Arthur the King is another true story aimed at audiences susceptible to the concept of an adventure involving animals. This one is a tad more decent than others, despite its obvious shortcomings. It’s passable, but not passable enough.
Mark Wahlberg stars as Michael Light, a runner who wants to enter a race in the Dominican Republic with his teammates. He wants to prove that “runners run” and “winners win” despite his team falling short over and over and over again.
The team begins their journey of running and cycling through the mountains of the Dominican Republic, but an abused and abandoned mutt follows them on their way. At first, they reluctantly adopt him as their mascot. The mutt has a craving for meatballs.
They eventually grow to like the dog, especially when he guides them out of harm’s way. They even give him the name Arthur when they come across more meatballs. “A meal fit for a king,” quips Walhberg’s character. And thus, the dog becomes Arthur the King, hence the title.
The movie doesn’t offer much tension or suspense, but it does contain one well-crafted sequence in which the runners try to zip line from one terrain to another using their bikes as leverage. One of the runners gets stuck halfway there, and Walhberg’s character has to rescue her.
As mentioned, Arthur the King is a true story, and in some ways, it reminded me of The Boys in the Boat, but in a different context. Both movies are founded on real events, and anyone can look up how they end, but Arthur the King has characters that are a little more likable, even if they’re put through obligatory scenes.
For every scene we get where the team argues about why they’re competing, there’s another scene waiting in the wings where they’re triumphantly hugging. The scenes with Arthur are pretty much what its target audience can expect: Cute moments designed to generate laughs or tears at all the right moments.
Wahlberg and the other actors do deliver good work and some of the scenes involving the dog are somewhat touching, but it also wimps out by going for a more conventional structure to its story. The very last scene is a copout just to send the audience home happy.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with Arthur the King, but it lacks any real bite when it comes to inspiration.
Grade: B-
(Rated PG-13 for some strong language.)
