I’ve anticipated this film since its announcement. Artemis Fowl was a book that excited me since I saw a promotional video at a book fair, and eventually I got to read it from a library. I loved the books and thought it would make a great movie adaptation. When I saw the recent trailers, I was confused by the shift in tone they were going for. While many seem to not like this film, I do think it will do better with certain age ranges. The film certainly doesn’t seem to capture the tone of the books but is an imaginative story.

The film starts out with the press on the lawn of the Fowls. We receive narration from Mulch Diggums (Josh Gad). We see that Mulch has been taken into an interrogation room of some sort. We then start to learn about Artemis Fowl (Ferdia Shaw) and his rather dismissive nature of everyone except his father. Artemis Fowl Sr. (Colin Farrell) reveals he must go off on a business trip again. Soon after Artemis receives a call that his father has been abducted and that he must deliver an item called the Aculos to trade for his father’s safety.

We’re introduced to officer Officer Holly Short (Lara McDonnell). She has been trying to solve the mystery of the disappearance of her father for years. She is part of a police force for magical creatures known as LEP (Lower Elements Police). Holly goes to a tree to investigate only to have Artemis and Domovoi Butler (Nonso Anozie) ambush her. Holly wakes up in a cage. Artemis has a plan to find the Aculos that he can’t accomplish without Holly”s help. LEP launches a full-scale recon mission to retrieve Holly. The standoff escalates as Artemis attempts to meet the kidnapper’s deadline.

I did enjoy this film, but the changes that were made from the books are hard to handle. Since seeing the film I’ve seen old trailers that suggest they were going in a different direction at some point. They seemed to have decided between a PG-13 film and this PG rating. The characters likewise do things differently creating a different feel to the plot. If you know little to nothing about the books, I think you could enjoy this movie for the fantasy adventure it is.

Ryan