Artemis Fowl - A Messy Story Telling Sadly Ruined the Chance of New Supposedly Entertaining Franchise based on Successful Novel Series

I registered for the new streaming service Disney+ which was only activated yesterday in the hope of watching a much anticipated live version movie of Mulan. However that movie was not available yet. Although I felt a bit disappointed, but at least there were other movies and series that I could watch which were not available at other streaming service providers. This was one such movie that I watched last night. OK, here's more details.

Brief Story Line

A 12 year old boy named Artemis Fowl Jr (Ferdia Shaw) was shocked when his father Artemis Fowl Sr (Colin Farrell - Dumbo live version, In Bruges etc) was kidnapped and held for ransom. Together with his trusted butler Domovoi (Nonso Anozie - RocknRolla etc) and Dom's young niece Juliet (Tamara Smart), Artemis had to find a mysterious "weapon" called the Aculos. What amazed him was the fact that Aculos was related to the Irish fairy tales his father told him and they were very real. There were indeed fairies, dwarves, goblin and even centaurs. 

Meanwhile, in the Haven city where fairies lived without the knowledge of humans, a young fairy named Holly Short (Lara McDonnel) was given her first ever task by the leader Commander Root (Judi Dench - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Shakespeare in Love etc). As the Aculos was missing, the fairies were trying their best to find it as well. Later with the help from an over-sized dwarf named Mulch Diggums (Josh Gad - A Dog's Journey, Beauty and the Beast etc), Holly and the fairies went head to head with Artemis who was trying to save his father.

So how would the story conclude? You can see it for yourself .

End of Brief Story Line

Well this movie was a bit confusing at first. To be honest, I did not know what to expect as I never saw the trailer and the synopsis was very brief. The first 20-25 minutes where the main plot was introduced still somehow felt a bit rushed. I think the story telling was a bit messy and did not provide a proper background story and it did not give an exciting feeling as well. It was fairly disappointing seeing that the movie was directed by Kenneth Branagh who has directed (and starred) in big movies plus nominated for various awards too. Luckily after a while I could understand the story better.

From what I understand, the movie was based on a novel of the same title written by Eoin Colfer which was a huge hit and had spawned into series. Understandably it was the reason for making it into a movie and no doubt with the hope of creating a new franchise. However, as the critics and audiences did not receive the film too kindly, the chance of having sequels was very unlikely. Even for me who is generally open minded was not really satisfied with how the movie was made.

I believe that for a novel to be successful, the way the story told must have been very good. I suspect that the writers tried their best to make it within 95 minutes which probably was too short. And sorry to say, the lead cast Ferdia Shaw did not seem to have real star power. A lot of young newcomer who was able to bring the story to life and excitement, but sadly he did not seem to do it well enough. Colin Farrell was more like a support cast and did not give too much impression. Even Judi Dench felt like she was a bit reluctant to show her acting quality. The other famous name for me was Josh Gad, though I could not recognize him behind the makeup and he did give a bit fun scene, even if it was very rare. The rest were not impressive either.

The special effects were quite abundant and some of them (contrary to some critics' opinion) were pretty awesome. They were one of the few highlights of the movie. I noticed from the very long closing credits (which did not have any mid or post end credit scene) that the visual effects were done by so many people and would explain the hefty production budget of > USD 100 million. Another point that I like was the background music which to me was exciting and fun at the same time. Oh I also quite enjoyed the scene in Owl's manor that was probably the best part. My wife who caught a glimpse of those scenes also said they looked entertaining. 

Overall this film was quite mediocre for me. There were certain factors that I did not enjoy (like the messy story telling, convoluted plot, the not too impressive lead star) but there were parts that I did like such as certain exciting scenes, good background music and some of the special effects. However, it did not give the satisfaction I would generally have after watching a Disney movie. So if you happen to look for a wonderful fantasy adventure Disney movie, this one did not really fit into the category. But if you still want to enjoy some cool special effects in a fantasy genre, there might be some things you would like in here. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars