"Just like many book-to-movie adaptations before it, the Artemis Fowl movie leaves the viewer with nothing but rage and confusion." -- Rose Arum, 10th grade
Published in 2001 by Irish author Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl is an eight part book series following our title character, Artemis Fowl, as he discovers the fairy People, a civilization of creatures based off of myths and folklore and slowly befriends them while also saving the world multiple times in the process. The books are so well written and entertaining to read that it's a wonder they’re not more widely known. If you were to ask anyone what Hogwarts house they are, chances are they’d reply instantly but if you ask someone their favorite Artemis Fowl character, they stare at you like you’re crazy and go, “the goddess??” Really, it’s quite frustrating that everyone knows who their godly parent is but no one knows who Holly Short is. And those who do know are so few that finding someone even online is a struggle.
The Artemis Fowl books are wonderfully written and are not afraid of diving into dark, heavy topics that may not be so “suitable” for a children’s book. I won’t go too into details to avoid spoilers, but Eoin Colfer writes characters you’re sure to get attached to and then rips them away from you like a strip of velcro on a shoe. I don’t make it a habit of getting personally attached to fictional beings, but the way Colfer writes his characters, I can’t help but cry whenever they do.
So, when Disney announced an Artemis Fowl trailer back in 2019, you can bet your shoes that the fandom was pumped. An Artemis Fowl movie? By Disney? This could NOT get any better. And. . .it didn’t. Due to COVID, the movie was unable to play in theaters so Disney had to upload it directly to it’s streaming platform, Disney+.
Alas, we were naive to think that Disney would make a good book-to-film adaptation, disappointing as it may be. It was quite a dark day for the fowldom, I'll tell you that. As you may know, rarely is a live action movie adaptation of a book series ever good, mainly because you’re trying to fit an entire series worth of character arcs, growth and exposition into one 90 minute movie. Not possible, that’s for sure. The characterization of Artemis from the book to the screen was all wrong; I almost threw the remote at the TV multiple times. Book Artemis was said to be modeled after a Bond villain and the author’s own brother (how flattering!), but his movie adaptation is nothing close to that. Artemis was downgraded from a cool and collected twelve year old criminal mastermind who was always one step ahead to a brainless child who was desperate to save his father and didn’t know how to plan ahead.
This disappointed the fandom, who was so excited to see their child genius brought to life and was instead greeted with a cocky surfer boy. Where were the plans? Where was the witty dialogue and snappy comebacks? Where were the lollipops? Our expectations were low, but the movie kidnapped a dwarf and made him burrow even deeper below the bar. The dialogue, the characterization, the actors. The movie spoon fed us information like we were too stupid to come to our own assumptions as to what was happening right in front of us (“Disney’s ARTEMIS FOWL is a Complete Disgrace | Cynical Reviews”, YouTube).
And the characters? Don’t even get me started.
One of the main characters, Holly Short, is a very determined and reckless elf. Her personality is of someone who will do whatever it takes to help her people, even if it gets her in trouble. But in the movie? She’s a ditzy elf who gets herself captured and doesn’t do anything to help herself but complain. And her superior officer, Commander Root, was a misogynistic elf who didn’t see Holly as deserving of her position as the Lower Elements Police’s first female elf. Throughout the course of the books, we see that Root secretly sees her as his own daughter and that’s why he’s always so hard on her; so she can learn and be better than she was the day before. But in the movie? Root’s an old white lady. WHAT. No offense to Judi Dench, but how are we supposed to get character growth now? How are we supposed to feel the familial bond these two characters have? How are we supposed to get anything if Root is also a woman and thus will have already gone through the misogyny and hardships that Holly should have gone through but will never go through now? Now that Commander Root is also a woman and will most likely have a bias for Holly instead of against her, we'll never see these two grow. The movie’s writing totally missed the mark on the characters and is nothing like it’s source material.
The Artemis Fowl books are books for all ages, and they introduce you to a world of magic, crime, and genius. The movie did the books no justice and is honestly a blemish to the wonderful world of Artemis Fowl.
Article Sources:
Artemis Fowl Review by Cynical Reviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suDYfQSqPSo
Ice-cool Artemis by Julia Eccleshare
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jun/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview43
Picture Source:
www.freep.com
The Artemis Fowl books are wonderfully written and are not afraid of diving into dark, heavy topics that may not be so “suitable” for a children’s book. I won’t go too into details to avoid spoilers, but Eoin Colfer writes characters you’re sure to get attached to and then rips them away from you like a strip of velcro on a shoe. I don’t make it a habit of getting personally attached to fictional beings, but the way Colfer writes his characters, I can’t help but cry whenever they do.
So, when Disney announced an Artemis Fowl trailer back in 2019, you can bet your shoes that the fandom was pumped. An Artemis Fowl movie? By Disney? This could NOT get any better. And. . .it didn’t. Due to COVID, the movie was unable to play in theaters so Disney had to upload it directly to it’s streaming platform, Disney+.
Alas, we were naive to think that Disney would make a good book-to-film adaptation, disappointing as it may be. It was quite a dark day for the fowldom, I'll tell you that. As you may know, rarely is a live action movie adaptation of a book series ever good, mainly because you’re trying to fit an entire series worth of character arcs, growth and exposition into one 90 minute movie. Not possible, that’s for sure. The characterization of Artemis from the book to the screen was all wrong; I almost threw the remote at the TV multiple times. Book Artemis was said to be modeled after a Bond villain and the author’s own brother (how flattering!), but his movie adaptation is nothing close to that. Artemis was downgraded from a cool and collected twelve year old criminal mastermind who was always one step ahead to a brainless child who was desperate to save his father and didn’t know how to plan ahead.
This disappointed the fandom, who was so excited to see their child genius brought to life and was instead greeted with a cocky surfer boy. Where were the plans? Where was the witty dialogue and snappy comebacks? Where were the lollipops? Our expectations were low, but the movie kidnapped a dwarf and made him burrow even deeper below the bar. The dialogue, the characterization, the actors. The movie spoon fed us information like we were too stupid to come to our own assumptions as to what was happening right in front of us (“Disney’s ARTEMIS FOWL is a Complete Disgrace | Cynical Reviews”, YouTube).
And the characters? Don’t even get me started.
One of the main characters, Holly Short, is a very determined and reckless elf. Her personality is of someone who will do whatever it takes to help her people, even if it gets her in trouble. But in the movie? She’s a ditzy elf who gets herself captured and doesn’t do anything to help herself but complain. And her superior officer, Commander Root, was a misogynistic elf who didn’t see Holly as deserving of her position as the Lower Elements Police’s first female elf. Throughout the course of the books, we see that Root secretly sees her as his own daughter and that’s why he’s always so hard on her; so she can learn and be better than she was the day before. But in the movie? Root’s an old white lady. WHAT. No offense to Judi Dench, but how are we supposed to get character growth now? How are we supposed to feel the familial bond these two characters have? How are we supposed to get anything if Root is also a woman and thus will have already gone through the misogyny and hardships that Holly should have gone through but will never go through now? Now that Commander Root is also a woman and will most likely have a bias for Holly instead of against her, we'll never see these two grow. The movie’s writing totally missed the mark on the characters and is nothing like it’s source material.
The Artemis Fowl books are books for all ages, and they introduce you to a world of magic, crime, and genius. The movie did the books no justice and is honestly a blemish to the wonderful world of Artemis Fowl.
Article Sources:
Artemis Fowl Review by Cynical Reviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suDYfQSqPSo
Ice-cool Artemis by Julia Eccleshare
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jun/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview43
Picture Source:
www.freep.com
