Arthur the King (2024) * * *

 

Directed by: Simon Cellan Jones

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ali Suliman, Juliet Rylance, Paul Guilfoyle, Rob Collins

Arthur the King is a feel-good story about an abused dog who latches on to a foursome of Adventure Racers in a ten-day Dominican Republic race.   Adventure Racing makes an Iron Man contest look like child's play.  The team is led by Michael Light (Wahlberg), who has a history of top ten finishes, but no wins.  His last race three years ago ended in humiliation as he led his team during the kayaking portion directly into mud.  His teammate Liam (Liu) posted the video and made Michael a laughingstock while making Liam a social media star.  

After an unsuccessful attempt at working as a realtor for his father's company, Michael gives the race another go three years after the last fiasco.  He finds a reluctant sponsor who is only interested if Liam is part of the team and can give the sponsor social media exposure.  Michael's team consists of Liam, a former teammate with a bum knee (Suliman), and the daughter (Emmanuel) of a famed racer.   As Michael and company arrive in Santo Domingo, we see the dog soon to be named Arthur roaming the streets living off of scraps and suffering from abuse and possibly PTSD.  

The race itself is exhausting to watch because it convincingly puts us through its paces.  Michael and his team really have to grind to make it to the next rest stop, and based on how far they are behind the leader, only have a precious finite time to rest.  It is at one of the stops where Arthur encounters Michael, who feeds him a meatball and then goes on his way.   Nights and miles later in the jungle, Arthur shows up again and Michael decides it must be fate and brings the pooch along.  In one sequence, Arthur prevents the group from walking over a ledge into a ravine.

I won't say whether Michael's team wins the race.  It doesn't much matter, but soon Michael's relationship with Arthur takes center stage.   Arthur is a fighter, but his health is at risk due to abuse, starvation, and parasitic infection.   Like 2022's Dog, a moving rapport develops between Arthur and Michael, and a risky decision by the human prevents the dog from perishing.  Arthur the King is based on a true story.   I'm sure there is plenty of dramatization, plus the real Michael was Swedish and the dog was found in Ecuador, but why quibble?  What's here is a warm story which keeps you intrigued.