Arthur the King

Film by film, Mr. Wahlberg is using his pull to create a tribute to the world’s tough, decent, humble working guys.

Maybe the movie will direct some eyes toward the existence of the Arthur Foundation, but while the movie goes down easy enough it is, on the whole, a bit unsatisfying.

The movie reminds us that we should pay close attention to the goals we set for ourselves, to decide whether achieving them will really give us what we are hoping for and what it means to win.

It’s fairly standard heartwarming dog fare, often treacly... but edged up with vibrant, handheld cinematography by Jacques Jouffret that gives the film a more adult, action-oriented feel

Watching Arthur the King grab this meatball of a film in his jaws and scurry off with it is a surprisingly pleasing way to spend an hour and a half.

[Simon Cellan Jones] uses the dog to really tug at the audience's heartstrings in increasingly manipulative ways, filling in emotional holes that are otherwise overlooked in the script.

You could do worse than Arthur the King, which offers approximately zero surprises, but enough cute-dog shenanigans to make it worthy of family movie night.

This is not the great film it should have been, and it really could have been something with the right direction.

It does nothing that we would not expect from an experience of this kind, developing its narrative in a dutiful way, and extracting a couple of tears to certain members of the audience. Full review in Spanish.

An admirable tale of resilience and unlikely friendships...