Disney announced in 2018 their plan to make a movie based on Eoin Colfer’s “Artemis Fowl” series. The film was released on the Disney+ streaming service in May 2020, and was met with much contempt from fans. 

Eoin Colfer, an Irish teacher turned author, published the first book of the “Artemis Fowl” series in 2001. The series focuses on the titular character, a preteen criminal mastermind who discovers that fairies and mythical creatures are real. The other main character, Holly Short, is one of these fantastical creatures – a fairy – that Artemis kidnaps to steal gold from. This scheme leads the fairies to a mission of trying to get Holly back. 

Despite being the main character, Artemis is in fact the villain of the first book, but throughout the nine book series he receives a redemptive arc and ends the series as a hero. Disney, however, seems to have missed this fact; in the movie Artemis and Holly work together very quickly, making the trouble of trapping Holly in a cage completely unnecessary almost as soon as it happens.

Ferdia Shaw, the child actor who portrayed Artemis Fowl, will hopefully have a great career ahead of him despite this being his first major role. While I can appreciate his talent, a major plot point of the first book is the fact that Artemis is not a nice person. He is mean, manipulative and can be cruel, even to the people who care about him. Shaw’s Artemis, however, seems kind and friendly in comparison. 

An admittedly small detail that a number of readers are taking issue with is Artemis’s wardrobe throughout the film. It took three of nine books before Artemis ever wore anything other than a suit. In the film, however, he wears blue jeans most of the time. A defining character trait of Artemis is the fact that he tries to be an adult despite being a child, and the movie completely ignores this. 

The plot of the movie comes completely out of left field in comparison to the book series and revolves around a McGuffin that was never explained enough to warrant its fabrication for the storyline. (For any readers unfamiliar with this jargon, a “McGuffin” is a device used only to help forward the plot.) Sometimes they are used correctly and help the film. In this case, it fails and the McGuffin simply creates confusion for the viewers. 

There are a number of endearing character traits amongst the secondary cast in the books that were simply omitted from the scripting, creating a lot of flat characters. For example, Foaly, the centaur that serves as a sort of James Bond’s Q to the Lower Elements Police, always wears a tin foil hat in the books. In the film Foaly is a very static character with no real bearing on the film at large. 

An important factor when reviewing adaptations is to try looking at the film on its own. This is admittedly easy for me, because it has been a decade since I have read an “Artemis Fowl” novel. This film on its own simply does not stand up very well. This is evidenced by its dubious distinction of earning a nine percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. For comparison, another widely criticized film adaptation for similar ages, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” scored a forty-nine percent.

A particular downfall is the film’s antagonist: Opal Koboi. This figure makes it seem as if the screenwriters remembered they needed a villain and scrambled to put together the most stereotypical bad guy possible. She is shrouded in darkness and uses a voice modulator. Her entire motivation is revenge and world domination, and she kidnaps a loved one to force the protagonist’s hand. She checks every box for a cartoonish supervillain, despite the adage well known among writers that a story is only as good as its villain. 

Viewed as a whole, “Artemis Fowl” is a mismatched attempt to adapt a well-loved series of novels. What was meant to launch a film series will likely fall flat, considering the less-than-glowing reviews by audiences. I would by no means recommend this film, unless one enjoys laughing at subpar cinema. I would highly recommend the books, however, regardless of how atrocious the film.