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Friday, October 8, 2021

Artemis Fowl (2020)


Artemis Fowl is very loosely based upon the novel of the same name, keeping only some of its concepts and themes.  Artemis is a young boy who is extremely gifted, and he has been brought up by his loving father on stories of fairies.  When his father is kidnapped and is held for ransom for a fairy artifact, Artemis must engage in the fairy world in order to save him.  The fairies has been living in secret underground for all this time and has highly advanced technology.  Thus Artemis quickly brushes up on fairy knowledge and devises a plan to take on the fairies, find the artifact and save his father.  Unfortunately, the execution is terrible, and is a far cry from the novel.  The movie does not take the time to build on the relationships between the characters.  We're expected to suddenly believe that Artemis can trust and become friends with the fairies in one scene when nothing has happened to even suggest that.  The "ingenious" plan that was concocted by Artemis and unfolded with perfectly is terrible, with no explanation given on how Artemis even managed to prepare for it, as well as why.  All the characters fall flat and we're are supposed to care for them?  Artemis was a great character from the novels because he was an anti-hero and that it took time in order for him to become less selfish, but this film butchers that, and everything else in the novels.  Everything about the movie is weak and incoherent, save yourself the time as it is a very flawed piece of work.
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