In Artemis Fowl, director Kenneth Branagh (Murder on the Orient Express) attempts to bring the highly successful young adult novel by Eoin Colfer to the screen. Unfortunately, his direction is uneven, and the sheer volume of the world he needed to create overwhelms the characters; the script by Conor McPherson (The Eclipse) and Hamish McColl (Paddington) seems determined to rush from point to point.
Artemis Fowl, Jr. (Ferdia Shaw) is a 12-year-old genius trapped in a world that never seems to be able to keep up with him. His only respite is the few moments when his father (Colin Farrell) has time at home and regales Artemis with tales of the faerie world. Artemis is old enough to think these are just stories, but when someone kidnaps his father, he finds that they are all too real. He must enlist the aid of both human and faerie to recover an artifact that will secure his father's release.
The premise is a good one, definitely appealing to the young adult audience. But the story as written for the screen never manages to come together fully. The narration seems like a sloppy way to fit the film into a preconceived running time rather than dedicate a few extra minutes to the scenery. The point of the narration is evident by the end, but the script would be better if it had merely opened and closed with these scenes.
The direction is jagged, a surprise from the seasoned Branagh, and this is made clear through the performances of the actors. There is rarely enough to make the audience care about the characters to become fully immersed. The action moves between scenes in a somewhat chaotic manner, concentrating more on moments than a cohesive flow. Despite the best efforts of the performers, they seem constrained by a vision only the director, and perhaps the scriptwriter understood.
It is unusual to note that even Dame Judi Dench's performance is wooden. Given this, it is no surprise that the other performances never seem to make a connection to the audience. The exception is Josh Gad, who after a rough start in a rushed introduction, manages a fine turn as a petty criminal integral to the plot.
If it weren't for the CGI and other special effects, this film would be quickly forgotten. But as beautifully rendered as these are, many of the scenes are so brief that the audience cannot fully appreciate them. This is most notable in the faerie realm, where all the intended majesty and beauty become mere background noise.
Artemis Fowl is mildly entertaining fare, but anyone who views it shouldn't anticipate anything as magnificent as Branagh's forays into Shakespeare. While he usually delivers a banquet, instead this time, he lays an egg.