What’s It About
In the film, the captain of an adventure racing team befriends a wounded stray dog named Arthur, who accompanies the team on a grueling 435-mile (700-km) endurance race through the Dominican Republic.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
So, Arthur the King is pretty much what you’d expect: a straight-up emotional rollercoaster about a squad learning to gel in the middle of a hardcore adventure race, with a random dog turning into their MVP. Honestly, this flick doesn’t need any fancy awards to hit the mark with people who dig this kind of story. Sure, you can see some stuff coming from a mile away, but the fact that it’s all based on actual events kind of makes it hit differently. They Hollywood-ized some parts, but the crazy thing is, the ending is 100. Simon Cellan Jones directed it, and Michael Brandt was the writer, taking inspiration from Mikael Lindnord’s book Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home. Just from the book’s title, you know this dog Arthur’s story will be crazy. But the movie makes you wait a hot minute—like 50 minutes into its 107-minute runtime—before Arthur really enters the spotlight. Some peeps might get antsy waiting for the dog to become a key player. Arthur, this terrier mix, was actually a stray that decided to tag along with Lindnord and his crew during the 2014 Adventure Racing World Championship in Ecuador. This dog had been through the wringer—sick, hurt from being mistreated—yet still managed to trek 435 miles over ten days across all kinds of wild terrain to stick with the team. The movie switches things up by making the primary human, Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg), an American, and setting the action in the 2018 championship in the Dominican Republic, where they also shot the film. Wahlberg’s a bit older than Lindnord was when the real story happened, but he’s still got that athlete look, despite being in his 50s. Adventure Racing World Championship is this intense contest where teams have to navigate every obstacle you can think of—cycling, climbing, kayaking, you name it, with cash prizes up for grabs. Teams must figure out their strategy to tackle each part of the race. In the movie, Wahlberg’s character, Michael, is trying to win this thing after years of close calls. He’s got this rivalry with his teammate Leo Sun (Simu Liu), leading to the drama about the path to take during the race. Fast forward to 2018, we see Arthur’s tough life on the streets before cutting to Michael sulking in Colorado, regretting his racing career that never hit its peak. He’s got a family now but is itching to get back to racing to prove himself, especially after his loss in 2015. His wife, Helen, tells him to go for it if he’s serious, which sparks his mission to assemble a dream team and score a sponsor. Michael rounds up his old pal Chik, pro climber Olivia, and even buries the hatchet with Leo to form Team Broadrail. Despite some skepticism from the sponsor side, they manage to secure some funding and prep for the race in the Dominican Republic, where they run into Arthur. At first, Arthur’s just this dog they feed some scraps to, but he ends up following them and proving his worth by helping them out of tight spots. The film’s last part is where all the feels are, with a nail-biting situation meant to pull at your heartstrings, proving that sometimes life’s letdowns can lead to unexpected rewards. And it’s all the more powerful knowing this wild story actually happened. Arthur the King serves up that nostalgic vibe of adventure movies we don’t get much of these days, mixed with some genuinely tense moments and a heartwarming story at its core. It’s all about Michael trying to win back his pride, get his team to the top, and unexpectedly find a loyal four-legged friend.
OUR RATING – A FOUR LEGGED 8