Arthur the King

Grade: B+

Arthur the King will be one of the most positive movies of the year. That’s the best adjective I have for it. The whole family – well, maybe 9 and older – can and should see it. It’s PG-13, but could have been an easy PG if it weren’t for one F bomb – but it’s used as either an adverb or adjective, and not to describe the act. With it being about racers, there’s bound to be at least one injury, but nothing gets too gruesome.

The dog, Arthur, features heavily in the trailer, but we don’t start to see him until about halfway through. He follows around Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) and his team of Adventure Team Racers. This kind of racing involves running, kayaking, biking, and climbing. It will take you about 5 days if you’re one of the best. You can eat, drink, take care of biological needs, and grab an hour of sleep at the various Transition Areas set up. This makes an Iron Man look like a 1 mile fun run. These scenes are filmed in an immersive, effective way. The filming style is sometimes a little crude, like GoPro footage. The camera shakes during the jogging sequences, because that’s what it would do. My “favorite” scene is the zip line rescue. It’s intense, and extremely well-done. My palms were sweating for the first time since Fall.

Arthur, a wild dog, eventually shows up. He first meets the team at one of the early Transition Areas, and somehow miraculously reconnects with them later on the course. (The only explanation they can come up with is “he has wings.”) They end up unofficially adopting him into the team, and they finish the race together. When Arthur doesn’t do as well at the swimming, they go back and bring him on board the kayak – costing them some time in the race, but some things are more important. Wahlberg, whose career has slowed down in recent years, is still a solid Everyman. Nathalie Emmanuel is a stand-out as a woman recruited for the team initially just to check off the Diversity Box, but she might be the strongest and most confident one there. She kicks some butt.

The movie doesn’t belabor or linger on any plot point. It’s refreshing how it eschews and sidesteps so many cinematic traps. I expected it to have a big bombastic ending at the race’s finish line – but no, they quickly move on from it, and there’s about 20 more minutes of film left. I initially felt the happy ending came too easily and wasn’t earned (true story or not), but then a post-movie caption helpfully answered a “how” question I had.

You can’t pin this film down. It’s about competitive racing, with some top-notch scenery that keeps runners/swimmers/bikers/climbers coming back to continually put their bodies through that. Then it’s a dog movie, then it’s about friendship, and the power of family – to name just a few. There’s something for everyone here. Arthur the King is a feel-great story that has wings.

Grade: B+