If a person or a piece of work is acclaimed, a lot of people have praised it in public — reviewers, the public, sometimes both. Critically acclaimed is the set phrase for a film or book that reviewers loved, even if it did not sell well. It is stronger than liked and more public than “my mum said it was good.” Though actually, acclaimed is not the same as famous: a quiet novel can be acclaimed in a small circle and still be unknown on the street. And it is not the same as claimed. That is a different word, about saying something is yours or true. This one is the adjective from acclaim, “to praise out loud.”