Eoin Colfer’s beloved classic has finally found its way to the big screen. Disney has released the official trailer for its Artemis Fowl adaptation, giving us a better look at Artemis Fowl II (Ferdia Shaw), Artemis Fowl I (Colin Farrell), Butler (Nonso Anozie), Holly Short (Lara McDonnell), Mulch Diggums (Josh Gad), Commander Root (Judi Dench), and Opal Koboi (to-be-revealed).
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The House in the Cerulean Sea
The original YA series, first published in the early 2000s, follows the adventures of the titular 12-year-old criminal mastermind, who becomes entangled with the Fairy world after kidnapping elf cop Holly Short for ransom. Based on the trailer, it looks like the film will be deviating quite a bit from book 1, establishing Mulch and Holly as allies from the get-go and bringing in plot elements from book 2, in which Artemis has to rescue his father from the Russian Mafia. The movie’s storyline will follow Artemis as he enlists the help of the Lower Elements Police (LEPrecon) to try and save his father, who’s both the target of an international manhunt and the hostage of evil fairy mastermind Opal Koboi.
You’ll notice that Opal’s face and voice are kept hidden throughout the trailer, and with her actor’s identity kept tightly under wraps, we’re sure it’s all leading up to a huge reveal when Artemis Fowl arrives in theaters May 29.
I read the books years ago as an adult, but I always thought of Artemis as a bit more geeky than James Bond, Jr. and, Diggums certainly wasn’t Hagrid. Lots of things hinted at that will annoy serious Fowl fans. I imagine they’ll take it as badly as the Perry Jackson fans did with that franchise disaster.
The whole point of the books is that Artemis Fowl was a criminal mastermind descended from a line of criminal masterminds. His initial interactions with the LEP were antagonistic. He wasn’t a hero from a line of heroes.
There’s adaptation and then there’s missing the point. Yeesh.
The trailer starts out establishing who Artemis is and his relationship with his father, where the book started a year after his father vanished.
OK, I tell myself, that’s a reasonable choice. The book was able to give us that with Artemis thoughts and references to the past. But, a movie needs to show things. It’s also establishing Artemis’ abilities, training, and intelligence. I’m good with it.
And his dad is being held by Opal, it looks like, instead of Russians.
Again, I suppose I can deal with that. She’s a main villain later. Bring her in from the start and have her be the threat. Given some real life violence, they might have felt it was a bad idea to have the protagonist kidnapping and threatening people.
Mulch’s interview.
Mulch is a criminal. Artemis is a criminal. I can see them working together. It happens later in the series. I’m all right with this.
And . . . Artemis’ dad already knew about fairies.
Uh. . . .
And worked with them.
I’m not sure about this. . . .
And Holly is a friendly ally without a trace of snark.
. . .
OK, it’s not the book. It’s its own thing. I’m still willing to give it a chance.
i always loved the fact that he began as a criminal and now he is saving the world
I’m always glad to see Mr Nonso Anozie given work (I keep hoping someone will have the nerve to FINALLY cast him as Henry VIII, but alas his nature as a Holbein ‘swagger portrait’ brought to life does not appear to have penetrated the casting director’s consciousness as yet), but have to admit that I’m completely innocent of any real awareness of the series on which this is based.
Please spare my blushes!