I’ve seen a lot of films about animals and I’ve seen just as many if not more starring Mark Wahlberg. Arthur the King combines both of these two things. Wahlberg has been in his fair share of different kinds of films in his career. One of them wasn’t with a dog until now. This film based on a true story might be one of the better ones in his filmography. 

Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) is a man who is involved in Adventure Racing. He and his team run, bike, canoe, and climb over harsh terrain to win a competitive championship. After a bad experience at one of the races, he decides to take a break from what he loves. He ends up working for his father in real estate.  It’s not what he truly loves though so he ends up forming a new team and getting funding to try to win the Adventure Racing competition one last time. While in the competition they find a new member of the team. A four-legged member named Arthur.

Mark Wahlberg has been in his share of sports movies from The Fighter to Invincible he seems to have that underdog thing going for himself. That goes right along with his latest film Arthur the King. He’s a bit down on his luck and needs something to get behind. He sees himself a lot in this little injured scruffy-looking dog. They have both overcome a lot.  Wahlberg’s character was demoralized a few years before in the Adventure Race and this little dog joined Wahlberg’s character and their team in the Adventure Race. They were meant to find each other. They were destined to be friends.  

This film has some good-looking visuals because of where it was set which brings another element to the story. The story is set in The Dominican Republic which has a lot of natural resources regarding rivers, coastline, swamps, and jungles. The Adventure Race portion of the movie had this backdrop at its center. The inspirational journey of the film was tied to this race which made complete sense. Like any athletic competition, there are ups and downs but this one has a lot of twists and turns within it which mirrored the main plot of the film. They parallel each other nicely.

The director Simon Cellan Jones has assembled a good cast for this inspirational sports/animal film. Shang Chi himself Simu Liu as Liam, Wahlberg’s buddy whom he’s had a falling out with but convinces him to go for one last chance at glory, Nathalie Emmanuel from Fast & the Furious franchise is playing a woman who has a lot of experience at Adventure Racing but her mind is on something besides the race and Ali Suliman as Chik a man with a bum knee but he signs on to help navigate this team. This cast kept me interested in them and their stories and they fit into the overall story very nicely.

I wasn’t that familiar with Adventure Racing before watching this film but it fascinated me. There is a lot of action and possible pitfalls in this sport. The danger is real and as some of the characters can attest to there are a lot of things that can happen in the five or so days the race is taking place. Competitors can get sick, injured, and attacked by wild animals. This isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the competitors. Needless to say, other teams are trying to outdo each other so there is some trash-talking and shady behavior behind the scenes when cameras aren’t on the competitors. This sport isn’t for the weak or light-hearted. 

The kee ingredient to this movie is the dog at the center of it. I noticed a couple different dogs who play the role of Arthur in the film. They all have a similar resemblance to one another so that’s a good thing. The dogs all did their jobs remarkably well because I genuinely cared for the character of Arthur in the movie. It’s not easy to get dogs to act this way but the filmmaker and animal trainers did a good job in this aspect of the film. I adored Arthur!

Arthur the King is going to pull on the heartstrings. It’s going to be an emotional ride. It doesn’t seem condescending to anybody and it takes this story very seriously.  This relationship between man and animal is a real one and the film doesn’t pull any punches depicting it. Wahlberg and company do a great job depicting these characters and I was all in on their individual subplots. The visuals were beautiful and the cinematography captured the gorgeous countryside of where this movie was filmed. The director pulled out all the stops to make me cry and care about this little dog and the relationship between it and Wahlberg’s character. Bring your tissues. This is going to be an emotional ride.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen