Artemis Fowl Movie Review: A dull disappointment

Story: Based on the book series by Eoin Colfer, 12-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl II (Ferdia Shaw) must rescue his kidnapped father Artemis Fowl I (Colin Farrell) Review: Artemis Fowl II (Ferdia Shaw) is introduced to a world of fairies, dwarves, trolls and magic as soon as his father, Artemis Fowl I (Colin Farrell) is kidnapped. Along with his bodyguard, Domovoi Butler (Nonso Anozie), the young boy must find a way to work with these supernatural creatures to save his father. Since the book series has a dedicated fan base, lead Ferdia Shaw has big shoes to fill, and one of this film’s glaring issues is the young newcomer often struggles to be interesting. It’s not entirely the young actor’s fault – the film doesn’t seem to know how to position him. It’s an odd choice to depict the lead character differently from the books – Artemis Fowl II is meant to be an overconfident genius anti-hero. But, this version tries to make him a good kid with an attitude and fails. Additionally, Shaw’s inexperience becomes apparent when paired with almost any other actor in the cast, particularly Colin Farrell, who does a decent job of portraying his father. Although Josh Gad’s gruff voice takes some getting used to, his take on Mulch Diggums, a giant dwarf, brings some humour to the proceedings, which helps elevate an exposition-heavy script from boredom. In most cases, crucial information is delivered sloppily. Dame Judi Dench adds the bare minimum intensity to her role as Commander Julius Root of the Lower Elements Police, the smartly named ‘LEPRecon’. Meanwhile, Lara McDonnell is adequately charming as Holly Short, an elven officer, but there's little chemistry between her and Artemis.The film appears to be reassembled on the edit table in haste. Some crucial exchanges of dialogue take place without seeing the actors deliver them. This makes it harder to establish character development which adds up as the film progresses, especially when everything feels very rushed. If this is indicative of re-shoots, director Kenneth Branagh hasn’t done a stellar job of camouflaging them. ‘Artemis Fowl’ was stuck in Hollywood development hell for almost two decades. Since then, fantasy films have explored the mythologies of fairies, trolls and the like, so the only distinction this series could bring was to make its onscreen characters compelling. Unfortunately, it fails to do so across the board, and we’re left with a dull adaptation bound to disappoint fans of the book series, and unlikely to win any new ones.