Artemis Fowl was supposed to be released in theatres in 2020. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and changed the way movies were released. Disney decided to release Artemis Fowl on their Disney Plus streaming service instead. It was actually one of the first big releases for the platform.
How to Stream or Download Artemis Fowl
To stream or to download the movie from Google Play or iTunes, click on the Download button at the end of the review and check availability. If you like Disney live-action movies, read also our review of Mulan or Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
The Movie Review
This movie is based on a book, a book that is a fairly popular franchise. Disney had big plans for this and thought this would be the start of another smash hit franchise for them. Well, due to the movie not getting a theatrical release and the hammering it took from the critics, it looks like the world of Artemis Fowl is a one and done.
The movie is about the world of magic. We have a teenager called Artemis Fowl who is looking for his father who has been kidnapped by fairies. The Irish setting is pretty cool I guess and the movie does look fantastic. The idea of there being a secret world that has magic and strange creatures such as fairies and dwarves is pretty cool, I will admit.
While the main plot of the movie is Artemis Fowl trying to find his father there are a lot of moving pieces in this movie. He figures out who his father actually is, learns about the world of magic, and must try and stop this magic relic from getting into the wrong hands. The problem is, none of these moving pieces are actually interesting.
Artemis is not alone in his quest. He has a fairy “helper” called Holly, and Mulch who is this strange big dwarf with one of the most disgusting “powers” I have ever seen. For this movie, Disney did manage to get together a very solid cast. We have Kenneth Branagh as the director and he usually does a great job.
The cast includes some great talent. We have Colin Farrell, Josh Gad, and Judi Dench to name just a few. The main role of Artemis Fowl is played by Ferdia Shaw and I know it sounds harsh, but this kid is not good. As the main star of the movie, his performance feels very robotic and Artemis is a very unlikeable character with pretty much zero redeeming qualities going on!
It is one thing to have a main character that operates in a kind of grey area, but Artemis here is just unlikeable from the start. The whole cast is just very uninteresting and the worst thing of all about this movie is that it just drags on and on. While I liked the idea of this magical world and the aim of these magical creatures to keep it hidden.
While it was cool how Disney decided to release this movie on their streaming service. At the end of the day, Artemis Fowl is a massive dud and a real chore of a movie to sit through. It seems like this franchise is dead already and it would have been interesting to see just how well this movie would have done had it been able to be released in theatres.
