Artemis Fowl
disney +
Adapting a beloved piece of youth literature is a risky game and in many instances these adaptions fall flat and are quickly forgotten. Disney themselves saw this in their 2018 film A Wrinkle in Time, but still decided to take another crack at it with Artemis Fowl. Directed by Kenneth Branagh and based on a popular children's series of books of same name by Eoin Colfer, the film follows Artemis Fowl II (Ferdia Shaw) who sets out to save his father (Colin Farrell) with the help of his father’s assistant Dom (Nonso Anozie). The two quickly learn that another world of magic and fantasy beyond our own exists and the only way they can complete their mission is by acquiring a powerful artifact known as the Aculous from a civilization of fairies.
Of the many issues which plague Artemis Fowl, none stick out quite as bad as the acting. With a cast including the likes of Judi Dench and Josh Gad, it is reasonable to expect at least some level of entertainment value which would be achieved by playing into the simplest strengths of these actors. Instead, the film takes what should be straight forward performances and turns them on their head forcing most to give raspy deep voices that stand out for all the wrong reasons. It is so unnatural to see Judi Dench try to give a performance like this and takes away any chance of these performances working. Josh Gad especially is caught in the middle as he must balance this with his normal wacky over the top comedy which tears his performance apart. Where the experienced actors had it hard, it is Ferdia Shaw who sadly gives the worst performance in the film. It is always hard to judge youth performances but there is no way around the performance Shaw gives as the main character of the film. He constantly comes off either confused or annoying as he tries to encapsulate the child mastermind who he is portraying. This is a hard performance to pull off which needs charisma and control, two things that Shaw was clearly missing.
The technical elements of the film also fail to impress, despite the hefty £125 million budget Disney pumped into the picture. The CGI where passable, really lacks in multiple places often feeling empty and of lower quality. There are multiple set-pieces that feel out of place and it never feels like any of the CGI elements of the film truly are there or are even memorable from a conceptual standpoint. The weaker visuals are even further exposed in the action scenes where the film takes on a chaotic approach, attempting to create dynamic fights only to fail horribly. These fights are so unnatural and lack any weight due to the toxic combination of the cinematography from Haris Zambarloukos and the editing from Matthew Tucker which does more to confuse and bore the audience than anything else.
Where the acting and visuals of Artemis Fowl might have stood out as particularly bad compared to expectations, the one element of the film that sadly met expectations was the screenplay from Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl. After A Wrinkle in Time, it was expected that this would be another mess and it is even far worse than the previously mentioned film. Not only is the film void of any meaningful depth or message (something at least A Wrinkle in Time had going for it), but the actual plot makes no sense. As the film dives headfirst into the world of fantasy and magic the audience quickly loses their ability to follow along and understand how each character comes to various conclusions. Characters very rarely act logically and while the movie tries to pass it off with Artemis being as smart as he is meaning he can get around some plot points, it ultimately fails to save much of the film.
Overall the film is ultimately a disaster, however, the one saving grace for Disney is that they pulled the planned theatrical release for the film and instead released it on Disney+. Here it will quickly fall into the depths of the streaming service, saving Disney from an embarrassing theatrical release. Disney’s attempt at adapting this beloved book series is yet again another example of a seemingly great idea executed poorly, of which the end result will only leave those fans who have been waiting eagerly for this day utterly disappointed.
ARTEMIS FOWL is available to stream exclusively on DISNEY + from June 12th
More thoughts on ARTEMIS FOWL from Carson and the team can be heard on Episode 2 of CLAPPERCAST
