Story
When Artemis Fowl Sr (Colin Farrell) is kidnapped, 12-year-old genius Artemis Fowl II (Ferdia Shaw) learns that the fairy tales his father has been telling him for years aren’t just stories. To save his father’s life, Artemis must find an orb that holds incredible power.
With little idea of what the orb is or where to find it, Artemis kidnaps and imprisons a young fairy officer named Holly (Lara McDonnell). Holly is on a quest to vindicate her father, who died trying to protect the orb. When a fairy army attacks Fowl Manor, Artemis and Holly also team up with Dom the butler (Nonso Anozie) and Mulch Diggums (Josh Gad), a gigantic dwarf. Together they help each other and work to find the orb.
With the fate of the world on the line, Artemis hatches a plan that will free his father and return the orb to its rightful place. This will not only secure peace for all species but also allow Holly to learn the truth of her father’s heroism.
Themes
Separation from a parent; death of a parent; quest to prove the innocence of a family member; distrust between different species; the destructive forces of greed and revenge
Violence
Artemis Fowl has some violence. For example:
- A troll attacks a wedding party. It smashes and destroys things, and grabs and throws people, including a young girl.
- Holly is shot with a tranquilizer dart and falls from the sky. Artemis imprisons her in a cage, hoping she’ll help him find what he needs.
- A fairy army descends on Fowl Manor. There’s a lot of shooting, hitting, kicking and punching.
- A fairy commander turns on his own people.
- The giant troll is used as a battering ram to break into Fowl Manor. There is stabbing, throwing, smashing, punching and crashing as the troll tries to kill the Manor’s inhabitants. In the end the troll falls from a chandelier and crushes Dom.
- Many fairies are sucked into a disintegrating time freeze. It’s unclear whether they simply disappear or whether they die.
- Artemis Sr is repeatedly threatened with death if his son doesn’t deliver the orb. His captor later tries to kill him.
Sexual references
None noted.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None noted.
Nudity and sexual activity
None noted.
Product placement
There are no products displayed or used in Artemis Fowl, but this movie is based on a best-selling book series, so there might be some tie-ins.
Coarse language
Artemis Fowl has some occasional, mild coarse language, including ‘Shut up!’ There’s also some name-calling, including ‘thief’, ‘liar’, ‘traitor’, ‘criminal mastermind’ and ‘you son of a …’.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Artemis Fowl is a fantasy adventure movie based on the best-selling children’s book series by Eoin Colfer. The plot is fast paced and a little confusing but the graphics are excellent. The movie is best suited to families with older children and pre-teen audiences.
These are the main messages from Artemis Fowl:
- You should judge people and other creatures on their own merit, rather than on what others say about them.
- Life, like fairy tales, has the potential to be either a beautiful dream or a terrible nightmare, depending on who’s in charge.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include loyalty, teamwork, ingenuity and courage.
Artemis Fowl could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues and behaviour like:
- being rude and arrogant towards those whom you feel are inferior
- blindly following orders regardless of whether they’re right or wrong
- kidnapping and imprisoning people for your own purposes
- not valuing life and deliberately endangering others
- stigmatising and judging those who are different based on physical appearance.