Wilson’s performance is particularly great as a foil and supporting character to Hiddleston’s Loki, serving as a good comic comparison between his bureaucratic detective Mobius and the egotistical God-turned-prisoner Loki. However, his performance also shows Mobius as his own complex character. Mobius isn’t simply a narrative prop to highlight Loki, but a sharp-witted detective with his own complex motivations and ideology.

Although Mulan is thematically interested in big ideas, including character and equality, it is also a fine fantasy film filled with beautifully crafted martial arts sequences. The director’s  previous directorial efforts – including the wonderful 2002 drama Whale Rider – demonstrate her ability to build empathy for characters, but they don’t hint at the level of skill with which she tackles action. Some of the battle sequences in Mulan are reminiscent of pure martial arts movies.

Hamilton uses what some might call colorblind casting, but it goes beyond colorblind. The show is intentionally diverse, meaning white historical figures are often portrayed by minority actors as a point of course. This is particularly poignant in the wake of the George Floyd protests. One might be able to overlook the fact that a Black man is playing Thomas Jefferson, were it not for that fact that Jefferson ran a plantation and owned slaves. That juxtaposition is jolting.

Viewers are legitimately transported to a land where fairies and goblins are real, and it’s all very dazzling and Harry Potter-like. Artemis Fowl would seem, then, to be a perfect film for fans of that series. Alas, the Harry Potter features are painstakingly mapped out so viewers understand the rules of the magical world they enter. This is not the case with Artemis Fowl, which teases viewers without elaborating and leads to a long string of questions that are never adequately answered.