To say I loved the Artemis Fowl novel series growing up would be a massive understatement. I was completely absorbed by them. The stories were maybe not relatable because they are about a super-genius, under aged, Irish crime boss who discovered and manipulated a race of mythological creature but, they were and still are amazing books.
One of the main plot points and story arcs throughout the series is Lower Elements Police (LEP) captain Holly Short rising through a male dominated fairy police force (the LEPrecon). Her mentor is a stereotypical angry police commander by the name Julius Root. Holly fights her way to be the first female LEPrecon officer and it is a major point in the novel series. She is strong, independent and kicks all kind of ass on her adventures with Artemis. The problem comes in when the movie cast Dame Judi Dench in the role of Commander Root. Now Dame Judi Dench is a phenomenal actress, truly one of the best to ever perform on film, but it undermines Holly’s character arc. Seeing the trailers for the movie made me sad. I was excited for this adaptation but when the movie goes out of it’s way for fake inclusion and undermine a multi-novel spanning character arc it’s frustrating.
Maybe I’ll build the courage to watch it someday when the lock down has run me dry of entertainment but reading the reviews has made me leave it on the shelf since it dropped on Disney+ on June 12.
I tried watching it and couldn’t last more than 20 minutes. The beginning was way too slow for me and the mystical world they were trying to present didn’t keep me interested. It is honestly a good thing they had to put it out on Disney+ because otherwise, this film would’ve been a box office bomb.