly (after delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic); she was focusing solely on the film's theatrical release in France, and at the time was not consulted about the controversial poster unveiled by Netflix.

[47] On 10 September, #CancelNetflix started trending on Twitter in the United States (one day after the release of the film internationally) with The Guardian saying that opposition came from across the political spectrum.

[50] Shortly after its release on Netflix, Cuties had an IMDb rating of 1.7/10,[51] reflecting the impact of review bombing in relation to the controversy over the film.

[52] In response, Netflix defended Cuties, saying that the film is a piece of "social commentary against the sexualisation of young children" and encouraged subscribers to watch it.

[62] The French directors guild criticised the backlash against the film, calling it a "grave attack on freedom of creation" being fueled by "the most conservative of Americans.

[67][68] The days after the film's release saw an eight times increase in the number of cancellations of Netflix subscriptions than typical, reaching "a multi-year high", according to data analytics companies Antenna and YipitData.

[71][72] Doucouré reaffirmed her intentions for making the film in an op-ed for The Washington Post, and responded to the controversy saying, "The movie has certainly started a debate, though not the one that I intended."

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas sent a letter to the Department of Justice to "investigate whether Netflix, its executives, or the filmmakers violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography.

"[85] The Texas-based defense lawyer Paul Saputo called the indictment "one of 'the dumbest and most absurd' in the state", noting its win at Sundance qualifies the film as having serious artistic value.

[86][87] Former federal prosecutor Duncan Levin also stated that the indictment was "more of a culture wars attack on a sexualized film than a law enforcement issue.

The site's critics consensus reads: "A thoughtful look at the intricacies of girlhood in the modern age, Cuties is a coming-of-age film that confronts its themes with poignancy and nuance.

"[99] In a review for IndieWire, Kate Erbland wrote, "Although Doucouré steeps Cuties in emotion and experience, she abandons its grace to make crazier gestures.

Occasionally, Doucouré lets her light up the screen with a smile, and at the director's most expressionistic, the girl floats", though it stated the film is aiming to gain more "gasps than laughs" with its dance numbers.

[101] Other reviewers commented that the film is intended to criticise "a culture that steers impressionable young girls toward the hypersexualisation of their bodies" and "seems to want to provoke censure".

[105] According to France Info, "Mignonnes' words are a subtle reflection on the condition of women when childhood and innocence discreetly recede" and a "female cast carried by the intensity of the young Fathia Youssouf, a revelation".

[107] Common Sense Media gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote that "Maïmouna Doucouré has created an evocative, compassionate portrait of young girls finding their identity and values".

[111] Fionnuala Halligan of Screen Daily, however, commented on the close-up minor shots: "Doucouré seems to want to provoke censure, but fails precisely because she's trying so hard."

"[112] Yvonne Bohwongprasert of the Bangkok Post stated that the film's storyline "sexualises the girls in a manner that would pander to the desires of a paedophile" with "a plot that really does not make sense.

"[113] Brett McCracken of The Gospel Coalition argued that "People on every point on the political spectrum should be able to say it is wrong for a film—any film, however well-intentioned—to depict close-up, lingering shots of scantily clad 11-year-olds twerking.