the movie had mostly positive feedback from critics. enrique fernandez of the "sun sentinel" wrote that nava did a great job in "catching the audience" with "selena". fernandez also stated that lopez had a "terrific characterization" of selena. steve persall of the "st. petersburg times" believed that nava did not do a good job in retelling selena's murder. persall believed nava was under pressure by selena's family and fans to tell a more "fairy tale" movie then a "real life event". daisann mclane of "sun sentinel" agreed that the movie was more of a "fairy tale" and that "the movie is the family's version of the story". mclane believed that "selena" "lie[d]" about selena's "real life". stuart elliott of "austin american-statesmen" wrote that "selena" became a "breakthrough success" in selena's career. elliott believed that nava had "perfect[ed]" every scene and that female hispanics in america can relate to the conflicts and the climax of the story.