The (Unofficial) Fowlian Fandom

My Rant on the Artemis Fowl Movie (Two Years After it Came Out)

01/03/2022

Ooooh boy, this chapter is going to be FuN. eXtReMeLy So.

There are many things I found fault with the movie. So many bloody things. But let's go step by step, shall we?

I think, for me, the main issue that I had with this movie, is the fact that Artemis Fowl's character is ultimately fundamentally different than the way he originally was. It's common for directors to have their creative choices when making a movie based off of a book or book series, and usually, I don't hate these choices. For example, the Harry Potter movies were given a fair bit of criticism for the blatant plot changes that occurred. Funnily enough, the first movie was actually what made me fall in love with that whole series, and it's what finally encouraged me to read the books.

However, I don't appreciate changing an entire character's persona for a rather tangible reason. In the original series, Artemis is someone who is a cold and cunning antihero. He uses Machiavellian approaches to reach his goals, and this puts him greatly in the "morally grey area." Of course, there are some emotional aspects to him, shown throughout the course of the series, however, it does not change the fact that for the greater part, Artemis Fowl will use any means necessary to achieve what he has to.

Eoin Colfer, the author of the Artemis Fowl series himself has stated before that Artemis Fowl was modelled after a Bond villain. If that doesn't describe his persona to a "t," I don't know what does.

This persona is exactly what garnered as many readers as it did. The morally ambiguous antihero who is insanely intelligent and always ten steps ahead of anyone and everyone is exactly what made the series compelling. It's what made the fans so obsessed with it. (Me included)

During the production of the movie, someone, though it is still unclear as to who exactly it was, thought that Artemis's character was simply too complicated. This person further thought that the audience would simply be unable to handle a character such as Artemis Fowl.

This thought process in itself is hugely incorrect. There are plenty of morally ambiguous fictional characters that exist, and many people love them for this exact reason.

For example, in the same year that the Artemis Fowl movie was released, an anime by the name of "Fugou Keiji: Balance:Unlimited" was also released. It has two main characters, but for this rant, I will only specify one of them. Daisuke Kambe is an extremely wealthy and intelligent individual who uses his unlimited amount of money to achieve his goals easily. He does not vehemently care about the consequences of his actions as long as he reaches his goal. He also has Machiavellian approaches to the way he handles things. If you've seen the fanbase of this anime, you are aware of exactly how many people are invested in his character. I would go so far as to say that 99% of the fandom likes his character for this reason. He's morally in the grey area, but he's not an entirely unlikable character.

Another example would be Artezea (or Aristia depending on where you read this) from a manhwa (Korean comic) called "The Villainess Lives Twice." She is an insanely morally ambiguous character who schemes like hell and is pretty damn good at it too. She's constantly ten steps ahead of everyone, and also uses Machiavellian approaches to get what she needs to get. She isn't afraid to use people and isn't afraid of the consequences of her actions as long as she gets to where she needs to be. The majority of the fans' comments about this manhwa are how they can barely comprehend what on Earth Artezea plans, but all they know is that she is incredibly good at it.

Speaking of insanely morally ambiguous characters from manhwas, I absolutely have to mention Medea from "I Want to be You Just for a Day." In my opinion, Medea is one of the most morally ambiguous characters from any manhwa that I have ever read. She's skilled at many things. She is damn well aware of this fact. She uses it to her advantage. Medea is also quite like Artemis in many ways. I have found myself constantly in awe of the schemes she has made and it's all just incredible.

The point is, morally in the grey characters are not new to this world. The thing one should know however, is the fact that this actually makes the character even more likable. Something that whoever thought changing Artemis's persona didn't quite comprehend.

Because of this, Artemis's extraordinary persona was knocked down to a normal kid who wants to save his father.

The only morally ambiguous thing he did in the entire movie was kidnap Holly Short.

Also, unlike in the books where Artemis is thrust into the world of the fairies, he actively seeks them out in the movie, which to me was not appealing.

Now apart from the fact that the basic plot and character personas were changed, there were a lot of other things that fans who watched the movie disliked.

For example, people didn't like how the actor who played Holly Short was white when Holly was said to have "dark nut-brown" skin. Another thing fans disliked was the fact that Butler who was the only remotely Asian character in the series, was played by someone who wasn't Asian.

I'll be honest. The "creative" choices made in regards to who should play which character didn't seem that bad to me. I mean, yes, some details were changed, but these details were fine with me. I didn't dislike it, nor did I like it. I was simply neutral about the matter. For me, the main issues lied within the "creative" choices used in the plot.

Now, I'm going to be honest one more time. Some of you might even be a little pissed with me about this. Believe me, I might be as well if I was in your position.

The thing is, I have never read the Artemis Fowl books in my entire life. Something or the other came up and I just did not have a chance to read them. However, this doesn't mean that I had never wanted to read the series. The time was simply never right.

So, back in 2020, when the movie was released, I was super excited. I finally got the chance to get the Artemis Fowl experience even though I've never read the books. Now, by this time, I already knew the basis of what Artemis Fowl was about. Of course, I did my best to not spoil myself of any major (and also most minor) details.

Finally, I sat down and actually watched the movie. I remember being so confused throughout the course, because one, some details didn't match the ones I thought I knew, and two, the plot was just plain weird?

Then, I fell down this rabbit-hole.

I Googled all sorts of details about the Artemis Fowl series. I just thought "who knows when I'll get the chance to read the books? Besides, the movie doesn't seem that great, so it's fine if I spoil myself of the entire series.

This is how I have the majority of knowledge that I do about the whole Artemis Fowl series.

Honestly, I just find it astounding how someone who knew practically nothing about the series was still able to find the movie not appealing.

Anyways, that's pretty much the entire rant. Let me know what personal rants you guys have!

- Vera Lisle