Artemis Fowl
Watched on Disney+ streaming service June 13, 2020.
This comment was posted to Dan Murrell's June 12 video channel on June 13 - 14 2020
I, like probably thousands of others, bought Disney+ to see The Mandalorian. When I heard about this movie being made (seems SOOOOO long ago), I read the first (it's a series) book. It seemed like it would lend itself better to an animated series, but whatever, I had hope. Since I already pay for Disney+ I will satisfy my curiosity and watch Artemis Fowl, however my only liquid of choice will be a latte.
Just saw the movie. Without reading Book 1 (or its wiki), this movie is a mess story-wise. The editing is VERY choppy. I was shocked to see it was directed by Kenneth Branagh (#ReleaseTheBranaghCut) who is an expert director and actor so it is hard to believe that he had no control over the final cut. In an alt-Earth world of Hollywood legalities who knows. My final impression is that Artemis Fowl is not a movie, it is all the illustrations ripped out of the book turned into video images. One is left with interesting images, but no story. Josh Gad's "Hagrid-lite" did not bother me. I had rather imagined him with a deep gravelly voice when I read the novel. The characters were definitely "softened" in their temperaments which weakened their presentations on screen. However the actors themselves seemed to be doing a decent job with the material they had. Too bad, this could have been a great Netflix (or of course Disney) series. Sad.
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I only read Book 1. Basically the movie is only illustrations (aka unconnected scenes) from the novel with none of the world building and strong personalities. Artemis Fowl (the main character) has undergone a transformation from sociopathic genius to a slightly on the spectrum genius with strong loyalties to his father and a few new friends. Perhaps that is how his character evolves in the book series? The actors all tried, but the movie is a choppy mess. The most shocking thing to me about this movie is that Kenneth Branagh is the director. I know that Jeremy Jahns was joking, but seriously I would love to see the Branagh cut.
