Artemis Fowl
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date (Streaming): June 12, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
31
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
13
Negative:
18
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 11, 2020
Though it would have been lovely to take in the lavish set pieces and the cool CGI creations and the whiz-bang action sequences on the big screen, Artemis Fowl still plays well as a warm and funny and entertaining at-home family viewing experience. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 11, 2020
Rather than being a massive foul-up, Artemis Fowl is a sufficient spycraft fantasy that could benefit from the inevitable sequel, and Gad proves once again to be the Mouse House’s Dwayne Johnson, a rock-solid personality who makes everything around him better. Read full review
50
CNNBrian LowryJun 12, 2020
Artemis Fowl isn't an unqualified good egg, but it's perfectly adequate, and the best of the kid-friendly movies redirected to streaming by coronavirus -- a low bar, admittedly, after "Trolls World Tour" and "Scoob!" Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 12, 2020
Although the problem lies primarily in the difficulties associated with condensing an epic tale into a short-ish movie, the lack of elegance with which that is accomplished makes Artemis Fowl a failure for anyone hoping for the next great fantasy film. Read full review
50
Film ThreatAlan NgJun 11, 2020
Artemis Fowl is not a horrible film, but it had the potential to succeed, yet falls flat in the end. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 11, 2020
There are people who like movies like this, who like when a movie screen looks like their computer screen and who don’t mind when everything is fake, including the emotions. Artemis Fowl is a genre movie, and as such, it’s an OK version of the thing it is. I just can’t stand the thing it is. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyJun 11, 2020
One wonders if a director more playful than Kenneth Branagh might have come up with something less hectic and more fun — or even just as hectic and more fun. Taika Waititi, anyone? Jojo Rabbit is almost as odd a name as Artemis Fowl. Read full review
45
TheWrapSteve PondJun 11, 2020
While an energetic kids’ fantasy with cool creatures fighting each other is probably a reasonable win for Disney’s new premium service in these days before most theaters reopen, it’s hard to watch it as an adult and not wish for something that produced a little more magic of its own. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin CrustJun 11, 2020
This is not a “but the book was better” argument. It’s simply that by abandoning the original character and cobbling together broken story shards and spare parts, Branagh and company have produced something off an assembly line: safe, generic and utterly disposable. Read full review
40
Total FilmJordan FarleyJun 11, 2020
Without the darkness or depth of the Harry Potter movies, Artemis Fowl fails to find an audience over 10 years old Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 11, 2020
Josh Gad takes a valiant stab at landing some mostly groan-worthy humor, and Judi Dench has clearly put in a lot of hours scowling at green screens while wearing pointy ears and eye-catching emerald-green leprechaun army regalia (hey, at least it's not a cat suit). But this big-budget fantasy adventure from Disney is busy and exhausting. Read full review
40
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeJun 11, 2020
Rarely in the history of cinema has so much tortured exposition failed so completely to explain such an undistinguished plot. It is like trying to pick up the story through overheard conversations with nearby drinkers who have just emerged from a screening. Stop telling us stuff and do something! Read full review
40
IGNDavid GriffinJun 11, 2020
Disney's Artemis Fowl is an empty science fantasy tale with forgettable characters and an uninspired story. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 11, 2020
Images and characters bounce around like shapes on a screensaver and only McDonnell and Gad’s performances have any fizz. This is a YA-franchise by numbers. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O'HaraJun 11, 2020
An overqualified adult cast and some fun moments can’t entirely compensate for a defanged protagonist and too-static plot. This fantasy desperately needed a little more magic. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJun 12, 2020
It took 20 years for an Artemis Fowl movie to come out, and now that it’s here, the film itself feels like it’s in a hurry to be over already. Read full review
38
The Associated PressJake CoyleJun 11, 2020
For those who have spent the last few months hungering for a big-spectacle mess (they are, after all, a feature of summer moviegoering), now you can take in a big-budget flop from the comfort of your own home. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJun 11, 2020
The whole endeavor is a naked attempt to cash in on the young adult fantasy trend spearheaded by "Harry Potter." There have been many attempts to snatch the Potter crown (and purse) but Artemis Fowl will not be the hot new kiddie fantasy franchise, based on this utterly charmless first entry. Read full review
38
ObserverBrandon KatzJun 11, 2020
That the film is a mediocre product doesn’t matter nearly as much as the fact that Disney+ now has a shiny new big-budget spectacle to dangle in front of its core audience. Read full review
38
Slant MagazinePat BrownJun 11, 2020
Artemis Fowl concocts an adventure that requires its privileged hero to go virtually nowhere, physically or emotionally. As if he ordered it on Instacart, conflict is simply dropped off on his front stoop, and all he has to do is throw on some shoes and sunglasses to pick it up. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 11, 2020
A confusing, muddled, sloppy mess of bad intentions and worse execution. Read full review
33
IndieWireKate ErblandJun 11, 2020
And that, perhaps, is the easiest way to explain its overarching failure: In a film built on a bestselling eight-book series, filled with all manner of magical beings (including Colin Farrell), and rich in fairy tale history, the best scene is one in which its grating narrator farts on a passerby. You didn’t see that in the “Harry Potter” films, and for good reason. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubRoxana HadadiJun 11, 2020
Artemis Fowl, the first Disney movie to have its theatrical release completely scrapped because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is bland and incoherent, with paper-thin character development, unimaginative world building, and a lot of daddy issues. Read full review
30
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 12, 2020
The best way to handle this relentlessly nice movie that deserved a touch of nasty, is to enjoy the few flashes of what have been before the sheer heaviness of the production stomps out all the fun. Read full review
30
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJun 11, 2020
This is an earnest, half-baked fairy story drenched in a thick soup of CGI. It’s awkwardly staged, with turgid, expository dialogue that is appreciably tricky for a palpably ill-at-ease young cast to deliver Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 11, 2020
This fantasy flop is sunglasses-and-fake-mustache bad. Read full review
20
UproxxMike RyanJun 11, 2020
This is a movie that doesn’t care at all about character development. There’s no emotional investment whatsoever. Read full review
20
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJun 11, 2020
The end product is all but unfollowable, thanks either to a screenplay that was incoherent to begin with, or an edit so slicingly brutal that almost every trace of the plot’s connective tissue was chopped out. Read full review
20
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJun 11, 2020
Artemis Fowl is a complete disaster; a hectic mess of worldbuilding that tries to cram a big chunk of an eight-part book series into a movie that runs less than 90 minutes plus credits. From the look of the finished product, a large portion of the story (along with most of the characters’ motivations) were completely removed, leaving only the action sequences and special effects — neither of which are impressive or exciting enough to justify sitting through the film, even one as short as Artemis Fowl. Read full review
16
ConsequenceJosh SpiegelJun 12, 2020
You’ll only lose 90 minutes of your life to this misbegotten mess. Read full review
10
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreJun 12, 2020
The movie is so charmless and hopelessly incoherent that you might feel the need to consult Wikipedia afterward for some help on what it was even about. Read full review
10
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 11, 2020
What a waste. Screenwriters Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl have taken a not-very-good book and turned it into a downright awful movie. Read full review
10
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiJun 11, 2020
Artemis Fowl is not just a disappointing adaptation, it’s a badly made movie. Its Frankensteined plot and its shockingly poor CGI — which could have passed in an early 2000s movie, but not in 2020 — leave it no redeeming qualities. It gives me no joy to say that yet another movie adaptation of a beloved childhood property has wasted Colin Farrell. Read full review
More From This Movie

31 Critic Reviews

2.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL