Arthur der Große

I usually avoid trailers and spoilers before watching a movie, but with this one, even the poster hinted at a heart-wrenching story. Discovering it was based on real events hit me even harder.

Dogs are just too precious, and movies like this always tug at the heartstrings. While it may not reach the emotional depth of classics like "A Dog's Journey" and "Hachiko," it still manages to make you care about the characters.

Considering it's based on true events, there might not have been much room for story changes. However, I felt the human characters could've been more developed. For instance, the hiker girl revealing her father's cancer right before the race felt like a cheap way to evoke sympathy.

Even Mark Wahlberg's character felt a bit underdeveloped. It's a classic case of "show, don't tell." Simply mentioning his emotional drivers through exposition didn't quite cut it and lessened the impact of his character growth.

I think the movie could have benefited from being slightly longer to establish the stakes more firmly and give the dog more screen time in the first half.

Arthur the King knows the unbreakable bond between man & dog gives it a free pass and an added edge in everything it's doing, which it uses to full effect. It's very easy to get invested in with a plot propelled by forward momentum as the race takes up most of the run time and the struggle to save Arthur that follows only makes it more emotional and gripping.

Mark Wahlberg shows off a new skill by having a believable bond with his canine counterpart. He gets a good arc and is supported by Simu Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Ali Suliman who makes for a strong core four. When Arthur joins it only gets better, and those earlier scenes where he's on his own are more impressive in some ways since all those lack human support.

Simon Cellan Jones directs with a fair bit of handheld camerawork to give it a sense of immediacy. Visually it's a little too grey but it's still nice to see so many natural locations and the zipline sequence in the middle stands out simply by being as tense as you'd expect. Kevin Matley's score saves the best for last, bringing the feels to ensure the ending is as lovely as possible.

Wife and I loved the movie and found it to have character, heart, and a fun story. At only 90 minutes long it moves fast and will work great for families with kids. We love dogs and tend to enjoy Mark W. Films, so this is one we took earliest opportunity to watch and we left the theater thrilled Arthur met our expectations. A must see movie that we will watch again someday. Some reviews have criticized changes to details of this true story. Keep in mind this is not a technically accurate true story, instead it is "based on a true story" meaning movie takes many liberties to bring something entertaining to screen. Neither of us have read the book, so none of this mattered to us and I doubt it will matter to most viewers (my wife enjoyed movie so much she just ordered the book). If you know the details of accurate true story and accuracy matters to you, then this might be one to skip. Otherwise , it's A MUST SEE MOVIE!

"Brought tears both of happiness and sadness to my eyes. -Dad" "It was good. -Mandy" "That's a sad movie, dad. -Theo" "Guys...that was stressful. -Natalie" "It was pretty good, the dog was pretty cute. -Iris"

10/10.

Saw this movie as part of mystery movie Mondays at Regal Cinema with my family. Great movie we all agree! There's happy parts, sad parts, a real rollercoaster and tearjerker of a movie. Worth watching even if you're not a big Mark Wahlberg fan and don't like Marky Mark. Glad to have seen this movie! Mystery movie Mondays at Regal Cinemas are great. I liked seeing the real pictures of the real people and dog at the end.

I highly recommend watching the ESPN Sports Center documentary entitled "SC Featured: A Dog's Remarkable Journey to Find a Home" which details the true story of how Swedish adventure racer Mikael Lindnord and the dog he named Arthur came together in 2014 during an adventure race in Ecuador. That documentary was 13:54 in length and has much more emotional impact than this film which is dull in its storytelling and with one or two exceptions, emotionally flat. The film wanders off-topic (the dog) far too much, emphasizing heated and dull machismo far too much. The director also uses a hand-held cam frequently which takes me out of any film due to the shaky cam effect. Watch the documentary and observe the tears that roll down Mikael's face as he talks about saving Arthur -- there you will find the heart that this film lacks.