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
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
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
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