Watching Disney's Artemis Fowl reminded me of Percy Jackson and the Olympians:The Lightning Thief, another infamous adaptation based on the first installment of a well-known book series. Neither did a proper job of adapting its source material; heavily changing the main story and leaving out crucial elements from the book.
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| Artemis, Holly and Butler in the Graphic novel. |
The first Artemis Fowl book centered on the titular criminal mastermind who knows of the existence of fairies; a hidden society of elves, centaurs, goblins, and dwarfs possessing magical abilities and technological advances. Fowl succeeds in capturing an elf named Captain Holly Short of the Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance (LEPrecon for short). Her people rush out to save her but understatement the 12-year old Irish boy who outsmarts them at every turn. Imagine my disappointment when the film decided not to adapt that story and is Disneyfied, for lack of a better word. Instead of being the main villain, Artemis (newcomer Ferdia Shaw) is now a wide-eyed loner and unexpected hero who must save the world and his father (Collin Farrell). To say this is a huge departure from the source material would be an understatement. Artemis in the book already knew the existence of fairies long before the first chapter. He is cunning, sadistic and has no trouble of getting what he desires. Think of him as a James Bond villain but now a child. Even in his villainous moments, he is still just a kid who misses his father (who is missing at the time of the first book) and cares for his delirious mother. A bold move on series author Eoin Colfer on having a young lead who is essentially the bad guy. It makes the character three-dimensional as we see who he is inside and out and his eventual redemption later in the series more satisfying. The movie ruins the character by making him every cliché hero you see in these types of stories of a kid discovering magical world.
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| Butler, Holly, Mulch and Artemis. |
That is just a fraction of the unnecessary changes and I haven't even mentioned the rest of the characters. Nonso Anozie has the size and personality to play Artemis' loyal bodyguard Butler, but doesn't capture his intimidating nature which would have helped if the film kept his intense duel with a troll in the book, showing how far he will go to protect young Artemis. Butler's plucky teenage sister Juliet who is just as strong as her older brother, is now his twelve-year-old-niece and a damsel in distress despite her demonstration as a capable fighter. Dame Judi Dench can't get a break after Cats, to show off her impressive acting abilities as seen in the Daniel Craig Bond films; it doesn't help that she speaks in the same hoarse voice as Christian Bale's Batman in playing Commander Root, head of the LEP. Her only highlight is when she uses her fairy weaponry in only one scene, which makes me miss the character's action-packed moments from the book and commanding presence.
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| Artemis Sr. and Artemis Jr. |
Then there is the inclusion of Artemis Fowl Sr., imagine if Sirius Black from Harry Potter was introduced in the first movie. That's how bad the story is off-balanced. In the books Artemis's father doesn't know that fairies exist, his son discovers the fairies on his own not because his father read him stories when he was young as shown in the movie. Artemis Sr. is important to Artemis Jr. but the only time he play's a critical role in the story is in the second book when he discovered to be alive and held captive by the Russian mob. It wouldn't surprise me if this baffling decision was last-minute as Collin Farrell did his scenes in only three days. Worst of all is killing off Artemis's mother who served as the heart and soul of Artemis in the book series, only for Disney to go with Disney cliché #2: mom is dead. I could go on and continue listing everything the movie left out or changed but I've ranted enough.
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| Commander Root. |
It's a shame that Kenneth Branagh who directed the best live-action Disney movie Cinderella, stayed true to its source material while adding elements of the Disney version. But with Artemis Fowl, he goes in the opposite direction in changing the story too much that it hardly resembles its source material or stand as a movie on its own. Had the movie stayed true to the book this could have been an enjoyable adaptation in the same vein of The Chronicles of Narnia. I understand that changes will be made but never go to the extreme. This isn't an animated film Disney where you can get away in changing the source material.
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| Artemis talking with his prisoner Holly. The few times the movie follows the book. A brilliant scene, if only the rest of the film was like this. |
My favorite character from the book Holly Short retains much of her spunk in the movie. Of the few moments when the movie is faithful to the book, we see Artemis succeed in capturing Holly and hold her prisoner. In those brief moments it felt like the book had come to life from seeing Artemis display his keen and scary intelligence and the rivalry he shares with Holly when they first meet and eventually team-up. Seeing the underground world of the fairies was another bright-spot as well as the transportation of how they travel to the surface world along with their high-tech gadgetry and Holly's fight with the troll.
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Seeing Mulch Diggums(Josh Gad), a kleptomaniac dwarf unhook his jaw and burrowing his way into the Fowl manor was another part that the movie perfectly translated along with his prison scene with the goblins. I can't say the same for his voice as like with Judi Dench, Gad's confounding croaks had me wishing for his Olaf voice. And the worst part is that he serves as the film's narrator.
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| Another brilliant scene taken from the first chapter, shown in the trailer but deleted from the film. |
On it's own, the movie is as one critic stated "harmless fluff." A dumb kids movie in the same vein of a Robert Rodriguez kids movie (the Spy Kids sequels, Sharkboy and Lava Girl, and Shorts). Artemis Fowl deserved better but I've seen worse (looking at you A Wrinkle in Time). There are hints of a good film but it's a missed opportunity.
Final Verdict: D+
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