Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl

Everything about this reeks of a fowl smell.

Genre:	Science Fantasy Adventure
Directed By:	Kenneth Branagh
Produced By:	Kenneth Branagh Judy Hofflund
Written By:	Conor McPherson Hamish McColl
Based On:	Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Starring:	Ferdia Shaw Lara McDonnell Josh Gad Tamara Smart Nonso Anozie Colin Farrell Judi Dench
Cinematography:	Haris Zambarloukos
Distributed By:	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release Date:	June 12, 2020
Runtime:	95 minutes
Country:	United States
Language:	English
Budget:	$125 million

"Top of the Morning"
— Julius Root

Artemis Fowl (known in certain territories as Artemis Fowl: The Secret World) is a 2020 American science fantasy adventure film based on the Irish 2001—12 novels of the same name by Eoin Colfer. It is directed by Kenneth Branagh, from a screenplay co-written by Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl. The film stars Ferdia Shaw, Lara McDonnell, Josh Gad, Tamara Smart, Nonso Anozie, Colin Farrell, and Judi Dench. The film was originally scheduled for a theatrical release on August 9, 2019 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. In May 2019, the film was pushed back to May 29, 2020. Later however, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema, the film's theatrical release was cancelled and it was exclusively released on Disney+ on June 12, 2020.

Plot

Artemis Fowl is a 12-year-old genius and descendant of a long line of criminal masterminds. He soon finds himself in an epic battle against a race of powerful underground fairies who may be behind his father's disappearance.

Why It Sucks

The main flaw of the movie is that it deviates heavily from the source material, making it pretty much an in-name-only adaptation. Articles listing the differences can be found here and here.
The editing is very bad since there's almost no transition between scene to scene.
Unfunny and weak humor. Especially the Irish jokes in some scenes, that been used by Judi's character and the film's female version of Julius Root.
Very weak plot, unlike the book that steals elements from the Harry Potter movies, the Men in Black movies, the Percy Jackson movies, and the Spy Kids movies.
Many of the characters barely resemble their book counterparts, both in appearance and characterization.
- Artemis, for instance, was changed from a physically weak, villainous criminal mastermind into a heroic, friendly, emotional, and athletic person with barely any personality but only so that the movie can have a heroic protagonist designed by attempting to be an origin story for Artemis' career as a criminal mastermind.
  - The worst part? This change was made by Kenneth Branagh because he thinks that audiences won't handle a 12-year-old villainous character, showing off his incompetence.
- Butler's first name is used frequently, whereas in the books, the butlers' first names are never made public.
- Artemis' father isn't actually a crime lord in this film, and is portrayed as somehow both a businessman and an art dealer revealed to have pulled off some heists, but for noble aims.
- Julius Roots, the supporting character in the book and graphic novel adaptions, is now a female who acts like a major anti-villain at first for no apparent reason.
According to Cynical Reviews the film has a problem with casting with not just Whitewashing in holly shorts which in the book she had dark skin but in the film she's white, which is inexcusable as the film was released during the #BlackLivesMatter protests. But also Butler who is Eurasian in the book ends up being black in the film getting accuse of Blackwashing.
- In short, it ends up upsetting both sides of the debate.
The movie is over-reliant on exposition from Mulch, which comes off as boring and condescending.
Horrendously abysmal special effects and CGI that look very fake and unrealistic.
- The biggest example of this is Mulch Diggums with his mouth stretching. The scene looks really creepy.
Poor acting from actors such as Ferdia Shaw.
There is an inaccuracy with [the Republic of] Ireland saying that Ireland is part of Britain. When Ireland has been independent of Britain since 1922.
- Not only that but also the opening shows that Mulch Diggums is taken by the British authorities. That would trigger a diplomatic crisis as the British government does not ask the Irish of bringing Mulch into their country.

Redeeming Qualities

The soundtrack is decent and nice to listen to by Patrick Doyle.
While the characters are very unfaithful to the books series and graphic novel adaption, certain locations and some of their clothing is the closest thing for being faithful to the series.
It thankfully never was released in theaters.

Reception

Artemis Fowl received extremely negative reviews from critics and audiences, with criticism for its acting, screenplay, special effects, and unfaithfulness to the source material, although praised its Patrick Doyle's score. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 8% based on 167 reviews, and an average rating of 3.70/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A would-be franchise-starter that will anger fans of the source material and leave newcomers befuddled, Artemis Fowl is frustratingly flightless.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 31 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."

Videos

Trivia

The film was originally meant to be released in theatres, but it instead would go to Disney+ due to COVID-19.
This film is the first Disney+ Original that was filmed as a theatrical release. That is why the Disney+ Original logo does not appear, unlike all of the previous Disney+ original films.