Artemis Fowl isn't the first Disney+ original movie since the streaming service launched, but it is the most high-profile.
Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Eoin Colfer's popular book series was set for a cinema release in May, before Disney decided to skip cinemas and release it straight to Disney+ due to the current global situation.
Related: How to watch Artemis Fowl for FREE on Disney+
After numerous delays to the adaptation, that was seen by many as the death knell for Artemis Fowl, and given that Disney had decided to delay its other 2020 blockbusters, unfortunately that seems to be the case.
Artemis Fowl will likely annoy fans of the book series with its changes, while newcomers won't find anything they haven't seen before and will struggle to see what the fuss is all about.
For the criminal mastermind's first big-screen outing, the movie blends together the first two books of the series.
Artemis Fowl (newcomer Ferdia Shaw) isn't quite the criminal mastermind we meet in the first book. He's just a know-it-all who doesn't need school, and who, in a change from the books, has lost his mother and has a father (Colin Farrell) who constantly leaves him alone at home with family bodyguard Butler (Nonso Anozie).
This all changes when his father is captured by a fairy who is looking to reclaim the Aculos, a magical item that his father has been protecting.
Artemis is soon thrown into the hidden world of the fairies as he has to concoct a plan that involves kidnapping a fairy and a kleptomaniac dwarf in order to retrieve the Aculos and save his father.
After the official trailer came out in March, Artemis Fowl fans were concerned that the movie adaptation had changed Artemis into a bit of a good guy and not the anti-hero criminal mastermind from the books.
It's a rare occasion where outcry over a trailer has proven to be justified, as this Artemis has certainly been softened in his big-screen debut.
He's less aloof and his motivation has changed entirely. Artemis is only doing the 'bad' things – such as kidnapping Holly Short – to save his father, who he refuses to believe is a "criminal", possibly because the movie softens his father's criminal edge too. In the books, the Fowls are crooks of long standing.
Artemis is a less interesting and blander lead character as a result, no different to numerous other young fantasy leads thrown into a mysterious world.
This extends to his relationship with Holly Short (Lara McDonnell) which is less antagonistic than in the books.
Yes, Artemis kidnaps Holly and they work together as in the book, but they do it willingly here and not grudgingly. It further robs the movie of an edge and will lead to complaints that Artemis Fowl has been Disneyfied.
It's no fault of the young leads that Artemis and Holly aren't as engaging as they are on the page. They get the most out of the material that they can, but their relationship and character arcs have just been seen too often before.
The movie's problem is that despite the family-friendly changes, it hasn't exactly turned it into a fun fantasy romp, like the central premise of "Die Hard with fairies" should be when the main heist of the movie kicks in.
There are some inventive time antics with the well-realised time-stop (especially in an early wedding scene, straight from the book), but the set pieces are otherwise fairly run-of-the-mill and land with some mixed CGI results.
Josh Gad provides much-needed levity and roguish charm as Mulch Diggums though, even if his growly accent takes some getting used to.
However, the movie is otherwise a fairly dour affair where the biggest laugh (unintentionally?) comes from Judi Dench saying "top of the morning" in a gruff Northern Irish accent.
Branagh certainly keeps things ticking at a fast pace, but there is evident cutting on offer to keep the runtime down to 90-odd minutes.
The movie is framed as though Mulch is telling the story from an interrogation room, and this feels like it exists purely to set up the next scene due to something else having been left on the editing room floor.
This is especially during the first half when Artemis is just discovering the truth about his father and working out the fairy world.
From the trailers, it looked like Artemis was set to visit Ho Chi Minh City (as in the first book), with Hong Chau playing a fairy he meets. This sequence is completely absent from the final version, with the gap filled by some voiceover and Artemis looking at books.
There's also no sign of Miranda Raison as Artemis' mother as originally announced, with Farrell taking the parental role in the movie. It's unclear if she'd have appeared in flashbacks or been alive as in the first book.
There's likely a longer, and perhaps more book-faithful, version out there of Artemis Fowl, and it's a disappointment not to have seen it given how this cut ended up.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect though is that the movie blatantly sets up a sequel and leaving this movie feeling incomplete, a bit like The Golden Compass when it tried the same.
It's a dangerous gamble to take as it's hard to see book fans taking to this version of Artemis Fowl.
Artemis Fowl is now available to watch on Disney+.
![Disney Princess Complete Collection Box set [DVD] [2019]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1622032939-51jLSXD3BBL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=320%3A%2A "Disney Princess Complete Collection Box set [DVD] [2019]")
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