No movie that features Judi Dench as a fairy who says "Get the four-leaf clover out of here" can be all bad, but the big-budget adaptation of Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" tests that truism.

The movie debut of "Artemis Fowl," which has grown into a best-selling series of eight young-adult novels over the last two decades, has been long in coming. First acquired in 2001, it's gone through endless development, false-starts and release delays.

Shot in 2018 and originally slated to open last year in theaters, "Artemis Fowl" finally arrives Friday on Disney Plus, the last detour in a long road to re...