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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nI\u2019m not going to sugarcoat it: this was not a good week for new releases. The battle for the top spot at the domestic box office was a fierce one, with \u201cKung Fu Panda 4\u201d in its second weekend narrowly edging out \u201cDune: Part Two\u201d in its third. But after those two holdovers, the box office fell off a cliff, with newcomer \u201cArthur the King\u201d taking a weak third place with barely a quarter of either\u2019s take. Granted, the relatively small-scale production is not one that has ambitions of conquering the box office. It\u2019s okay with being a nice little crowd-pleaser, which would be fine if it were actually more pleasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark Wahlberg stars as Michael Light, the captain of a team of \u201cadventure racers,\u201d four-person teams that participate in multi-day races of over 500 miles across various treacherous terrains. He blew a big race three years ago, and he\u2019s been stuck in a rut ever since. He stakes his family\u2019s savings on one more shot at glory. His teammates are veteran navigator Chik (Ali Suliman), pretty-boy social media influencer Leo (Simu Liu), and rock-climbing prodigy Olivia (Nathalie Emmanuel). I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s intentional or not, but Olivia gives one of the most awkward line deliveries I\u2019ve ever heard. It\u2019s very serious subject matter, and I felt bad laughing at it, but the timing is just crazy. A similar mistake was made by bad-movie classic \u201cThe Room,\u201d but honestly, it\u2019s even more egregious here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The race is grueling and frustrating and includes a truly harrowing zipline sequence. As predictable as it was that the characters were going to get out of it, I couldn\u2019t help but put myself in their place and wonder if I might die of fright even before the risky rescue. The movie gets this scene right, even if it\u2019s more heart-pounding than heart-warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About halfway through the race, Michael notices that a stray dog has been following the team. He admires its perseverance, and since they can\u2019t really stop it from following them at its own discretion, they adopt him as an unofficial fifth member. The dog treats Michael\u2019s much-maligned meatballs like a meal fit for a king, so Michael calls him Arthur. The dog is good at sniffing out danger, and the whole team owes him a life debt after about two minutes. But he\u2019s also very sickly, and probably has only days \u2013 maybe hours \u2013 to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rest of the movie is the dog-centric adventure we\u2019ve been promised. Arthur brings a unique set of strengths and weaknesses to the team. They\u2019re soon in first place, but hinderances from both man and beast mean that they may not hang onto it for long. Even after the race is over, there\u2019s still a lengthy portion of the film devoted to the dog\u2019s health. I wasn\u2019t sure which way the movie was going to go until it put so much effort into misleading me that I knew it had to go the other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cArthur the King\u201d is your typical inspirational dog movie mixed with your typical inspirational sports movie, although the sport in question happens to be several sports at once. It\u2019s hard to get truly mad at a movie like this, but I can\u2019t say it delivered a lot of bang for my buck, and that clunky bit of dialogue, just\u2026 woof. I definitely recommend the two movies at the top of the box office over this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grade: C-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cArthur the King\u201d is rated PG-13 for some strong language. Its running time is 90 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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