The Heartwarming True Story Every Dog Lover Needs To Watch 

Arthur the King is based on the book, Arthur – The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home, by Mikael Lindnord about his real-life experiences during an 435 mile adventure race through the jungle in Ecuador. While Michael Lindnord is Swedish, and there are some details changed to appeal to an American audience, the basics of the film are closely tied to the story outlined in the book. It is one that almost breaks your heart and then puts it soundly back together again. 

Arthur the King opens up with Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) losing an adventure race for his team because he’s relentless in his pursuit of winning. He won’t take breaks or listen to his teammates, and the result is their loss. One of his teammates, Leo (Simu Liu), is infuriated that Michael won’t listen, so he takes a picture of him and uploads it to social media as a way of ridiculing him publicly.

The picture of course goes viral, and Michael’s ego and reputation suffer horribly. 

Three years later, we are still a long way from meeting Arthur the king when Michael is down on his luck, working in real-estate for his father, and living with his wife, Helen (Juliet Rylance), a retired athlete herself, and their daughter. He’s determined to get back in the game of adventure racing, and win this time, but no one will take a chance on him. He finally rallies and gathers a bit of funding from a sponsor who agrees to the deal only as long as Michael includes Leo on his team again.

Leo, you see, is a big time social media influencer who will bring awareness to the sponsor’s brand. 

Michael convinces Leo and he also picks up an expert climber, Olivia (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Michael’s longtime navigator, Chick (Ali Suliman). Together, the team begins to prepare for their next race in the Dominican Republic. While scouting the area, Michael feeds some of his meatballs to a mangy street dog, who he names Arthur as a kind of joke, not knowing he will soon become the king of legends. 

As the team sets out, they are beset over and over again by trials and tribulations, and this dog, Arthur the King, keeps showing up to help them dig out of the trenches. He takes them over rough terrain and even into the water to keep them safe. Along the way, each of the team members falls in love with Arthur. Sadly, it seems Arthur has some health problems that are making him progressively sicker throughout the long trek. 

GFR SCORE

Arthur the King rounds out its story with the completion of the race and the struggle Michael must go through to try to save a dying dog that everyone else wants to give up on. Mark Wahlberg pulls these emotions off perfectly.

I recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good feel–good story with an emotional twist. You can stream it for around five bucks on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, or wherever you usually rent your movies.