Artemis Fowl (2020 Film) Review
The son of criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl I, Artemis Fowl II is a highly intelligent and skilled Irish youth who must team up with his servant, a fairy, and a giant dwarf to rescue his father from another fairy, who seeks a powerful item that the Fowl family has stolen.
Ferdia Shaw stars as Artemis Fowl II while Colin Farrell plays his father, Artemis Fowl I. Lara McDonnell plays Holly Short, an 84-year-old fairy and reconnaissance officer of the Lower Elements Police (LEPrecon). Josh Gad plays a giant dwarf, Mulch Diggums, while Nonso Anozie plays the Fowl family's faithful "butler," Domovoi "Dom" Butler. Judi Dench plays Holly's 802-year-old commanding officer, Julius Root, and Hong Chau (uncredited) provides the voice of Opal Koboi, the pixie who kidnaps Artemis's father.
Kenneth Branagh directed and co-produced "Artemis Fowl," with Judy Hofflund serving as the other co-producer. Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl wrote the script, which is based on Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl." Disney+ distributed the film.
Overall Thoughts
Kenneth Branagh has a talent for making films with such intricate sets and costumes, and casting great actors who bring an authentic theatricality to the moviegoing experience. So the true question of "Artemis Fowl" is not whether its hero will rescue his father, but how all these qualities managed to escape this largely flat and superficial film.
Now, I'm aware of the Eoin Colfer books. I read "Artemis Fowl" about a year ago, but I don't think much of it. It's a good book with decent fantasy elements to it, I suppose, but I was really hoping that, considering his great talents, Kenneth Branagh could use his abilities to make something more remarkable. Unfortunately, "Artemis Fowl" is yet another one of those fantasy novel film adaptations that lacks much of a visual identity. Instead of trying to flesh-out its fantasy world, the filmmakers assume we know what dwarves, goblins, and fairies are, so they spend very little time trying to develop their own take on them and thus, they make little of an impression. "Artemis Fowl" is a film that presents the bare minimum and expects us to be captivated by its "wonder," and sometimes it prevents even less than that. Certain fantasy elements here are downright sloppy and lazy, whether it's a goblin wearing a t-shirt and hoodie or a mythical book simply titled "The Irish Fairy Book." How interesting.
For someone built up as hyper-intelligent, Artemis Fowl II, played by Ferdia Shaw, very rarely comes across as a mastermind of any kind. He has the prerequisite scene early on where he disproves the knowledge of an authority figure, but going forward, he often behaves like a typical privileged kid. Hardly anything shown about Fowl Jr. indicates that he's a tween beyond his years. Had he reacted to certain events differently - particularly the disappearance of his father - his intelligence may have seemed clear. As he stands, there wasn't much intelligence or maturity to the character. Shaw's performance hardly registers. To be fair, the problem with Fowl is more the writing, not the actor. Shaw successfully has one tender moment between him and his butler, but it has little consequence because there is no consequence in this movie. Death is all but final in this world. People can be brought back to life at will, so there's nary a reason to get invested into anything.The story of "Artemis Fowl" is told to us mostly through narration from Josh Gad's character, Mulch Diggums, although the film makes the common mistake of a character telling us events that he couldn't possibly be aware of. Don't worry, that's the least of its problems. At this stage in his career, Gad is a considerable part of Disney, voicing Olaf in the "Frozen" films and playing LeFou in the 2017 "Beauty and the Beast" remake. In "Artemis Fowl," it doesn't take long before his character's literal gravely personality soon switches to the actor playing himself. He does have a good line here and there, but Gad can't help feeling too familiar that it keeps him from becoming a different character. Speaking of gravelly things, Dame Judi Dench, a treasure of this earth, is reduced to a demeaning role in which she talks with the most obnoxious gravelly voice, one that would make Batman himself say, "That's a bit much."
Running a little longer than ninety minutes, "Artemis Fowl" feels rushed. Characters hate each other, then suddenly trust each other, and then become friends all in a matter of minutes, it seems. The messy fantasy elements ultimately conflict with the father and son story. Because we spend so much time on pointless fairy drama, we hardly see Fowl Jr. interact with Fowl Sr., so it's no surprise that we're unable to form any sort of connection. It's not even that the film is too short to take too much time establishing a connection. Any film can do a lot with a few seconds, but the film, it seems, is content wasting its own time. The action is uneventful, the effects are hodgepodge, and the score, courtesy of the great Patrick Doyle, disappoints. Much of the Celtic style Doyle has here sounded like a rip-off of his score from the Pixar film, "Brave." Other aspects aren't memorable, which isn't as severe, but considering Doyle's catalogue, it's noticeable when he doesn't deliver.
"Artemis Fowl" has some decent cinematography. Kenneth Branagh knows how to direct the camera, so there are some admirable long shots following characters through various locations. For all its flaws, the film didn't anger me. I was just bored. So bored, in fact, that I wrote about half of this review while watching the movie. Oh, I finished the film alright, but I can't say it was worth it. There are a few things I liked about it, but then again, there are few things I liked about it. Though "Artemis Fowl" reserves story threads for future sequels, I think it's for the best if the rest of the Fowl family's adventures remain on the page.
Rating: ★½
Conclusion
This has been my review of "Artemis Fowl." I hope you enjoyed it. Have you seen the film? If you have, share your thoughts in the comments below. I'm Dallin, your resident film fanatic, and I'll return soon with another review. Thank you for reading.
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