By Monique
Let’s watch the trailer and then let’s talk. To be fair: What I have to say might be brief since me and Artemis Fowl are…whatever.
So what’s my beef with Artemis Fowl? Well, it’s not really a beef. It’s just that I tried reading the books during the series’ heyday, which was around the same time Harry Potter was still going strong. I couldn’t get past the first chapter of the first book. Even though I was intrigued by the conceit–a child criminal who kidnaps and extorts magical creatures of the underworld–I just couldn’t get past the writing. For some reason, it was boring to me. That’s just my opinion; I’m sure the author, Eoin Colfer, is a wonderful author. Clearly, he’s got a creative mind.
On a related note, I’ve been waiting for this movie for like…a decade. News of an Artemis Fowl movie has been around since I was reading the last Harry Potter books. Website io9 has 2013 as one of the most recent years Artemis Fowl has been floating around as a film idea, but I definitely remember hearing about rumors way before then. But for the longest, no one could seemingly get the Artemis Fowl film to work, leaving me to think my original feelings about the book–being a great, inventive idea that is hard to nail down–might have been true.
Fast forward to the seemingly-improbable day of finally getting an Artemis Fowl film trailer. Maybe it’s because 1) I haven’t read the books and 2) I have no personal connection to the book series, but…I don’t mind this trailer?
I mean, Artemis Fowl fans, please let me know what you think about this, since I really have no clue about the books except for that first chapter. All I know about is the boy, his butler, and the fairy they’re trying to find or whatever. But to me, it seems like the movie might be trying to make all of the series’ disparate parts make some type of sense. And it has Nonzo Anozie and Hong Chau in it, so…that’s cool.
Or, it could be that we have another A Wrinkle in Time on our hands. That film was also based on an unfilmable book, and the film was trash. I’m sorry if you liked it, but that’s just my brutal opinion on it. In fact, you can read all of the emotions I struggled with in my SlashFilm review. In any case, Radiohead was an inspired choice for the trailer.
I don’t know what we’ve got here. But all I can say is that I’m intrigued by it. What do you think? Give your opinions in the comments section below.
Julian 