Review of Artemis Fowl (2020) by Davrosdaleks1 — 13 Jun 2020

A movie version of the Artemis Fowl book has been in and out of production since '01. We finally get it, and wow, this wasn't worth it. This a very disappointing adaptation. Especially surprising is that this is brought to us from Disney and director Kenneth Brannagh (Thor, Murder on the Orient Express, Cinderella).

The problem is that this is a bunch of quick short scenes and characters thrown at us one after the other with very little impact. Heck, the character of Artemis' friend Juliet (played by Tamara Smart) feels like an afterthought and barely functioning character, used so sparingly despite being around the main action most of the time.

I think there was a lot of trouble in editing and reshoots. There is one very clear moment of poor dub work.

The barrage of scenes and characters results in a complete and utter lack of being able to become invested or relate to the characters. The only character who feels completely developed is large dwarf Mulch Diggums (Josh Gad). I feel that Disney may have felt he went best with test audiences and pushed all the attention onto him.

The biggest issue is the presentation of Artemis Fowl (Ferdia Shaw) himself. He's a criminal genius in the book, but that isn't well represented here. He's still smart, but the choppy editing doesn't much make it feel like he's a master strategist. He's watered down from an antihero to a more traditional protagonist. It's Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain all over again. The studio feels that an antihero may not sit well with parents and they water the product down. The director and/or studio also tweak Artemis' backstory, which was a mistake. (There are good movie adaptations where they change things. This just isn't one of them). They give a frustratingly basic and uninvolving story for Artemis. The characters' setup scenes are some of the dullest moments. Plus, the backstory pales in comparison to the original. The movie doesn't seem to have much faith in Artemis as he doesn't even seem to the be the main focus. Shaw also gives a rather dull performance.

Last complaint: there are a couple moments that look like they might be death scenes, but I don't think they were supposed to be. It's very poorly handled.

To the movie's credit, there is a good line once in a while. Gad and Judi Dench as an elf commander do a good job. Nonso Anozie as Artemis' bodyguard seemed like fun, but he just wasn't given enough attention. Being a Brannagh movie, it looks nice but it doesn't quite compare to some of his other recent works.

You can avoid this one, especially if you're a fan of the book. It's not painfully bad, just barely functioning.