Artemis Fowl II

Artemis is 12, with a mind school can't keep up with. He lives at Fowl Manor on the Irish coast with Butler, the bodyguard who has looked after him since he was little. His father, Artemis Fowl I, is always traveling and is the center of his son's world.

Everything changes when his father disappears. At the same moment, he's accused of stealing priceless relics around the world, and the press treats the Fowls as a family of thieves.

A hooded captor gets in touch: he has Artemis Fowl I and will only give him back if the son hands over the Aculos within three days. The Aculos is an artifact from the fairy world, and to find it Artemis has to accept that this world is real.

He accepts it fast. When Holly Short, a captain in the LEP, the fairy police, shows up near the manor, Artemis and Butler capture her. Holly becomes his bargaining chip.

The LEP freezes time around the manor, and Commander Root takes charge. Artemis doesn't flinch: he negotiates as an equal and forces a standoff with an army carrying weapons he's never seen.

The fairies send the dwarf thief Mulch Diggums to dig his way into the house after the Aculos. Mulch finds it and swallows it. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Briar Cudgeon, secretly working for Opal Koboi, lets a troll loose inside the manor and jams the magic there. Butler fights the troll and is mortally wounded, and Holly saves him with the magic she has left.

In the end, Artemis keeps the Aculos and agrees to use it to rescue his father. Holly brings Artemis Fowl I to the manor, where Koboi's attempt on his life is stopped. His father gives Holly a list of Koboi's accomplices, and she takes the Aculos back to Haven City.

Artemis leaves the story with a new goal: take down Koboi's allies, then go after her. Holly, Butler and Mulch go with him.

The whole story reaches the human authorities through Mulch Diggums, the dwarf thief, arrested and questioned after claiming the Fowls are mixed up in magic. In the final scene, Mulch confirms on camera that magic is real.

Right after, the Fowl helicopter shows up to collect him. Artemis now has his father back, a fairy for an ally, a dwarf for an accomplice and an enemy with a name: Opal Koboi.

Ferdia Shaw made his screen debut as Artemis. In Eoin Colfer's books, Artemis starts out much colder: a criminal mastermind who kidnaps Holly for a ton of gold in ransom, with his father missing for years. The movie makes him closer to a hero from the start.