History Film / ArtemisFowl

** Juliet is the same age as Artemis, instead of the teenager she was in the first book.

* HellholePrison: Howler's Peak, the most notorious and dangerous prison within Howler's City. Get sent there and you can enjoy a stay in a cell filled with goblins who are capable of breathing fire and who are generally in a very mean mood. Mulch Diggums's stay in the prison is said to be his third time there, his first time having been a 164-year term.

* ShoutOut: Mulch Diggums tells the [=MI6=] interrogator "[[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Clap your hands if you believe]] in fairies" just before he is broken out. In the play of ''Franchise/PeterPan'', the audience is told exactly this by Peter Pan in order to save Tinkerbell.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailer implies it's Artemis and his father practicing kendo. It's actually Butler and Juliet.

* TrailersAlwaysLie: The trailer implies Holly Short is working with Artemis of her own free will, possibly as a double agent. She helps him eventually but it begins as a kidnapping.

* SequelHook: The film ends with [[spoiler:Hollly Short receiving from Artemis Fowl Sr. a list of Opal Koboi's accomplices and Artemis Fowl Jr. calling Opal to tell her that she's failed and they're coming for her. The film then ends with Mulch Diggums being broken out of interrogation and Holly flying alongside the group as Artemis Fowl Jr. says that they have unfinished business.]]

** The name of the Fowl family's ship is changed from The Fowl Star in the books to The Owl Star here.
** The Council from the books, is renamed The Executives here.

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: [[spoiler:Artemis Fowl, Sr.,]] and [[spoiler:Opal Koboi]], two characters not introduced until the second book, are depicted in this film.

** In the movie Mulch physically enlarges his lower jaw with his hands (grabbing and stretching at it in a stomach-turning manner -- complete with crunching sound effects -- whereas the book implied it was a matter of simply opening his mouth very wide like a snake.

** The name of the Fowl's ship is changed from The Fowl Star in the books to The Owl Star here.

** Holly Short's age is given as 84, which is extremely young in fairy yeaers, but she was decidedly a grown adult in the books (and in ''The Time Paradox'', time travel shenanigans briefly cause her to look younger and closer to Artemis' age). Here, she doesn't appear to be much older than Artemis already phsyically, and has more shades of NaiveNewcomer in her personality than her more jaded self in the books' continuity.

* AdaptationNameChange: Mulch's last name is spelled [[https://twitter.com/EoinColfer/status/1228774576634630147/photo/2 "Diggems"]] on official merchandise.

* AntiMagic: When Briar Cudgeon sends the troll into Fowl Manor, he also activates an anti-magic field, considering Holly Short to be a traitor. Afterwards, Chix Verbil defies his orders and turns it off, allowing Holly to use her magic again and [[spoiler:save Domovoi Butler's life.]]

* DeathByAdaptation : Unlike in the novels, Artemis's mother Angeline Fowl is dead before the events of the film have even started. The psychologist Dr. Po touches on it in the opening of the film, saying she was a lovely woman, but nothing else is said about it.

** Holly Short's age is never specified, but she was decidedly a grown adult in the books (and in ''The Time Paradox'', time travel shenanigans briefly cause her to look younger and closer to Artemis' age). Here, she doesn't appear to be much older than Artemis already, and has more shades of NaiveNewcomer in her personality than her more jaded self in the books' continuity.

* AdaptationNameChange: Mulch's last name is spelled [[https://twitter.com/EoinColfer/status/1228774576634630147/photo/2 "Diggems"]] on official merchandise

* AdaptationalUgliness: The wickedly beautiful and vain Opal Koboi from the books becomes a hideous shadowy creature with a guttural, rasping voice - what minor glimpses we get of the face hidden beneath her cowl are decidedly unpleasant.

-->-- '''Commander Root'''

* DarkSkinnedBlonde: [[BattleButler Butler]] is played by black actor Nonso Anozie, but with white hair, in contrast to the book version's BaldOfAwesome.

** Not to mention that the entire film is being narrated by [[spoiler:Mulch, who is being interrogated by [=MI6=] and happily giving up secrets - which is a huge departure from the "humans must '''''never''''' find out about the People" rule in the books!]]
*** Speaking of Mulch, in the movie he physically enlarges his lower jaw with his hands (grabbing and stretching at it in a stomach-turning manner - complete with crunching sound effects), whereas the book implied it was a matter of simply opening his mouth very wide like a snake.
** Then there's the fact that Artemis is [[spoiler:being raised by his father, whereas in the books his father is a DisappearedDad and he lives with his mentally ill mother - something that drives the majority of the plot of the first and second books!]]

*** Speaking of Mulch, in the movie he physically enlarges his lower jaw with his hands (grabbing and stretching at it in a NightmareFuel-inducing scene), whereas the book implied it was a matter of simply opening his mouth very wide like a snake.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Mulch Diggums, whose less-than-attractive looks were the source of jokes in the books, is played by [[https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/4b2/a37/788cf8320b8d19a875a42f481237335911-artemis-fowl.rhorizontal.w700.jpg Josh Gad]]. Note that Movie Mulch is taller than Artemis as well.

* DarkSkinnedBlonde: [[BattleButler Butler]] is played by black actor Nonso Anozie, but with white hair.

* AgeLift: Juliet is the same age as Artemis, instead of the teenager she was in the first book.

* LargeHam: Lara [=McDonnell's=] Holly Short - particularly after being captured and held prisoner in Fowl Manor.

* MacGuffin: The Aculos - a mysterious fairy object of unimaginable power that Opal Koboi demands in exchange for Artemis Fowl Sr.'s safe return. IGN's [[https://www.ign.com/articles/artemis-fowl-movie-review review]] for the film even immediately pinpoints it as a "[=McGuffin=]," describing it as an "empty shiny object that adds very little substance to the story."

* RaceLift: Juliet and Butler are described repeatedly as being Eurasian in the books, but are played by Black actors in the film.

** Butler and Artemis are ''far'' more emotional than they are in the books, with Butler breaking down in tears and Artemis having a screaming panic attack [[spoiler:when he gets the news about his father]].