They drained the wondrous world of Artemis Fowl of all its charm, wit, and heart. It fell flat on its face, and it never got back up.

More like Artemis **Foul** amirite?

I can't believe I waited nearly 20 f*cking years for this to be the end result.

Disney absolutely BUTCHERED the books to the point where the characters aren't recognizable AT ALL.
The story makes absolutely NO SENSE whatsoever. Even if you didn't read the books and you know nothing about Artemis and his world, the movie has no discernible plot, no character growth, terrible acting all around, horrible script... I could go on but honestly I'd rather just reread the books and forget I ever watched this.

A disgrace is what this movie is.

Really bad movie with a super rushed narrative. I haven’t read the books so i can’t say anything about it’s fidelity. Half the time it fails by not giving you the information needed, so you don’t understand why things are the way there are. The other half is someone explaining what’s happening so fast he/she doesn’t have time to breathe, let alone allow the words to sink in, therefore it doesn’t create emotion. To me is a 3/10 and only because of the good special effects and originality of the story’s idea.
And to be clear, came to see without watching any trailers or synopsis, and without seen any reviews or critics. Sad, I’ve never seen Disney fail like this.

Holly and Mulch were the only redeemable actors. The plot was irreparably convoluted by the fact that they crammed several books into the same movie. This would have done far better with a different cast, different script, more research into the books, and a format change from movie to TV series. As a kid I read these books from cover to cover, absorbing myself in to the world of Artemis Fowl and the Lower Elements. This movie is just a disservice to such an already rich world.

so now i know the reason why this one skipped the theaters

Sadly, not very good. A rushed narrative, a Disneyfied move away from the source novels, and some uninspired directing means this film isn't the next great YA movie you may have been hoping for. This tale of the mastermind criminal is more criminal than mastermind.

Worst movie I've ever seen. Barely any relation to the books. None of the characters are interesting, they've all been completely modified from how they are in the book for no reason and their motivations are pretty much non-existent. It's all rushed and makes no sense whatsoever.

Rubbish.

There's really not anything good about 'Artemis Fowl', except for the decent score perhaps. The premise is terrible and poorly told, not helped by the fact it takes itself pretty seriously for much of the 95 minute run time. The pacing is off, while the effects are meh. I haven't read the source material, so can't comment on that.

The cast don't work any wonders. Nothing personal against Ferdia Shaw but he isn't good in the lead role, I thought his age-mate Lara McDonnell did alright as Holly though. I like Josh Gad but his role here is bad, his narration is particularly ropey. Judi Dench's Julius is irritating too, while Colin Farrell and Nonso Anozie are underused.

A big misfire, unfortunately. Not the worst film I've ever seen though. They openly set up a sequel at the end, which I'd imagine won't be happening given the reaction to this - a situation like 2007's 'The Golden Compass' potentially.